Li Xin tells us more about his exclusive production in Sèvres

“When I first touched porcelain and found myself before the white ceramic slab, already I found it perfectly beautiful. This virgin surface contained so much imagination and energy. How might I add a few grams of pigment to translate my immediate feelings and emotions? I hoped to avoid creating an overly intellectual, technical or conceptual series. I come from a country with an ancient tradition of ceramic creation, boasting so many lovely works. Up until now, all colours were used except grey, though this same colour is often to be found in traditional Chinese landscape painting. Straddling the realms of colour and non-colour, grey invites every shade of the imagination, while also having a spontaneous calming effect. On paper, the grey of the ash-based ink manages to emerge from the nature of landscapes – and the same must occur on the porcelain slabs, so that the traces left by the firing process express the essence of the cinder-born material.” Li Xin on his 2017 Sèvres creations