Entrepreneur Francis Chen is reclaiming the heritage of the porcelain trade with designs that mingle local traditions, ancient techniques, and modern innovations, and they are selling the world over.
Porcelain, also known as china in the West, has for centuries been one of the most coveted of household objects. Lured by the luster of its translucence, Western merchants shipped it from the East as one of the primary goods of the China trade. Once in the West, it graced the tables of kings and emperors, aristocrats, and eventually the petite bourgeoisie. To meet the growing demand, Western craftsmen fashioned their own wares, calling it fine china, but removing from the process the land of its origin.
Today, a porcelain maker in Taiwan is trying to reorient the trade. Franz Porcelain Inc., the brainchild of Francis Chen, incorporates Eastern traditions and Western innovations in the creation of startlingly beautiful chinaware. "It combines Chinese ink painting with Western water color and oil paints," says Chen. "The intermixture of diverse artistic expressions, Oriental and Occidental, is what makes our wares unique."
Chen's creative approach has caught the eye of buyers, and his brand name is earning for Taiwan a reputation as a producer of fine porcelain. In June 2002, for example, Franz Porcelain took home the Best Gift award at the New York International Gift Fair, beating competition from china makers far more common in Western markets, including Wedgewood of England and Goebel of Germany.
Chen's company has made its mark by incorporating complex glazing and decorative methods. "As opposed to the traditional molding and flat appliqué printing," says Chen, who serves as the president of Franz Porcelain, "our porcelain employs crystal glazing and three-dimensional sculpturing techniques, with motifs inspired by classic Art Nouveau."
Art Nouveau, a decorative arts movement that became popular in Europe and the US between the 1880s and the 1890s, was characterized by intricately detailed patterns of curving lines. The movement incorporated writhing plant forms and also featured human forms.
Chen revives the floral traditions of Art Nouveau and incorporates a host of animal figures as well. Birds, butterflies, dragonflies, frogs, ladybugs, dolphins, elephants, giraffes, horses, monkeys, leopards, and tigers all come to life on his china. The animals not only provide motifs, but often the basic form for teapots, cups, and vases. "Creativity and innovation drive us," says Chen.
First unveiled in the US in 2001, Franz Porcelain has since made quick inroads into the retail market. The company has nearly 3,000 retailers that carry its products in Australia, Europe, Hong Kong, New Zealand, the US, and at home in Taiwan. And it is still expanding.
One can now find Franz ceramic wares in the sales counters of many well-known department stores, including David Jones in Australia, Harrods in England, Lane Crawford in Hong Kong, and Neiman Marcus and Marshall Field's in the US.
Getting to well-known retailers, however, proved to be a long journey for Chen. "We've been preparing our business model for more than 25 years," Chen says. "All our experiences in manufacturing and design accumulated during that time have empowered us to craft quality products and win customer trust."
Chen's business mirrors the experience of so many other manufacturers in Taiwan. It started out by crafting products for overseas brand names, developing a high level of expertise but losing out on the name recognition that went to the companies that contracted their labor. Chen's company had supplied porcelain products for international brands such as Goebel and Kaiser of Germany, Halcyon Days of England, and Lenox of the US. At times, such sales could top US$100 million a year.
"Doing business for overseas brands has enabled me to understand the foundation and the differences in markets abroad, as well as make good money," Chen says. "Nevertheless, it doesn't bring a sense of achievement. What I need now is not merely money, but a future where I can develop my ideals and capabilities."
Chen's ambition was to sell his products under his own brand name, and to bring recognition for fine china back to Asia. Taiwan has a long tradition of porcelain making, and towns such as Yingko in Taipei County are famous for their fine vases, cups, and other chinaware. Chen hoped to bring the fine reputation of Taiwan's craftsmen to the international market and design pieces that built on traditions but incorporated modern motifs.
A factor in Chen's business model is the rising cost of labor in Taiwan. Manufacturing has been flowing to China where labor is cheaper. The change has prompted local manufacturers to cash in on a higher-end market, and that means tapping the design skills of Taiwan's craftsmen.
Since 1997, Chen has made substantial investments in R&D and production facilities, and has cultivated a talented staff. His artisans have experimented with the many ways to glaze, decorate, and fire ceramics. Today, they employ traditional underglazing techniques as well as colored glazing, crystalline glazing, and overglazing. The chief artistic consultant for the company, Sun Chao, had devoted more than 30 years to researching ancient glazing techniques, part of which was a decade -long tenure at the National Palace Museum, which houses the ancient Chinese ceramics of the emperors. His own designs, often using crystal glazes and prints, are highly acclaimed, and have been purchased to supplement collections in distinguished museums including London's British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Sun explains that underglazing is the most traditional of the techniques used. In this technique, the clay is painted with colors, then coated with a layer of transparent glaze, and finally put into the kiln for firing at a temperature of about 1,300 degrees Celsius.
A more complex method is overglazing, in which vessels are coated with a layer of transparent glaze, fired in a kiln, and then taken out for painting. After being painted and decorated, the china goes in for a second firing. This process is capable of producing more extravagant designs, and is often used for traditional motifs with flowers and birds.
The whole production of porcelain wares, Sun says, is rather complicated, and there are many technical difficulties to be tackled during the process. For instance, one must know how to control temperature to prevent the objects from changing shape or color in the course of firing. Through the complicated process of firing and decorating, pottery with the smoothness and sheen of jade can be produced.
Sun's experience with antiquities gives him an understanding of the possibilities of porcelain, yet he believes that modern techniques are more suitable for the market today. "We should not merely follow the steps of our ancestors, regard less of their considerable achievements," he says. " Otherwise, history would come to a stop in our generation."
Sun has been researching new glazes and techniques to improve the aesthetics of chinaware. "We aim not to compete with others, but ourselves," he says. "We need to innovate."
The techniques used to make porcelain are not the only part of Francis Chen's business to benefit from modernization and experimentation. The business has tentacles throughout the global market, allowing him to cull resources and talent from around the globe. Franz Porcelain, for example, has its R&D, design, and sculpting centers in Taiwan, production bases in mainland China, and marketing operations in the US. It also finds agents in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand to access those markets. "It's important to adjust one's business model constantly in line with a changing environment so as to secure a competitive edge," Chen says. "By grasping advantages of different markets, we've been able to improve our operational efficiency and cost effectiveness, and provide our customers with the best value and pricing."
To make the most of the global market, and the purchasing power of the average person, Chen's company designs affordable pieces. On average, Franz porcelain carries a unit price that ranges between NT$2,000 (US$58) and NT$15,000 (US$440).
Wu Chine-fong, curator of the Yingko Ceramics Museum in Taipei County, lauds Francis Chen's achievements as one of the most successful stories of the contemporary ceramics industry. Although affordable, the chinaware loses none of the aesthetic splendor of more expensive pieces. "Franz porcelain gives off a sense of elegance, romance, and vitality through its fluid lines, bright colors, three-dimensional design, and sophisticated craftsmanship," Wu says. "They are not only resplendent and ingenious art pieces, but also practical household utensils."
Chen's marketing strategy is something that the government is eager to support, since it brings to Taiwan not only a means of surviving increased international competition but also a brand that brings recognition to the country. "Francis Chen has played a dual role of artist and entrepreneur in being aesthetics- as well as market-oriented in the production of porcelain wares," Wu says. "By developing ceramics into an industry, Chen has set a good example for the cultural creativity industry that the government has been promoting."
Jerry Ou, deputy director-general of Industrial Development Bureau under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, argues that Taiwan needs businesses like Chen's to increase its competitiveness worldwide.
The ministry has mapped out several assistance and consultation measures to help domestic concerns market their own brand-name products. Among the government's assistance measures are the extension of preferential-tax incentives, holding of training courses, instructions on the research and development for new products, technologies, and designs, and establishment of an information database for effective marketing campaigns.
Chen's company has been listed by the bureau as one of the success stories of this approach. Consequently, the bureau has thrown its support behind Franz Porcelain, and with the help of the government-funded China External Trade Development Council, invited experts and scholars to help Franz Porcelain conduct an overall review of its organizational structure, operational procedures, competitiveness, and labor-division practices.
By building on a traditional craft and tapping local talent, Francis Chen is showing that chinaware has come full circle, springing anew from its ancient roots, and flowering into entirely new products that combine the best of East and West.