In Jingdezhen, the Jiangxi city that has made fine porcelain for over a thousand years, an unlikely collaboration is showing how old and new craft can sit side by side. American ceramic artist Michael May, who hails from Oklahoma City, has been working with local master potter Xie on a single vessel that blends 3D printing with traditional Chinese porcelain techniques.
The piece comes together in stages. Part of the form is shaped by hand, part is produced by a 3D printer, and the surface is then painted with qinghua — the classic cobalt-blue decoration that made Chinese blue-and-white porcelain famous worldwide. From there it follows the centuries-old routine: glazing and firing in a kiln, where the decoration fuses permanently into the finished piece.
Why does this matter to travellers? Because Jingdezhen itself is having a moment. The city in Jiangxi province has long drawn ceramicists, students and curious visitors who come to watch potters at work, browse the sprawling ceramic markets, and try throwing a bowl at one of the many studios open to visitors. The fact that international artists now come here specifically to experiment — pairing digital fabrication with kilns and techniques refined over centuries — says a lot about the city's pull. It is less a museum of porcelain history than a working studio town where the craft keeps evolving.
Visitors can see the full spectrum in one trip: imperial kiln sites in the city centre, working porcelains factories, galleries selling everything from mass-produced cups to one-off art pieces, and neighbourhoods like Taoxichuan, a former factory district turned creative quarter with studios, night markets and galleries. The qinghua style seen on May and Master Xie's collaborative vessel appears everywhere — on teacups, vases and plates — but seeing the painting and firing process up close gives it a completely different weight.
For anyone who loves craft, a few days in Jingdezhen is a rare chance to watch an art form being reinvented rather than just preserved. Whether the future of porcelain involves 3D printers or not, the city's mix of master potters, young artists and visiting creators makes it one of the more interesting stops in eastern China.
