This was written when I first arrived to The Pottery Workshop in Jingdezhen.

I arrived in Jingdezhen on June 21st. Jingdezhen is south west of Shanghai and its other title is Porcelain city. Here in Jingdezhen ceramics are on every corner, from raw ingredients, clay , tools, green ware, bisque fired ware, glazes and shops full of ceramics for sale. I am staying in the Sculpture factory in the Pottery Workshop. This area has an life of its own, everyday the public kiln is fired, people have livelihoods based around the sculpture factory’s needs. There is mould making, tools shops, public kilns, clay shops on every street. It’s a wonderland for a ceramic maker. I wandered the streets the first night I arrived and I was amazed how basic the shops and workshops are but they produce the best ceramic tools and wares. 

I am am staying in the Artist residence called Nine Windows, there are nine rooms in the building. My room looks out onto a courtyard where every Saturday there is a ceramic market. I will write about this later. In the courtyard there’s a mixture of coffee shops, ceramic shops and galleries. At the moment the PWS coffee shop is under construction( every morning there is drilling and hammering which is unfortunate for me but I am out early to the studio so it doesn’t really affect me). At night the courtyard is dark and I was lucky to have been given advice from Niall Read who was here three times to bring a torch.