Our latest exquisite teapot series are all hand-crafted by a burgeoning teapot-making artist in Yixing (a small town on the west bank of Lake Tai about 120 miles west of Shanghai) and made of select purple clay, which is available only when digging meters down to find, then it is sifted and purified and let it settle in a hole for a certain period before the artist can mix it with other ingredients.
Such clay has distinctive qualities, and the teapots made of purple sand keep tea fresh, they make tea vibrate with taste. From the scientific point, the composition of the clay allows for minimal shrinking during firing, and this makes for a tightly fitting lid, which reduces oxidation and holds the tea’s flavor. The porosity of Yixing clay also helps it to absorb the flavor of the tea brewed in the teapot.
The combination of rigid formalism, meticulous workmanship, literati taste and subdued color elevated this utilitarian pottery product series into a cultural symbol, arouse both the mind and the senses, and are the favorite choice of tea lovers and collectors.
And for the collectors, when the teapot becomes an abstract sculpture, an illustrated story, a page of calligraphic poetry, the teapot is not really a teapot.