Yingge has become synonymous with ceramics. Chao-tsung Hsu is one of the nation's most outstanding ceramicists. In his youth, he worked for a ceramics firm on quality control. Later, he started his own workshop. As an artist, Hsu has tried to use a mixture of different materials, such as clay and gold, together to show his skill and create a brand for his crafts.
Under the lights, nine fine ceramics cooperated with German MEISSEN company are shining, which on the one hand reveals the ultimate ceramic technology and on the other hand contains the untold stories...
Werner Liane, the Vice President of Marketing Department of MEISSEN, came to my studio in person to invite me to Germany for creation exchange. I was born in a poor rural family. I once experience the hardship of selling my works along the road. Now, I am famous in the field of ceramics. I was about to become an artist cooperating with MEISSEN. In the face of such invitation, in addition to gratitude, I felt anxious and worried about the faraway unknown country. Language, glaze, and equipment were influencing factors which cannot be controlled. No matter how great the uncertainties are, they cannot suppress my desire to expand my vision. First, I visited MEISSEN in Germany, which was the best way to calm me down.
MEISSEN, located in the southeast of Dresden, Germany. Dresden unfolded picturesque landscapes, humanity, art, and Baroque architecture decorated with gentle and relaxed pace of life. This was my first impression which was deepened by my visit to MEISSEN. MEISSEN, with a history of three centuries, has become the giant of western ceramic art because of: glaze coloring skill, strict management, and excellent brand marketing. I marveled at the achievement of the company. It could be the reference for the development of ceramics in Taiwan. But, in terms of the R&D and production technology of glaze, honestly, Taiwan has equal shares of honor with MEISSEN. At the end of the visit, I gave my work, "Sweet Harvest" which is a ceramic sculpture with eight gold bees and rust colored glaze, to MEISSEN as a present. It stood for our friendship and expressed my sincere thanks.
The visit raised the curtain of my one-month cross-border cooperation in Germany. Unlike my previous feeling, this cooperation was designated to not only reflect the superior ceramic technologies of Taiwan, but also exchange and communicate ceramic culture. Despite language barrier, our enthusiasm for ceramic creation was enough to provoke good works than ever before. Inspired by the ancient Chinese totem of the Three Lucky Men standing for happiness, wealth, and longevity, I used glaze like blue and green glaze as the base combined with floral patterns like overglaze color and underglaze color to create diversified auspicious work with the patterns of "Happiness and Longevity". I also adopted the topic of environmental protection, used natural patterns of "butterfly" and "melon vines", and combined the gold color painting technologies of both countries to create works praising the wonderfulness of life like "Metamorphosis" standing for breaking through, rebirth, and vitality and "Extension". "Metamorphosis" with the mode of ceramic plate would be collected by MEISSEN Museum to memorize the substantial and meaningful cooperation and exchange.
"Cultural journey across time and space, brilliant dialogues on the exchange of eastern and western crafts" was my heartfelt words after the cooperation with MEISSEN and deep reflection after the ceramic creation and experience of co-efforts. The nine ceramic works represented the innovation and continuation of ceramic art. Even though they were silent, they will be passed down endless...