TEAPOT by celia zeng

DSDS

C O N T E N T S

INTRODUCTION | 介绍

THE HISTORY OF TEAPOT | 壶之历史

THE COMPARSION OF TEAPOT | 壶之比较

TEAPOT STUDIO | 手拉壶工作坊

Publish in 2016 by Celia Zeng

TALKING ABOUT TEAPOT | 主人谈壶

Master of Visual Journalism University of Central Lancashire E-mail: Yzeng3@uclan.ac.uk Proofreader: Xiaochun Zeng This book was designed and produced by Celia Zeng, all photos and videos are taken by Celia Zeng

ART ON FINGER TIP | 指尖上的艺术

hen referring to Guangzhou China, people are easy to think about its dim sum, and if talking about the U.K, the traditional English afternoon tea are easy to come into mind. However, if discussing about Chaozhou, people will firstly think about the Chaozhou Kung Fu tea. Chaozhou Kung Fu tea was originated in the Song Dynasty, and famous in the area of Chaozhou, Guangdong Province. The ancient poet Suche has once written a poem that said : "The tea from Chaozhou is the best one, and I will never feel tried of tea art." At the present time, drink Kung Fu tea has become one of the famous customs in Chaoshan area. Local people use tea to entertain guests and also make friends with tea. If saying about tea, the teapot must be mentioned. Tea and teapot is like excellent talent and a good judge of talent, if the tea can with a sophisticated teapot, the brew of Kung Fu tea will make people feel amazing. As a matter of fact, Chaozhou people pursuing excellence on their technic of brewing tea. Handmade teapot is a folk art be handed down age to age, and it also has one thousand years of history. As a ancestral technic, will it being forget as time goes by, and will it disappear in the future since fewer and fewer youngster are willing to learn to make it? Let’s go to the workshop of Bai Yin Jin She Handmade teapot studio, to see how the master understands the current situation, and to peek his life of making friends with argil.

INTRODUCTION | 介绍

提到英国，人们会想到传统的英式下午茶；而说起潮州，人们自然会谈起功夫茶。潮州功夫茶，源于宋代，盛行于广东省潮州府一带。苏辙有诗曰：“闽中茶，天下高 , 倾身事茶不知劳。”而今，品功夫茶也成为潮汕地区出名的风俗之一。潮汕人以茶待客，以茶会友。说到功夫茶，不得不提的就是茶壶。茶与茶壶就好比千里马与伯乐，好的茶叶遇上一个精良的茶壶，冲泡而成的功夫茶唇齿留香，令人赞叹。事实上，潮汕人冲泡功夫茶是非常讲究的，人们喜爱用手拉壶来冲泡茶叶，冲泡出来的茶别具风味。手拉壶，是潮州一项代代相传的民间茶具工艺，拥有一千多年的历史。作为一种传统的技艺，是否会因为时间的流逝而被人遗忘，又是否会因为被人遗忘而渐渐消失呢，让我们一起来到柏荫精舍手拉壶工作坊，一起来聆听大师对茶壶的见解，一起来感受这一个与泥土打交道的世界。

THE HISTORY OF TEAPOT | 壶之历史

s a cultural base, handmade teapot has a long history, and Chaozhou is a city that has the mature environment of making it. According to some research, the handmade teapot in Fengxi District of Chaozhou has been pass on for generations, and it is a form of special art work. If you mention teapot, people will first think of the ones in Yixing Jiangsu Province. Actually the technic of making handmade teapot comes from Yixing, it is introduced to Chaozhou during Qing Dynasty. But the brilliant Chaozhou craftsmen had improved the technic and materials, which leads to a huge improvement of quality, and as a result it is now one of the national intangible cultural heritages. Different from Yixing, craftsmen use Zhuni (a kind of argil) to make teapot. Zhuni is the best of the best kind of purple sand. Since Chaozhou citizen are crazy about drinking tea, and they care about every detail of making tea, they gave up the normal teapots and replaced them by the more elegant ones, which is the teapot; due to the perfect environment, handmade teapot became perfect supplement of Kungfu tea. Due to the unstoppable improving quality of handmade teapot, it is now known by people all over China, and Chaozhou now is known as the city of argil, handmade teapot has a bright future.

作为一种文化的载体，潮州手拉壶历史悠久，积淀深厚。据有关资料介绍，潮州手拉壶是潮州枫溪一项代代相传的民间茶具工艺，它更是潮州陶瓷的一个艺术奇葩。提起手拉壶，人们往往第一个会想到的是江苏宜兴的紫砂壶。其实，潮州手拉壶的制作工艺源于宜兴的紫砂壶，清朝初期被引进潮州枫溪，可以说潮州枫溪是手拉壶的发祥地。然而，根据有关资料显示，潮州手拉壶工艺师的技术，选料等都有了质的飞跃，而被列入国家级非物质文化遗产，地位也逐渐赶超宜兴紫砂壶。潮州采用的是手拉胚朱泥壶，而朱泥则是紫砂中最好的陶土。潮州手拉壶的出现其实是针对于潮州的凤凰茶，潮汕人对生活，对功夫茶非常的讲究，可以说，是非常的孤僻，人们都想要采用比较精致的茶壶泡茶，因此，潮州壶的兴起是源于潮州功夫茶的兴起。而随着社会的不断发展，潮州陶瓷的知名度不断的提升，潮州更是被封为“瓷都”，因此潮州手拉壶也开始脱颖而出，而它的发展前景也一片大好。

THE COMPARSION BETWEEN TEAPOT 壶之比较

oth Yixing and Chaozhou make teapots, Yixing makes argil teapots while Chaozhou makes handmade teapot. According to Kemin, the owner of Bai Yin Jing She, Yixing teapots are machine made while Chaozhou teapots are handmade. They all have their own advantage, if you are making a round teapot, handmade teapot must be more lively. That is because the teapot’s quality differs due to the state of craftsmen, just like the artist’s condition influence a painting’s quality. However, when we encounter square teapot, using machine makes the lines straighter, the perfectly perpendicular lines of a teapot make it a perfect artwork. Many people wonder why Yixing teapot is more famous? That’s a result of labour resources. There’s more than one hundred thousand skill labour in Yixing, compare to two hundred craftsmen in Chaozhou. Moreover, families pass their Shoulahu generation by generation, so there isn’t much Shoulahu being trade in the market. All in all, the two kinds all have their own characteristic, it is hard to judge which one is better. Isn’t it a pleasure to see the beneficial competition between the two?

江苏宜兴盛产紫砂壶，而广东潮州以手拉壶著称，人们往往会将这两者进行比较。但很多人提起茶壶，往往第一个想到的是江苏宜兴的手拉壶，而不是广东潮州的朱泥壶。这是因为，在宜兴，有数量庞大的从业人员和可观的产出。而在潮州，只有两百多个手拉壶制作者，加之这项技艺之前是代代相传，手拉壶产出少，导致进入市场的手拉壶也少，因此大多数人都会先想起宜兴的紫砂壶。根据柏荫精舍的主人柯敏老师介绍，宜兴的紫砂壶是采用机器镶制的方法，而潮州手拉壶则是采用手工拉胚的方法。它们各自都有自己的优势，正如现在制作一个圆形壶身，你凭感觉手拉制造一个圆形壶身会比机器制造出来的更加生动，好看。手工拉胚依靠的是作者的感觉，他无法做出一模一样的壶身，就好比艺术家状态的好坏会影响一幅画的质量，同理可得，圆形壶身的质量也是由手拉壶制作者的状态决定的，所以，这也是手拉的特点。但是，当我们遇到正方形或者菱形这些有棱有角的形状，用机器镶制的会比用手工制作的好看很多，所以这又是机器镶制的优势。总而言之，这两者之间都各具特色，各有千秋。

TEAPOT STUDIO | 手拉壶工作坊

Loving the history of the historical city, loving the peaceful of the alley; so find a good place, rend it and hide myself into it, making teapots, drinking tea, and reading books.” Says the workshop owner Min Ke

“

喜欢古城的古老，喜欢小巷的宁静，于是寻一个好地方，租住下来玩泥，做壶，喝茶，读书。” 柯敏，柏荫精舍手工茶壶工作坊的主人

ai Yin Jing She is located in Zhengcuo alley of Chaozhou Paifang Street. It is an ancient temple in Qing dynasty in the past, which has been ruined due to bad maintenance. In November 2015, it has been the pot studio after repaired by Ke Min and decorate workers. Walking into Bai Yin Jing She, the whole building has been enveloped in the warm yellow tone. With the vermilion of the handmade teapot, it is feel like place in the antique teahouse. Along the stone path to go through the corridor, I was attracted by the decoration on the both sides. After have a look closely, I just found that the decorations are made by a series cover of teapot, which is a special kind of enjoyment. There is a courtyard at the end of the corridor, which still retains some of the original appearance. The simple ancient well seems to telling the peace of the years. Some bees suddenly fly to the lotus. In the sunlight, it is unwilling for me to disturb this peace because of those nice sceneries. It is really terrific to found a place in the impetuous city. Look at the sign board on the wall! It write on "Be quiet", but it is use Chaozhou dialect. It can be seen, the owner is really a careful person. Going inside, it is the studio of the handmade teapot. Under the guidance of the teacher, the students are focused on their work. A student told me that he especially enjoyed the learning atmosphere here, which he can learn from each other with the classmate and the teacher also like his friends. With the light music and the sounds of machine, the scene of students focusing on making pot are deeply emerging in my mind after I leave. I am thinking that this is the combination of traditional and modern.

柏荫精舍位于潮州市牌坊街的郑厝巷，它的原址为清代的一个古庵，由于年久失修已经破落，2015 年 11 月经柯敏和装修工人的修缮之后成了如今的制壶工作室。走进柏荫精舍，整栋建筑笼罩在暖黄色调中，搭配手拉壶的朱砂色，仿佛置身于古色古香的茶楼中。沿着石板路穿过长廊，两侧的装饰吸引住我，走近一看，原来是手拉壶的盖子串成一条条精致的挂饰，别有一番情趣。走廊的尽头是一个庭院，仍保留着原有的一些样貌，质朴的古井仿佛诉说这岁月的宁静，忽而飞来的蜜蜂倚在荷花上，在阳光的照射下，实在让人不愿打扰这份清静。在浮躁的城市中，觅得此处，实在令人流连忘返。看，墙上挂着告示牌，它用潮州方言提醒着人们说话要小声一点。可见，庭院的主人是一个多么细心的人。往里走，就是制作手拉壶的工作室了。学生们正在老师的指导下，专注于自己的作品。一位这里的学生告诉我，他特别喜欢这里的学习氛围，跟同学们互相切磋，跟老师亦师亦友。轻幽的音乐伴着机器时而发出的吱吱声响，学生们低头创作的专注的场景，在我离开后仍浮现在我脑海中，这难道不是传统与现代的结合么？

TALKING ABOUT TEAPOT | 主人谈壶

ai Yin Jing She’s owner Mr. Ke Min, has being in the ceramics industry for over 30 years; and because of his deep love of the traditional handicrafts technics, he has never been in another industry since he started studying argil statues in the age of 17. “I had a ceramics factory for many years, I started it in 2000 and I sold it two years ago, in order to prepare for the workshop.” Ke said. At the beginning of learning how to make teapot, Ke Min dreamed of having his own workshop one day. Two years ago, he finally got his chance. One of his friends introduced the place to him and he loved it immediately. However, his father and wife didn’t quite appreciate the place, and they didn’t think the place was a perfect place for a workshop. However, he didn’t give up, because he already has his own designing draft in his mind. After four months of hard work, the place successfully became a workshop, and it is even more suitable than he expected.

Eventually, more and more people heard of the workshop and they come to visit this place. “To me, my only desire is the set up a workshop that perfectly matches my ideas, so I can do whatever I want in it for the rest of my life.” he said. Kung Fu tea follows Chaozhou local people to every corner of the world. You must be curious, for the reason why there’s only 3 cups along with the teapot. Ke Min has his own perspective: “People gather together because of tea, and I believe that a conversation of 3 people is the best.”

According to Mr. Ke, whether a teapot is good or not depends on whether it is practical or not, then it is whether the water can flow out smoothly and whether it has good airtightness. A good teapot never allows its lid come out of his body, and no water can flow out from the gap of lid and body. To achieve this, we have to focus on improving the finesse of the teapots, which is one of basic standard of our workshop.

Then what about the case that there’s a lot of visitors? This is a matter of comity. The elders drink first, and then the visitors. Actually, drinking tea is a cultural thing.

Everyone starts learning a new technic with difficulties, so does Ke Min. At the very beginning, he tries three different skills on the same argil.

Inside Bai Yin Jing She, there’s about 10 students learning to make teapot, and Ke Min is the director of them.

Temperature is quite important when making the teapots, tiny change with temperature will lead to serious result, like influence the appearance and safety.

“some of them might even have higher ability than me,” he said, “but when they encounter some problem, I’m the one that instruct them what to do and how to do, and what’s result of it.” And because of the pursuing of excellence, they have strictly treat every detail of the teapot: the carefully chosen material, the extremely well-crafted structure, the beauty of the whole teapot, and even the time of firing must be exact. “If I don’t carefully treat every detail of every teapot, my students and I can make far more teapot than now and we can make more money in the short run,” Ke said, “however, what I want is the

perfect quality of every teapot and the reputation of my workshop. We are craftsman that bring in the soul for every teapot, we treat them like we are treating our own kids.”

As time pass by, many traditional handicraft technic has already disappeared. Handmade teapoy, as a traditional technic, a cultural medium, is it going to disappear? Ke believes that not going to happen, as long as people still drink Kung Fu tea, handmade teapot is not going to disappear. No matter if you will master the technic, once you enter the industry you should be 100% concentrate and devote yourself into studying it, or you are not going to make one elegant teapot with soul for your whole life.

“

壶为茶而生，舍以壶结缘”

“

Teapots are born for tea, and the teapots bring in the soul of the workshop.” Mr. Ke Min

柯敏

柏荫精舍的主人柯敏老师在陶瓷行业里呆了将近 30 年，因为热爱传统工艺，从 17 岁学习陶瓷雕塑之后就再也没有离开过这个行业。 “2000 年的时候，我开办了陶瓷厂。两年前我卖掉陶瓷厂后，就筹备现在这个手拉壶工作室。”柯敏说。在柯敏开始学做茶壶之初，就一直希望自己能办一家手拉壶工作室。两年前他终于迎来了这个契机，在朋友的介绍下，柯敏老师一眼就相中了柏荫精舍这个地方。但是，却遭受到他的父亲和妻子的反对。“我的父亲和妻子初到这时，并不看好这个地方。他们觉得这里的条件很难成为一个出色的工作室。”柯敏无奈地说。但柯敏没有放弃，当时他脑海里已经有了设计的蓝图。皇天不负有心人，经过四个月的整修，工作室终于完工，成果比预想中的好。渐渐地，有许多人慕名而来。柯敏老师说：“对于我来说，我就希望可以做一家符合自己思维，符合自己艺术追求的工作室，然后做一辈子自己喜欢做的事情。” 有潮汕人的地方，就有功夫茶的存在。你会好奇为什么每只茶壶的旁边只会放着三个茶杯，柯老师说出了一个很有意思的词 --“茶三酒四”。因潮州人痴爱喝茶，潮州手拉壶更是为潮州凤凰茶而生，人们因茶而聚在一起，一个茶壶三个杯子，三个人聊天是最合适的。那不经要问，人多的时候怎么办呢？这就关乎到谦让的问题。长辈在时长辈先品茶，有客人之时自然是客人先品茶。其实，喝茶也可以喝出文化。在柏荫精舍里，有 10 来个学生在学习制作手拉壶，柯敏老师指导着他们。 “论手艺技术，这些学生可能比我还厉害，但是，当他们出现问题的时候，我会告诉他们应该怎么做，这样做会产生什么样子的后果，在这个工作室中，我想我是担任着指挥的角色。”柯敏说。

因追求完美，他们不放过每一个细节，材料上的精挑细选，做工上的追求极致，形状塑造的玲珑美感，甚至烧制时间的不差分毫。每个细节都会影响最终茶壶成品的好坏。如果不在乎精密度，他和学生们可以用更短的时间制作更多的茶壶，销售量也可以更高。但是，他们更像一个工匠，用细心和耐心打磨着每一个茶壶，从胚胎到成型，注入他们一点一滴的心血。柯老师说：“一只好的茶壶，首先是实用性强，其次是出水和密封性好。一把好茶壶，在倾倒茶水的时候，不仅盖子和壶身不会分离，水一滴也不会从盖子和壶身的细缝里漏出来。这就关乎到精密度的问题，同时也是我们工作室制作茶壶的要求之一。” 每一个人在刚开始学习一门手艺的时候，总会遇到困难，柯敏也不例外。在刚接触制作茶壶的时候，一块泥土他尝试了一整年，采用了三种做法。 “温度对于泥土来说非常的重要，它会影响到茶壶的质量，保鲜性能，以及会不会发霉。每块泥土都有适合它们自己的温度，温度大约在 5-10 度，只要相差一个摄氏度，就会影响到整只茶壶的实用性，颜色，效果以及安全。”柯说。随着时代的变迁和发展，很多传统技艺渐渐不被受重视，有的甚至已经失传。手拉壶作为一种传统手艺，更是一种文化的印记，它是否会像那些正在消失的传统文化，渐渐淡出人们的视野呢？对此，柯老师认为，手拉壶是因潮州凤凰茶而生，只要有人还在喝茶，它就不会消失。 “因为有需求才有市场，如果想要保持手拉壶的活力，让年轻人更好地传承，就应当发展成一个成熟的产业，才能更好的存活下来。”柯敏说。无论你是否会成为手拉壶大师，当你进入手拉壶行业，你就需要踏踏实实，勤勤恳恳。用心去认真专注做一件事情，才可以制作出一只有气质的茶壶，因为茶壶就跟人一样，需要你用心去对待。

ART ON FINGER TIP | 指尖上的艺术

here’s an old Chinese saying: “slow work is perfect work.” This saying exactly describes the creation of teapot. The long process, complex technic, which the argil slowly becomes a teapot with the aid of craftsman. 古话说得好：“慢工出细活”，做手拉壶也是如此。潮州手拉壶是采用传统的手拉胚方法制造而成的，而工艺师的手就如同一个指挥员，引领着一块泥土慢慢地变成一个精致的茶壶。一个手拉壶的诞生需要经过繁杂的工序，先是和泥，然后将泥土放在拉胚机器上，靠着双手拉胚成型，先拉壶身后拉壶盖。工艺师还需要修胚，钻孔，投顶，制作壶嘴和壶把，然后将壶把和壶嘴安置在壶身上，使整个手拉壶的造型比例协调。待到壶身干透之后放进窑里烧制，烧制的温度大约 1005 度 -1200 度之间。烧制的时间大约是 10 多个小时。

- END THANK YOU FOR VIEWING