Every piece we carry can be traced back to the people who made it. That sounds like a small claim until you look at how much porcelain reaches the world with no maker attached to it at all. This is an introduction to the independent Jingdezhen porcelain studios behind our collection — who they are, what each one is chasing, and which pieces to look at if you want to see their work.
We work with independent studios across Jingdezhen. Three of them shape most of what you will find here.
Why independent studios matter in Jingdezhen
Jingdezhen has made porcelain for more than a thousand years, and today it is home to both large production workshops and a wide community of small, independent studios. The difference is not only scale. An independent studio usually develops a recognisable body of work over years: a particular glaze, a way of painting, a set of forms it keeps returning to and refining.
That is what we look for. Rather than chase the lowest possible price, or reproduce an object at industrial scale, we work with makers who value craftsmanship, quality and character. Read more about the city itself in Why Jingdezhen.
Qing Ben Yuan 清本源
Rooted in Jingdezhen and shaped by Eastern aesthetics, the studio reinterprets traditional craftsmanship through a contemporary design language — objects made for modern life and a global audience.
Qing Ben Yuan's work often hides a second layer. The Celestial Scroll Lamp carries a scroll-and-cloud motif impressed into the porcelain from within, which only emerges when the lamp is lit. The Butterfly Espresso Cup sets iron-red butterflies on a sky-blue glaze, with a mould-impressed phoenix waiting inside. The Golden Peony Gaiwan lets relief peonies rise from white porcelain, finished with gold.
We have written a full profile in Qing Ben Yuan 清本源, and the studio's pieces are gathered in the Qing Ben Yuan collection.
Qie Zhai 且斋
Qie Zhai takes tradition, diversity, humanism and balance as its four-dimensional aesthetic core. That framework guides the studio's creative direction and what it considers worth pursuing.
In practice, Qie Zhai draws on the study of early Ming porcelain, reconstructing traditional body-and-glaze relationships to create a surface that feels rich, soft and luminous, with subtle variations revealed by light. Its painting is narrative and often surprising:
- The Beauty & Bones Bowl paints elegantly dressed women on the exterior and mirrors each one with a skeleton on the inside wall — beauty and bone on two sides of the same porcelain.
- The Blue & White Story Wine Cooler unfolds a story among clouds and landscapes as the vessel turns, held between sculpted lion handles.
- The Star-Ridged Lotus Cup takes its lotus from Xuande-period painting and sets it on a geometric, light-catching ridge.
- The Sea Pomegranate Shot Cup shrinks a traditional stem cup to 15ml.
See all of the studio's work in the Qie Zhai collection.
LessKiln 无边窑
Rooted in Zen philosophy, the studio treats porcelain as more than an object — as a path inward. Through the interplay of vessel, mind and art it looks for a state beyond constraint: inner clarity, quiet contemplation, and harmony with the things around us.
LessKiln's surfaces are expressive and glaze-led. The Wild Glaze Espresso Collection lets turquoise, jade, cream and amber emerge from a dark ground in forms that resemble feathers, leaves or flames — or nothing at all. A small deer, a recurring motif in the artist's work and a symbol of the free spirit, appears on The Free Spirit Wine Keeper, alongside banana leaves remembered from an evening when rain approached the studio window. The Wild Spirit Lidded Mug carries the same natural imagery in three designs: Peacock, Banana Leaf and Deer.
Browse the studio in the LessKiln collection.
Beyond the three studios
Alongside these three, we source individual pieces from other makers across Jingdezhen and bring them together under the JingTale name — from the Three Kingdoms Narrative Plate to the everyday cups in Everyday Ritual. The standard is the same: hand-made, from Jingdezhen, and chosen for the touch of its making.
Why naming the maker matters
Naming a studio is not a formality. It is what lets a glaze, a silhouette or a way of carving be recognised as somebody's, and it is what makes the piece in your hand part of a continuing body of work rather than an anonymous product.
It also changes how you use the object. Knowing that the deer on your mug is a motif one artist keeps returning to, or that the surface of your bowl comes from years of rebuilding Ming glazes, gives a daily cup of coffee a small amount of extra weight — in the best sense. You can meet all of our makers on Meet the Atelier.
Questions about our makers
Which Jingdezhen studios does JingTale work with?
Most of our collection comes from three independent studios: Qing Ben Yuan 清本源, Qie Zhai 且斋 and LessKiln 无边窑. Other pieces are sourced from individual makers in Jingdezhen.
Is each piece made by hand?
Yes. Forming, painting and glazing are done by hand in the studios, and each piece is fired in Jingdezhen. That is why no two pieces are identical.
Where can I see which studio made a piece?
The maker is named on every product page, and each studio has its own collection page.
How do the pieces reach me?
Every piece ships direct from Jingdezhen, wrapped and boxed individually, and usually arrives in 7–13 working days. Full details are on Shipping & Care.