The Voice of Reason

February 28, 2008

Grace Liu was seeking a challenge when she left Poughkeepsie and moved to China, but she probably wasn’t expecting to redefine and revolutionize hand-painted bone china. Advanced technology and a shift in tableware aesthetics was encouraging hand-painted bone china techniques to fall by the wayside. Grace noticed that the centuries-old tradition was quickly disappearing, and knew it was time to figure out how to make it work in the modern world.

Grace began building a company with local Tangshan artist, Jian Ping Li, that would continue the art of hand-painted bone china while creating designs that appeal to a well-traveled, metropolitan crowd. She explains though, that no matter how Western the design, the artists at Asianera use ‘gong bi,’ a meticulous brushstroke typical of Chinese painting, and that alone will always make the design feel somewhat Eastern.

This Asian-American, Michigan University-graduate and her business partner, an immensely talented, classically-trained artist from the Hebei Province, are confident that the brushstroke will not only always retain it’s roots, but that it will also be the virtue that keeps hand painting alive and in demand.

“Technology can almost replicate a hand-painted look nowadays, but the true artistry of hand-decorated and hand-painted china can never be imitated because the human touch and spirit of the artist will always be present in each and every brushstroke and in each unique piece of work.”