#Blauw And White, MaHKU, 09/2012 - 08/2013 by Leona Lee

#blauw & white

Looking For A New Blue And White Decoration Approach Based On An Experimental Process MaHKU 2013 Li Hanlu (Leona Lee)

#blauw & white

Looking For A New Blue And White Decoration Approach Based On An Experimental Process MaHKU Thesis 2013 Li Hanlu (Leona Lee)

Contents 9 Introduction 11 Chapter 1 The value of Blue and White Porcelain 13 Section1 Interaction The function and the meaning of handmade decoration, With reference to the pattern of blue and white porcelain 15 Section 2 The Cultural Territory What was the Value of porcelain in (the history of ) China? 18 A multicultural exchange 19 Song Dynasty The Song era is a landmark period for ceramic aesthetics --Craftsmen experiment with colour, temperature, lightness, material and structure 21 Section 3 Craftsmanship Bared product = unspeakably rude

22 Shocking blauw: Graffiti Delft 25 Chapter 2 New approach for Blue and White Porcelain Decoration Design 26 Section1 The Sympathy of patterns Looking for a new Blauw and White decoration approach A language born from the Experimenting process 32 Inner Perception & Personal/ Cultural Experience 34 Section 2 A New Form of Oriental Gothic Towards a new system of ornamentation, by means of digitalized experimental results -- The relation between experimental results and the mixed culture of Oriental Gothic

38 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Symphonicâ&#x20AC;? Ornamentation 40 J-J Figure equation 49 Chapter 3 # Blauw and White 50 A drop of Blue Ink 52 What did not work and what did 57 Future projects 64 References 74 Bibliography

36 Large-scale indoor decoration application

Preface

Introduction We are living in a world where many people are pursuing the future while they are ignoring the present. Cultural phenomena are born; they grow, flourish and fade away. Even the ones that seem to live on permanently will eventually fade from public view and few people will remain aware of them. Nowadays a lot of original value has been redefined into a commercial value. Blue and white porcelain in Asia for instance has become “ a popular auction item” and Delft’s Blauw in Europe is “ a practical and affordable souvenir”. This phenomenon has changed the way people perceive the things that surround them, forced, as they are to accept the information from public images at first sight. I am an editorial designer with a traditional Chinese cultural and educational background. During my year of study here in the Netherlands, I developed a new form of / approach to traditional blue and white porcelain design suitable to today’s environment. I did experiments and researched different combinations to visualize the narrative with unconventional decorative design, meanwhile testing it on an audience to see whether it works or not. Besides that, I have been trying to find a link between traditional and contemporary arts and design. I would like to invite the reader to think about this question while they are reading my essay: what is the right attitude to and treatment of our traditional culture? And who defines your perspective?

Utrecht, July 2013

The value of Blue and White Porcelain Nowadays buyers would like to pay high prices for it and in that short moment they snatch the Chinese design.

fig.1 Yuan dynastyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s blue and white porcelain GUI map cans down Yuan blue and white

Why has blue and white porcelain become a popular object to collect in modern society? Do people collect a vase, a pot, or they are collecting a Chinese artistic value?

The function and the meaning of handmade decoration, With reference to the pattern of blue and white porcelain

here is an old saying in China that says, one hand alone can't clap.1 The Chinese Yuan dynastyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s blue and white porcelain GUI map cans down Yuan blue and white2 (fig.1) was sold for around 230 million Yuan at Christie's London auction on July 12, 2005. This became the highest auction record for Chinese ceramics and works of art in the world. From a commercial point of view the auction of blue and white porcelain is a success of a Chinese product in the capitalist market. I cannot deny that the â&#x20AC;&#x153;auction effectâ&#x20AC;? has made our cultural heritage not only accepted at home, but it has also made it available to people from all over the world. When millions of people began paying attention to it, we woke up from a state of apathy. I would not say this was because of our unresponsiveness to our surroundings but I am sure that now we can make a small contribution for China as artists, designers, and patriots. Even if this contribution is insignificant in the eyes of other people and look too weak to be a driving force.

section 1 Interaction

However, precisely because in the course of history our predecessors have left us the footprints of blue and white porcelain skills, they created one of the best designs in China that people come from far and wide to see. Nowadays buyers would like to pay quite high prices for it and in that short moment they snatch the Chinese design.

Who stand for Chinese culture? In order to save our cultural heritage and make our citizens aware that our traditional culture is being endangered now, artists and designers have already started many projects in all kinds of domains.

In art, fashion and industrial design, designers and artists have made many artworks trying to transfer the language of blue and white porcelain to ordinary people. There is one piece of artwork that was made by Gao Shaokang: Blue and White porcelain series (fig.2) —boilerplate, Peacefool World.3 His work was created for the Xinhai Revolution centennial 4 , there were one hundred skulls forming Chinese auspicious patterns, and he gave the name as “Peacefool world”. He mentioned: although the content is full of irony - he chose blue and white porcelain as a medium to express his theme and topic – still what he did has influenced me quite strongly, and even more, it made me start to think about the meaning behind the auction mentioned above. This does not directly point to the Xinhai Revolution, but is a reflection of Chinese contemporary culture.

fig.2 Peacefool World

...The meaning of Chinese traditional pattern is exceedingly large, but there was the death taboo: they hid the bad social news (Inferiority of its development) and focused on reporting the good and peaceful news. When you open a channel on television, there is a scene of peace and harmony. Does it try to lie to others or are people fooling themselves? A peaceful world, or a peace-fool world, is this an attitude we Chinese people have towards the world?

fig.under-glaze colour (fig.3) What was the Value of porcelain in (the history of) China?

o some extent, the blue and white porcelain has evolved to a complete symbol of the Chinese culture. Next, let's explain what blue and white porcelain is. The so-called blue and white porcelain refers to patterns in cobalt that are directly drawn on a porcelain body. A transparent glaze is then applied and fired once at high temperatures, showing the effect of blue and white porcelain under-glaze colour (fig.3). The bright colours of blue and white porcelain are elegant and the smooth, shiny glaze protects and keeps the colours fresh for a long time. The drawing process of blue and white porcelain is closely related to Chinese painting and the pen and ink effects that vividly manifest their artistic charm are a major feature of the art of Chinese blue and white porcelain. Although different brushstrokes, craftsmen, painting materials and moulding technologies can be distinguished in blue and white porcelain, it is a typical art form that extends from historical

Section 2 The Cultural Territory

times to the present day. The development of Blue and white porcelain is not a singular event. I t b e g a n i n t h e Ta n g a n d S o n g dynasties, in the Yuan Dynasty it slowly matured and during the Ming Dynasty blue and white porcelain celebrated its peak time. In the Yongle, Xuande period (Ming dynasty) blue and white porcelain again achieved a golden age known for the exquisite making skills and in the Kangxi period (Qing Dynasty) the colourful blue and white porcelain also went through a short peak time. Starting in the late of Ming dynasty, blue and white porcelain painting gradually absorbs some of the elements from the Chinese painting techniques.(fig.4)

Due to the development of coloured porcelain during the Qing Emperor (Qianlong period), blue and white porcelain gradually went sliding into recession. Although it revived once again in the late Qing Dynasty (Guangxu period), ultimately it could not sustain its revival. Overall, in this period the porcelain producing city of Guanyao 5 made high quality pieces and the porcelain made at the city of Minyao 6 is more casual, and free hand in appearance. (fig.5) Blue and white porcelain is famous for being fresh and crisp, colourful, unique in the Yuan Dynasty. Why is Yuan blue and white porcelain so expensive today? Here we have to start talking about the family background of the Yuan blue and white porcelain. The Yuan Dynasty has a very brief history; it only existed for 98 years. Our understanding of blue and white porcelain took a big step forward because of the appearance of Yuan blue and white, and a lot of people think that the Yuan Dynasty is the period from which blue and white porcelain originates. However, an instantly truly mature and perfect blue and white Yuan seems to challenge the conventional history of the development of Chinese porcelain. Scholars, such as Huang Hsiu, triggered the argument about blue and white porcelain from the earlier Tang period by discussing a blue coloured pillow piece (neck rest) that was found in 1975 in Yangzhou by employees of the Nanjing Museum. Subsequent discoveries in 1983 and 1990 lead to more evidence. The blue and white porcelain manufacture in Jingdezhen7, the imperial porcelain centre presents a variety of styles, mainly because of the strong inclusiveness of Yuan ethnic styles and the absorption of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism 8 .

fig.4 Chinese painting

fig.5 Min yao

Dynasty

Chinese

Pinyin

Meaning

Rulers

Ruling House

Years

Tang

唐

Táng

Ducal title

Lǐ

618–907

289

Five

五代十國

Wǔ Dài

As English

various

907–960

and Ten

国

Kingdom of

大理国

Dà Lǐ

Toponym

Duan (段)

937–1253

316

Northern

北宋

Běi,

Toponym

Zhào

960–1127

167

Nán

Toponym

Zhào

1127–1279

152

Liáo

"Vast" or "Iron"

Yelü

907 or 916–

209

Wanggiyan

完顏 /

1115–1234

119

Name

Dynasty Dynasties Kingdoms Dali

/ 五代十

Song

Dynasty Southern

Guó

Sòng 南宋

Song

Dynasty

Shí Gu

Sòng

(李)

(趙 / 赵) (趙 / 赵)

or Clan

Liao Dynasty

遼

辽

Jin Dynasty

金

Western Xia

西夏

Xī Xià

Toponym

1038–1227

189

Yuan

元

Yuán

"Great" or

Borjigin

1271–1368

Dynasty

Jī"Gold"

(Khitan

homophone)

"Primacy"

(耶律) 完颜 (李)

(孛兒只

斤/孛儿

1125

只斤) Ming

明

Qing Dynasty

清

Dynasty

Míng

"Bright"

Zhū (朱)

1368–1644

276

Qīng

"Pure" or "Gold"

Aisin

1636 or

268

homophone)

愛新覺羅

(Manchu

Gioro

or 1662

1644–1911

/ 爱新觉

罗)

Themes in Yuan blue and white porcelain differ from other periods. For its subject matter it paints almost everything, especially flowers, hornworts (a plant), animals, beasts, dragon and phoenix and even the character. Yuan blue and white early themes are broadly: flowers, feathers, beasts, dragons and phoenixes. Later themes are dramatic stories, painted figures and later still there was a focus on characterization, mainly affected the preferences of Zhu Yuanzhang’s (first emperor of the Ming dynasty) who was stationed in Jingdezhen for a long time. From 1993 to 1996, Dr. Jiang Qixi of the University of Oxford department of Archaeology, examined museum collections in Turkey, Iran, Japan, and he concluded:

Chinese History Timeline

…Now as we all know there are only 300 pieces (of Yuan blue and white) left in the world...

Scholar Wang Chunping pointed out that the

reason why Yuan blue and white is so popular now, is thanks to the international auction market. It can be inferred that Yuan blue and white already was an important work of art in society at the time it was created; from a historical look at the clues that survive it can be concluded that Yuan blue and white at the time was a rare product ...

fig.6 Grey Persian Tauranga pottery

fig.7 Mongols

fig.5 Guanyao

A multicultural exchange

Scholar Wang Chuncheng thinks it is because of this culture’s inclusiveness that Yuan blue and white has eventually become the world's wonderful design.

The charm of Yuan blue and white porcelain is more to be regarded as the product of a multicultural exchange in that period. The appearance of blue and white porcelain in Tang Dynasty was affected by the grey Persian Tauranga pottery9. When it reached the Mongols10, this kind of blue decoration became a major influence. Mongolia was in a very close relationship with Western world. In the early 13th century, Genghis Khan and his successors repeatedly conquered Central Asia, West Asia, to get through the traffic arteries of the Chinese and Western cultures. Large number of Arabs, Persians and Turks who respected Islamic culture, came to China, and brought the Western culture. In fact, both these exotic cultural exchanges, and the cultural exchanges between North and South 11, are all the manifestation of the Yuan Dynasty’s cultural inclusiveness.

For most of Chinese people nowadays, the traditional blue and white porcelain’s importance has changed in a slow process. From my point of view there is a general timeline from family: Ancestors worship (abstract spiritual fulfilment), to rituals (food, figurative actual utility), and now to individual taste (collection only; no one will really use it for dish or flowers).

The Song era is a landmark period for ceramic aesthetics; Craftsmen experiment with colour, temperature, lightness, material and structure

Song Dynasty

The development of Chinese ceramics technology reached its pinnacle in the Song Dynasty, and coincided with a period of unprecedented artistic achievement. If we look into the designs of this area the craftsmen at this time were more focused on tactile qualities of the materials than the visual perception. In comparison to later dynasties the visual language is simple. For instance they play with the colour blue, with different shades that evoke different moods. That is a sparking inspiration for my series of experiments that it will interpret it in next chapter. The most famous five Kilns12 of the period are Kiln Ding, Kiln Ru, Kiln Guan, Kiln Ge (Longquan) and Kiln Jun. A native of the Song area described the products of Kiln Ding and Kiln Guan poetically "as shiny juice heaped with fat". Their texture and colour

Section 2 The Cultural Territory

are same as jade. Kiln Jun, with its sky blue glaze uses iron and copper based enamel coloration bringing out the blue with red, blue with purple or azure, pale blue and other colours etc., all with a smooth silky glaze. Jun Porcelain in the Song Dynasty is also called "blossoming porcelain", which is characterized by irregularly flowing glazes. Coupled with variability in the firing process, the result cannot be completely controlled which makes them difficult to imitate. Kiln Longquan celadon with its powder blue and also plum blue colours is thought of as very attractive and aesthetically pleasing. The most out-standing kiln, Kiln Ru, is always listed as the best of the five famous kilns in the Song Dynasty. As early as the Song dynasty itself scholars praised it .

In the reign of emperor Huizong Zhao, Kiln Ru was in the heyday of its firing history. Its products are very delicate, lightly glazed with some parts unglazed. The celadon ware is emphasized by its elegant styling and focuses on material and colour. Decoration is not a dominant factor. Apart from the top five Kilns there were many smaller ones. They had a smaller production. These are not only producing for the court, but they also mass-produced products for the daily use. The products were also exported overseas. By then, Westerners gave porcelain a new name: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Chinaâ&#x20AC;?. figs.9 Kiln Ding, Kiln Ru, Kiln Guan, Kiln Ge/Longquan, Kiln Ru and Kiln Jun

Bared product =unspeakably rude13

hy do I emphasize the handmade patterns and images? In 1880 - 1910, William Morris14 said in the Arts and Crafts movement,15 (fig.10)

The contradictions of modern society, the ugliness of life, are the inevitable result of the mechanical and material civilization exuberance. Our minds and spirits have become barren because of the material civilization. If we give beautiful and art things to people’s heart, moisturize it, the social problem will be solved naturally.” “…Almost all the designs we use for surface decoration, wallpapers, textiles, and the like, I design myself. I have had to learn the theory and to some extent the practice of weaving, dyeing, & textile printing: all of which I must admit has given me and still gives me a great deal of enjoyment…. He believed that art and design should work for civilians, that they should be handmade and honest. Daily household appliances, furniture,

Section 3 Craftsmanship

clothing, etc., should be both cheap and beautiful. The arts and crafts movement subsequently became an important aspect in art history. In his book The Sympathy of Things17 Architect Lars Spuybroek 16 echoes this feeling as he imagines the horror 19th century protagonists from the Arts and Crafts era would feel if they could see present day objects:

…Today, we live in a vast universe of smooth, polished objects. And it is not only machines made by machines that are bland but our cups and plates, too; our paintings come without frames…all our objects are treated in such a way that, were we to show them to John Ruskin, Owen Jones 16-1 or Gottfried Semper, they would recoil in horror, ashen-faced, with their hands covering their eyes and their heads bowed in total disbelief. To them, seeing an object of design bare would have meant being confronted with a thing untreated, or worse, treated without care or feeling, like a thing thrown in their faces. It would have been unspeakably rude…

Shocking blauw: Graffiti Delft18 Hugo Kaagman 19’s work is a mix of Western, non-Western, bourgeois, the traditional and the modern, avant-garde, mocking and critical, while respecting the artistic aspect of the craftwork. In 1983 he received the City of Amsterdam's first official commission: to create a graffiti art on a wall in the provisional Waterlooplein market. Several trips to Morocco and Senegal influenced his work and oriental decoration patterns appeared in his work. He mixed this in a creative way with traditional Dutch craftsmanship and then furiously made use of this concept he, somewhat mockingly, calls "Shocking Blue". (fig.11) …One day I went into a souvenir shop that sold the usual Delft blue, I realized that form of old Delft blue is only for foreign tourists, Dutch people are not really attracted to it … It’s part of my culture, I mean, we can go without hightechnology, without popular singers or actresses, but we cannot carry on without history…so I went to South Africa and when I came back I developed my own project with a zebra pattern…. …Although at the beginning of my career, my works were not accepted by the Dutch people…I, myself was also struggling with this art form for a very long time… Rock graffiti combined with out-dated Delft blue?... every time when I displayed my work in my studio I would always got this “compliment”…it’s fine, no matter whether you accept it or not, because our history is there, you cannot ignore it, if we want to keep it and we want it to be accepted by more people, you had better do something with it now, and there is always someone who will be the first to experiment…

fig.11 Hugo Kaagman and Graffiti Delft

fig.10 Art Nouveau, Alphonse Mucha

fig.10 William Morris Both craftsmen and artists were using the handmade patterns as their medium to represent their thoughts and culture from their perspective. This embracing of cultural heritage was experimental, in other words, they were experimentalists. Personally, I am not keen on any price tag; while I am more interested in the handmade pattern and texture of blue and white porcelain, it is not just about casual plants and flowers, every part of the pattern represents a special meaning, these decorative patterns with their interesting content have been handed down through the ages by craftsmen from ancient times on.

Hand-painted decorative patterns also reached another function: person-to-person communication, 1 on 1, or 1 to more than one pair of two-way communication. When a craftsman or a designer works on a hand-painted pattern, this pattern has its own unique background story, and this pattern starts to have meaning, the product becomes a tool for communication between the designer and the customer. When the other person sees the product and starts to use it, the pattern again plays an interactive role in both ways.

Broadly speaking, whether decoration is good or bad depends on its functionality. Its functionality can be displayed through a variety of media to express different meanings. Different visual and sensory preferences lead a consumer's purchase desires.

New approach for Blue and White Porcelain Decoration Design With my design language I am not trying just to create another product. My goal is to create an experience that will allow the audience to get in touch with the designer behind the product, and in that way achieve communication between designer and user.

ABCDEFGHIJKLM NOPQISTUVWXTZ abcdefghihklm nopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890 (".,;:!?&") ABCDEFGHIJKLM NOPQISTUVWXTZ abcdefghihklm nopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890 (".,;:!?&") Looking for a new Blauw and White decoration approach A language born from the Experimenting process

n order to update the traditional cultural heritage, I am looking for a possible new form and approach in the decoration design field from the perspective of blue and white porcelain. Just like the Serif20 was born after Sans Serif21(fig.12) the goal is to discover how information from a traditional cultural heritage can be translated into A new language fit for the contemporary design environment, while the original character still remains recognizable. So basically that is the starting point for my first series of experiments. In spite of different materials I used in the experimental period for instance the blue ink from different brands, milk, washing agent, laundry detergent and gelatin with brown water, etc.(fig.13) - this section will mainly emphasize how this language was born from abstract movement within a limited timeline. The interpretation of the results, that is to say, how this language works and can be applied in different spaces and function will be

fig.12 Adobe Garamond Pro, Helvetica Neue LT Std

come to the table in next section. Short-lived structures arose from the conflict between water and ink, and different, chance results emerged every time because of the different forces and speed.

Redundancy, Changefulness, Rigidity, Naturalism, Grotesqueness and Savageness22, these six principles from Lars Spuybroek’s ”The Digital Nature of Gothic, The Sympathy of Things” are perfect as a reference description for the experimental process and results.

…Sympathy, in my briefest definition, is what things feel when they shape each other…23 In my case I would prefer to define this more closely as what people feel when they see how patterns shape each other.

Section 1 The Sympathy of patterns

fig.13 As I have mentioned before, the variations in the experimental process are based on the movement of ink and water. This varied behaviour results from the humanhand control and the conflict of two medium’s molecular chains that become the visual trace of movement. Based on the concept of a mushroom cloud(fig.13), the movement itself is natural in a way. The ink’s trace branches out from second to second, always changing and never repeating it. Considered from one end to the other the trace literately becomes countless curved lines, because of the water’s force. On an ornamental level, when the movement stops after a 10” to 25”, the configuration you can intercept by digital media starts to imitate both human and animal characteristics. On a structural level, the J-figure starts to repeat and also fluctuates up and down and left to right in

symmetry or reflection with each side continuing to grow in a multidimensional world.

… Redundancy and abundance. Most importantly, we will not define it as the extra ornament left over from all executed operations but as an initial indeterminacy of the available ribs. Redundancy in information theory is defined as a basic noise permeating all things, an overall relationality that after a program has been run results in effects (grouped shaft, traceried window, webbed vault), but also in between effects (fan vault) and aftereffects (reticulated walls, pinnacles). By briefest definition, is what things feel when they shape each other.(fig.14)

I n gothic digital design, redundancy means the

availability of an enormous, but not infinite, number of ribs, organized at first in row-like fashion, which are willing to interact. Usually found in opposing pairs, they are initially straight verticals that start to copy two by two, in fixed increments, when we push the start button.24

fig.14

…Changefulness: every figure is variable in its own way; it consists of lines activated by points that can be moved sideways, up or down. Such movements – motifs – are limited, however, by the definition of the figure. In short, its variation is parametric, controlled by a continuous function…25 (fig.15)

fig.15 Video 2276 (fig.16) is an example of redundancy & changefulness. This random phenomenon started with 1 or 2 J-figures in first 10 seconds; from 15” to 20” the J-figures repeats more than 7 times in a horizontal level; from 25” to 30” changefulness makes the J-figures start to overlap with Y-figures and S-figures, both in the horizontal and vertical level; in other words, it entered from a two dimensional into an three dimensional state without further vertical movement; at 35” the trace continues to move to the bottom of bottle; from 40” to 60” increasingly entropy develops and the trace slowly starts to fade away from the top; from 1 to 3 minutes, the figure’s structure is divided into many tiny peanut shapes, but with thin lines that are very difficult to imitate or describe. By 5 minutes, the whole image almost fades out and the water becomes transparent again. The visual redundancy structure is finished and in some way has melted into the water.

…Rigidity: All free movement of figures settles into configurational patterns; hence, the Gothic is characterized by a flexible rigidity, a concept not far removed from Ruskin’s concepts of help and crystallization. Such rigidity has two modalities, one structural and one ornamental; the former relates rigidity to the actual transfer of loads to the earth, while the latter remains solely configurational, a pattern outcome of line interaction…26 …Naturalism: though the figural movement and configurational pattern are not necessarily “natural”, they are certainly not alien to us. Such behaviour by figures does not mimic human or animal movement, nor does the pattern of configurations mimic crystalline or biological structures, yet there is a fundamental sympathy between the two…27 In video 3027/3031_1/3299 (fig.17), with 1 drop of ink, the speed of the ink is faster than the video 2276, the J-figure is clear from 5” to 10”;

fig.16 Video 2276 from 15”, the small branch divides into many small dots. The movement of the trace mimics a naturally growing plant species -- Lily of the Valley; in this case the movement is neither precisely representational of nature nor purely abstract, but it is also certainly not alien to us; when it arrives at 55” the ink’s structure slowly enters a transparent state from the top; the configuration becomes blurry and difficult to explain as an ornamentation. At this time the trace achieves its most balanced composition: transforming from the Lily of the Valley to a fish scale-style.

Grotesqueness: When savageness goes further over the limit, the result is a grotesqueness that can be either humorous or monstrous. Since it is a subset of savageness, one encounters it even less often than the previous category…29

…Savageness: Though Ruskin placed this at the top of his list, I think it is the result of the other operations,

Different from any other form of dripping, in this experiment the amount of ink in video

not their basis. Yet imperfection is essential, it means that a system that nests figures in all kinds of configurations must meet its limit at several thresholds. Such points appear as heterogeneous breaks in fields of variation. Therefore, systems that don’t allow for much changefulness have more breaks and cuts than ones that allow for more variability…28

3300/3031_2 (fig.18 ) is changed from a drop of ink into a bottle cap full of ink added fast. It is hard to find any J-figures and in the first 5 to 10 seconds, the savageness period, the structure is difficult to describe; from 15” to 20” the trace moves from left to right. At this point the structure became recognizable; starting from 25”, the original J-figure appears but looks ephemeral because of the momentum of two medium’s forces, the structure of the ink breaks through from the original trace into two layers. Changefulness sets in: trace 1 starts a latitudinal rotating movement and the movement of trace 2 becomes longitudinal. In comparison with other experiments this trace is “rude” or savage, and also imperfect.

figs.17 video 3027/3031_1/3299

Nature is the best teacher for arts

While the configuration somehow grotesquely imitates the dragon from Qing Dynasty blue and white porcelain. Different from the classical impression in other dynasties, the dragon at this period has a tiny body with a feminine style

instead of the typical masculine Chinese dragon. Form 55” to 60”, trace 1 and trace 2 come together and appear in a fishbone configuration; slowly from 1’10” the J-figure emerges in the bottom structure. From 1’ 15” the movement fades until at 13’ it is ultimately disappears. fig.18_video 3300/3031_2

Inner Perception & Personal, Cultural Experience A multicultural exchange Moving away form the level of factual description, the message that the abstract movement transfers when you are watching the video is quite different on an interpretational level. Although the basis is the same in the beginning – levitation – the testing result dataset proves that when the tendency of a changeable part is blooming up upwards, it transfers into the tester’s mental expression with positive, aspiring, active and energetic feelings. When it goes in a downward direction the viewer being tested described it as a depressive and uncomfortable experience, while others explained it as a relief, like the peaceful state after hurricane. 30 In this context I want to introduce two particular cases (in order to protect the testers privacy, they will remain anonymous). The test I did here is both showing the video and installation to them in exhibition. In the first case the viewer (domain: Academia, from Indonesia) started to describe his childhood that he spent with his neighbour most of the time. The thing that shocked me was that his eyes welled with tears when he described his story; this deeply felt memory was triggered only because of the ink’s special smell and the rhythmic, melodically movement of the trace. When he was describing his story, I myself became part of his story, which brought a movie to my mind: Life of Pi.31

This stylized, networked and always polychromatic ornament… 32

In the second case the respondent (domain: Academia, Taiwan) and I were both sitting in front of the table and the goal was to make our own abstract decorative pattern for a bowl in collaboration. To start the experiment I gave her a signal. While watching the movement of the trace she started to describe a dream she had the night before, a nightmare that she agreed was caused by the heavy pressure on her at that moment and the insecurity she felt. I was supposed to record the data of the experiment but instead of doing that, I started to act as a psychologist and then we had a 40-minute conversation until the ink had disappeared completely. The word she gave to me is the power of now, the present. The respondentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mood at the beginning of the experiment had been negative and turned into an optimistic attitude by the end.

As Lars Spuybroek said, …Pattern is something that occurs, not something that is… 33

Towards a new system of ornamentation, by means of digitalized experimental results The relation between experimental results and the mixed culture of Oriental Gothic T h i s s e c t i o n i s t h e i n t e r p re t a t i o n o f t h e experimental results, followed by the argument on how the solid image works both as a single ornament and as a pattern during the design work; in other words, how the grammar of this language develops and how it can be applied in different spaces. The first design principle here is to deal with the collaboration of positive and negative space; the second principle is trying to distil the essential geometric figure from a complicated configuration; and the third principle is breaking down the geometric figure into smaller elements. In order to simplify the complex graphic process, the example here is the J-figure, the letter “J” but with the Serif typeface.(fig.19) The Upper stem, the horizontal band, is the starting point of the ornament, forming the basis for the underlying geometric shape; most of the time the geometric shape is quadrilateral with

different sizes and angles. The Stem, the vertical band, is regarded as the trace of the ornament. It determines the reach and size degree of the ornament and the shape of the positive and negative space. These linear forms guide the viewer’s eye. When the first layer of geometry and the second layer of positive and negative space have been created, The third part, the Arm, the little ‘curl’ at the bottom end of the “J”, is responsible for breaking down these two layers while creating a third layer of extra rich decoration to attract the eye. In Spuybroek’s terms; instead of starting from Redundancy and moving to Grotesqueness, the design system starts from Grotesqueness, Savageness, and moves to Naturalism and Rigidity, passes through Changefulness and finally arrives at Redundancy.

Section 2 A New Form of Oriental Gothic

fig.19 Serif typeface

Large-scale indoor decoration application - Space As I already described in videos 3031 and 3300 the isolated figures are hard to find. In this state the dominant factor is the vertical line. While the shape the ink creates is a natural, none-symmetric composition but filled with personality34, in which the impact of the complete configuration is the most impressive part. The blue ink enriches the medium (water) with different spatial layers -- Yang -- and the sense of movement, as meanwhile the water creates more negative space – Ying35, combining and collaborating well in the same space at the same time. In the same way but on a different level a design has to optimize the relationship between the ornament/pattern and the object it decorates. The object here creates the negative space (cfr. water) and the ornament/pattern enriches it (cfr. ink). Lars Spuybroek has described Savageness as a close relative of the picturesque,

…In the nature of gothic…the first one, a close relative of the picturesque, is savageness, a delightful term in itself… 36 He also regards savageness and imperfection as an open design system,

…Inevitably making “mistakes” in their carving because of their “rude” nature but also because of the open design system of the gothic… All the same, it is the more beautiful because such savage details are markers of who the workers are, where they live and what they do: Imperfection is in some sort essential to all that we

know of life. It is the sign of life in a mortal body, that is to say, of a state of progress and change. Nothing that lives is, or can be, rigidly perfect; part of it is decaying, part of it is nascent…37

J Figure and interior decoration

Using the individual ornaments in a larger design requires structure J-J Figure pattern

Symphonic Ornamentation - Structure … changefulness … does not, like savageness, indicate anything about the nature of the stonemason’s execution of his craft but rather signifies a broader sense of variety in design, that is, the work of the architect, the master mason: “the vital principle is not the love of knowledge, but the love of change.” Such variety is demonstrated in the curvature of the moldings, the bundled grouping of the shafts, the tracery of the windows, the pointedness of each arch, and the meshing of the ribbed vaults…39 T he sixth characteristic, “redundance”, relates to

“an accumulation of ornament” that expresses “ a profound sympathy with the fullness and wealth of the material universe… 40 The six [principles] are closely related – redundance to naturalism, naturalism to changefulness, grotesqueness to savageness –…41 The interrelationship of the six principles mentioned by Spuybroek is the foundation for

the production procedure of a pattern. Principles should be considered at the same time instead of being treated separately. The composition also benefits from … balance,

symmetry, contrast, variety, tangential junction, radiation, growth, stability, subordination, repose, fitness, unity and proportion. …42 The movement we got from #2276, 3027, 3030_1, and 3299, is the original template from which the J-J Figure equation was born. After mirroring the linear form horizontally and vertically we got the first model – the simple sequence (with 4 J-figures). In Chinese decorative language this is called 2-party continuous patterning. The next stage was a 45-degree rotation with symmetric mirroring that lead to 4-party continuous patterning (16 J-Figures).

Section 2 A New Form of Oriental Gothic

In this alternating sequence each of the J-Figures is in a head-to-tail alignment, while the negative space is based on a quadrangle, resulting in the basic J-J Figure. Going from an alternating sequence to a cross-linked sequence, offers a lot of design freedom resulting in many possible configurations that vary in both depth and dimensions. These basic steps are a guideline. As a nineteenth century textiles designer put it:

Rules make good servants, but bad masters. Rules can only be used for guidance; they serve to indicate what must not be done quite as much what to do and how to do it. A design worked out only on principles, without the guiding hand of taste and ingenuity, will be dry and uninteresting, if not even objectionable... 43

J-J Figure development

J-J Figure equation testing process and development

J-J Figure equation

J-J Figure equation testing result (right)

J-J Figure equation development further more(left and right)

J-J Figure equation --basic version with design

# Blauw and White I consider my design language as a start since it has only been in existence for such a short time. It is still developing but it offers new possibilities for the public to engage in a contemporary continuation of traditional cultural heritage, hopefully enriching their lives.

Presenting the #Blauw and White language to the public in an exhibition

A Poetic statement For presenting the #Blauw and White language to the public in an exhibition44, I had to figure out a strategy. How do you attract an audience? How do you switch roles from designer to onlooker? How to get feedback and how can the feedback be used to help the project forward? The concept I came up with for exhibition is the design language I described in the previous chapter. It is based on the different speeds that ink and water mix at. The results from my underlying experiments present the conflict between ink and water. The results can also be interpreted as quiet or whispering, noisy and crowed, strange and ridiculous. They make people curious and challenge their minds. From the viewerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experience, a drop of ink can be a metaphor of cultural communication. It is does not matter whether this language refers to Delfts Blauw or Chinese Blue and White Porcelain. A drop of blue ink documentation

section 1 A drop of blue ink

#A drop of Blue Ink This is ink This is a drop of blue ink This small drop of ink has travelled to many places, searching She travelled by donkey cart She travelled by tractor She travelled by city bus She travelled by train She took a midnight airplane and then passed the park She travelled by bicycle She travelled in a pocket And just now, she passed by without you even noticing

She talks with people with different languages Some of them are whispering Some of them are quarrelling Some of them are silly, sharing crazy stories with her And some of them cast a tranquil gaze Sitting here, looking at her They have nothing in common But the moment they take the same bus or tram or plane, they know Their journey has just started Now they share something A drop of blue ink

The most important thing, as a designer and as a citizen, is to continue a tradition before it disappears, and to give it the position that it deserves in a way fitting for the contemporary world so people do not forget where they came from. In order to treat the audience as equals to the designer both the process – the developing of the concept – and the results – the physical products for exhibition – were shown. The painting on the ceiling, the video projection on the column, the documentation of experiment, the poetic ornament on the printed material, and the decoration on the ceramics were all exhibited at the exhibition to communicate with the audience.

the video projection on the column

Evaluating the exhibition experience – What did not work and what did Due to the specific practical issues the painting on the ceiling did not work as expected, as the viewer had to be asked to stand at specific point to “get” the picture. Another item that did not work due to practical problems was the video projection on the column — the moveable wallpaper — in the middle of June, the strong summer sunlight from outside kept breaking in on the cylinder and that meant the video could barely be seen during the day. The tactics for these two items was an installation for the viewer to allow the viewer to get involved in the experiment like I did, so that they could observe the original period of the blue ink’s movement. On the other hand the documentation (movie), the poster and the ceramics worked to draw in the viewer both on a personal level and in some cases on the level of cultural communication as well.

painting on the ceiling

The decoration on the ceramics " your timeline of a cup of tea"

Telling and being told, we are visual storytellers However, to make sure the boundaries between the visualized process and the final product were clear while still allowing the viewer to understand the connection between the two, there were two general lines of storytelling here: the story of exhibition and the narrative content from product itself. The story of the exhibition was how letting a drop of ink fall randomly – which everyone knows is the simplest gesture has became a language after computer processing. This was accompanied by a poetic statement addressed to the viewer about who I am and where I come from. The narrative content from the physical products directly pointed to Chinese history – Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties – providing a cultural experience for the audience. The four designs for vases (on paper) depicted how a country’s The decoration on the ceramics "a imitation for your flower vase"

economic prosperity and decline affected arts and craft. Another design printed on paper illustrated a poem in which the attitude of living in the present is promoted and opposed to the pursuit of money and fame.

…How to tell the audience an ironic story by using the illustrative ornamentation; and by means of illustrative ornamental figuration; how traditional culture plays an important role in the field of contemporary pop music and vice versa; how the decorative language shaped the medium’s function according to a specific timeline period and how the decoration represents the appearance of a medium in an aesthetic and abstract way, while using the aquiform's movement… I used these five questions as a guideline to express the meaning of a Chinese proverb45 on ceramics. The proverbs on my plates were Guo Tai Ming An, 国泰民安 , which I refer to as pattern No.9964, translated it means: the prosperity of the state gives people a peaceful life; Qing Miao Dan Xie, 轻描淡写 , which I refer to as pattern No.2437, roughly translated means: to touch on the matter lightly; another two poetic descriptions were: Ni Yan Dai Xiao Yi 你眼带笑意 , was pattern No. 2437 and Bi Feng Nong Zhuan Dan 笔锋浓转淡 was pattern NO. 3341, both of them come from a Chinese romantic song that was written especially for Blue and White Porcelain; The lyric Bi Feng Nong Zhuan Dan means:

Unglazed, yet from shade to light the blue and white unfold; The lyric Ni Yan Dai Xiao Yi means:

In your eyes a smile is beaming; The blue and white porcelain, Keeps to herself the age-long beauty;

There is a short story for No.9964 Guo Tai Ming An, 国泰民安 . Pattern NO.9964 is one of the results of the 11th experiment I made in April, a lovely sunny afternoon before Koninginnedag. Up to that time I had 33 folders on my laptop relating to the experiments. According to their different results I divided the dataset into 3 general directions: purely ornamental, symbolic pattern and figurative storytelling. Because of King’s day I happened to have a conversation with several young native designers about Dutch customs and festivals. There were several key words in the conversation: complaining, work, freedom. One of the designers mentioned, that Koninginnedag is the only day in the entire year that the Dutch will not complain about anything: “We just enjoy it (with music and beer) and celebrate the queen’s birthday”. This immediately reminded me of our Chinese National day. It’s the biggest holiday apart from the Spring Festival/New year. A difference (compare to Koninginnedag) is that most people go out (to another city/country) for the holiday, but no matter where you go the noise and the crowds are so overwhelming that you cannot really immerse yourself into the festive atmosphere. Then I started to think about the old proverb of “guó tài mín ān”; its message is about keeping the state prosperous and giving people a peaceful life. In ancient times (and possibly even today) 90% of rulers/emperors would have loved to put these wishful words on products, furniture, ceramics, etc. as decorative language, in praise of their own lives. Of course we all know that a society is not always about prosperity and peace. There is also

No.9964, Guo Tai Ming An, 国泰民安

Those figures on the dishes are: No.2437, Ni Yan Dai Xiao Yi 你眼带笑意 NO. 3341, Bi Feng Nong Zhuan Dan 笔锋浓转淡 income discrepancy, unfairness in educational chances and social control. Then based on this proverb I made a contemporary illustration. I tried to leave space for the audience’s own interpretation. The feedback from the audience was varied. The proverb worked because it was recognizable as such, and also exists in the Dutch Delft tradition. The old/traditional proverb is the foundation here but it has its limits for the purpose of decoration.

…It is the typefaces, glyphs, word-image equations, signs, colour codes, emoticons, websites, books, diagrams, concrete poetry, icons, movie trailers, letterforms, punctuation, grids, navigation, search and find (or not), television graphics, word art, symbols, notations systems, texts and visible patterns. It is interaction of perception, cognition, emotion, and contexts that help form and inform our lives…46 telling the story of what happens now, about society, about government, about economy,

audience play with the installation

audience play with the installation about this universe.

…I think that ultimately this is what technology is: since we create our own nature, we human beings need to be able to harvest beautiful things from a ground, i.e., from technological fields. We construct out of what we can construct…47 Future projects As the J-J Figure principle has developed into the first draft of a language, I would also like to focus on other figure such as the C-Figure and S-Figure and to discover whether they work or not when it comes to decoration design. Furthermore, I will explore about how the new design language can be applied in specific f u n c t i o n a l f i e l d s , f o r i n s t a n c e o n t h re e dimensional objects such as ceramics and in public space.

Conclusion

In China symbolic images are still very popular as well; especially the ones with auspicious messages of prosperity and wealth. I want to find out why this is. Is it because of the influence of the media (in for example commercials) or because of the public’s taste? I would like to illustrate proverbs in a contemporary way and leave space for the audience’s own interpretation. Another field of interest that can be developed further is the use of my design language for digital applications and music video. Other possible uses of the #Blauw and white design language that can be investigated further are in interior decoration and on ceramics.

I spent almost 2 years studying Blue and White Porcelain and Delfts Blauw. First in China in the bachelor phase of my education and then here in Utrecht. I still remember the first day I presented my project at maHKU. When I first introduced the famous vase from Yuan Dynasty I felt almost like Doctor Who, bringing this little cultural relic into a contemporary arts environment. I made the vase tell its story again just like it did hundreds of years ago. And now, after this year, I have created a possible contemporary design language that can be a tool to continue the thread of our cultural heritage in our ultramodern, gadget-crazy, technological times. It is an open system and it allows the audience to bring its own interpretation to the outcomes. The flexibility of this language means it has more possible applications than just in graphic design. It can for instance by applied on printed materials, books, magazines, newspaper and any other periodicals. Further more, it also can be applied in other fields like multimedia communication (apps and websites). I consider my design language as a start since it has only been in existence for such a short time. It is still developing but it offers new possibilities for the public to engage in a contemporary continuation of traditional cultural heritage, hopefully enriching their lives.

No.2437, Qing Miao Dan Xie, 轻描淡写

the poetic ornament on the printed material, Chinese Version, how the different typography (with decoratiion) transfer the different feeling (right side: peaceful)

the poetic ornament on the printed material, English Version, how the different typography (with decoratiion) transfer the different feeling (right side: dynamic)

Notes Chapter 1 1. one hand alone can't clap, a Chinese proverb that translated into English, in Chinese 一个巴掌拍不响 , it takes two to make a quarrel. http://baike.baidu.com/view/196184.htm http://www.zdic.net/c/0/13c/302969.htm 2. Blue and White Porcelain, according to Wikipedia, "Blue and white wares" (Chinese: 青花 ; pinyin: qīng-huā; literally "Blue flowers") designate white pottery and porcelain decorated under the glaze with a blue pigment, generally cobalt oxide. The decoration is commonly applied by hand, by stencilling or by transfer-printing, though other methods of application have also been used. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_and_white_ porcelain, GUI map cans down Yuan blue and white, in Chinese 元青花鬼谷子下山罐 , was sold for around 230 million Yuan at Christie's London auction, The Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain, the main decoration "Guiguzi", describes the Sun Bin Master worker Guiguzi Are you there Qi Envoy Sauternes Repeated request, promised to down the mountain rescue is Yan Break the Qi 's Sun Bin and Gu Chen's story. The artifacts in July 12, 2005 London Just held" China Ceramics, craft products and export of Arts and crafts "auction, 14000000 pounds to make, plus commission for 15688000 pounds,

equivalent to approximately RMB 230000000, record at the time of the highest in the world of Chinese art auction record. http://www.86wiki.com/view/1307097.htm 3. Gao Shaokang: Blue and White porcelain series—boilerplate, Peacefool World, last time modified on 8 May 2012 at 10:25:04, comes from THINKDO3.COM. http://www.thinkdo3.com/news/1982.html 4. The Xinhai Revolution, according to the Wikipedia, or the Hsin-hai Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1911 or the Chinese Revolution, was a revolution that overthrew China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, and established the Republic of China. The revolution was named Xinhai (Hsin-hai) because it occurred in 1911, the year of the Xinhai stembranch in the sexagenary cycle of the Chinese calendar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinhai_Revolution( This page was last modified on 16 August 2013 at 05:31.) http://www.worldaffairsboard.com/east-asiapacific/57523-xinhai-revolution-centennial1911-2011-a.html 5. Guanyao, Guan kilns, Pinyin Guan yao, or Wade-Giles Kuan yao, Chinese kilns known for

creating an imperial variety of stoneware during the Song dynasty (ad 960–1279). After the Song royal court moved to the south, Guan kilns produced ware from about 1127 at Hangzhou, Zhejiang province; one of the official kilns, Jiaotan, has been located by scholars near Wugui Mountain (Tortoise Hill); many rich examples of the ware were unearthed there. Guan ware was characterized by a wash of brown slip and by glazes varying from pale green to lavender blue. Artisans often applied brown pigment to emphasize a wide-meshed network of cracks. h t t p : / / w w w. b r i t a n n i c a . c om / EB c h e c k e d / topic/324168/Guan-kilns http://www.baike.com/wiki/ 官窑 h t t p : / / w w w. c h i n a h e r i t a g e q u a r t e r l y. o r g / scholarship.php?searchterm=004_wangg y. inc&issue=004 http://www.cits.net/china-guide/ cities/hangzhou/official-kiln-museum.html h t t p : / / w w w. s s i k i l n . c o m / n e w E b i z 1 / EbizPortalFG/portal/html/Welcome.html http://baike.baidu.com/view/16660.htm 6. Minyao, Most of the Chinese porcelain we see today are "Min yao - min=peoples yao=ware", mostly bowls and all kinds of pieces connected to the way of life. This kind of porcelain have not changed very much over the years and might therefore be hard to date properly. http://www.jiangtea.com/2012/06/19/chineseceramics/ http://koh-antique.net/bandw/bandw1b.html http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2006701 6?uid=3738736&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid =4&sid=21102564002623 http://www.jiangtea.com/2012/06/19/chineseceramics/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_ceramics This page was last modified on 3 August 2013 at 15:15. 7. Jingdezhen, Jingdezhen's porcelain has been famous not only in China but in time it became known internationally for being "as thin as paper, as white as jade, as bright as a mirror, and as sound as a bell". The late Guo Moruo, a senior official who was also a famous historian and scholar of PRC wrote a poem that says (in translation): "China is well known in the world for its porcelain, and Jingdezhen is the most well-known centre, with the highest quality porcelain in China". http://www.prnasia.com/story/78574-0.shtml http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingdezhen This page was last modified on 30 July 2013 at 20:53. 8. Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism: Chinese painting during the Song Dynasty reached a new level of sophistication with further development of landscape painting. The shan shui style painting—"shan" meaning mountain, and "shui" meaning river—became prominent features in Chinese landscape art. The emphasis laid upon landscape painting in the Song period was grounded in Chinese philosophy; Taoism stressed that humans were but tiny specks amongst vast and greater cosmos, while NeoConfucianist writers often pursued the discovery of patterns and principles that they believed caused all social and natural phenomena.

The making of glazed and translucent porcelain a n d c e l ad on w a re s w i t h c om p l e x u s e o f enamels was also developed further during the Song period. Longquan celadon wares were particularly popular in the Song period. Black and red lacquerwares of the Song period featured beautifully carved artwork of miniature nature scenes, landscapes, or simple decorative motifs. However, even though intricate bronze-casting, ceramics and lacquerware, jade carving, sculpture, architecture, and the painting of portraits and closely viewed objects like birds on branches were held in high esteem by the Song Chinese, landscape painting was paramount. By the beginning of the Song Dynasty a distinctive landscape style had emerged. Artists mastered the formula of creating intricate and realistic scenes placed in the foreground, while the background retained qualities of vast and infinite space. Distant mountain peaks rise out of high clouds and mist, while streaming rivers run from afar into the foreground. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_the_ Song_Dynasty http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucianism, http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/religion/ http://chineseculture.about.com/library/weekly/ aa030400a.htm 9. Persian Tauranga pottery, The era of Islamic pottery started around 622. From 633, Muslim armies moved rapidly towards Persia, Byzantium, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Egypt and later Andalusia. The early history of Islamic pottery remains somewhat obscure and speculative as little evidence has survived. Apart

from tiles which escaped destruction due to their use in architectural decoration of buildings and mosques, much early medieval pottery vanished. The Muslim world inherited significant pottery industries in Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, North Africa (African Red Slip) and later other regions. Indeed the origin of glazed pottery has been traced to Egypt where it was first introduced during the fourth millennium BCE. However most of these traditions made heavy use of figurative decoration, which was greatly reduced, though not entirely removed, under Islam. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_pottery 10. Mongols, The Mongol Empire (Mongolian: listen (help·info) Mongol-yn Ezent Güren; in Russian chronicles also Horde - Russian: Орда) existed during the 13th and 14th centuries. Beginning in the Central Asian steppes, it eventually stretched from Eastern Europe to the Sea of Japan, covering large parts of Siberia in the north and extending southward into Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Iranian plateau, and the Middle East. T h e M on go l E m p i re e m e r ge d f rom t h e unification of Mongol and Turkic tribes of historical Mongolia under the leadership of Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan was proclaimed ruler of all Mongols in 1206. The empire grew rapidly under his rule and then under the rule of his descendants, who sent invasions in every direction. The vast transcontinental empire that connected the east with the west with an enforced Pax Mongolica allowed trade, technologies, commodities and ideologies to be disseminated and exchanged across Eurasia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_Empire This page was last modified on 19 August 2013 at 08:46. 11. North and South, simplified Chinese: 华北 ; traditional Chinese: 華北 ; pinyin: Huáběi (northern China), and simplified Chinese: 华南 ; traditional Chinese: 華南 ; pinyin: Huánán (southern China), also referred to in China as simply (Chinese: 北方 ; pinyin: Běifāng) the north and (Chinese: 南方 ; pinyin: Nánfāng the south; Northern China and southern China are two approximate regions within China. The exact boundary between these two regions has never been precisely defined. Nevertheless, the selfperception of Chinese people, especially regional stereotypes, has often been dominated by these two concepts, given that regional differences in culture and language have historically fostered strong regional identities ( 乡土 , xiangtu, 'localism') of the Chinese people. In modern times, North and South is merely one of the ways that Chinese people identify themselves, and the divide between northern and southern China has been complicated both by a unified Chinese nationalism and as well as by local loyalties to province, county and village which prevent a coherent Northern or Southern identity from forming. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ commons/0/04/China_agricultural_1986.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_and_ southern_China; This page was last modified on 17 August 2013 at 04:14.

12. Kilns, a. Jun kiln, Pin-Yin Jun yao, or Wade-Giles Chün yao, Chinese kiln known for the stoneware it created during the Northern Song period (960– 1126) in Junzhou (now Yuzhou), in northern Henan. One class of glazed wares produced at the kiln consisted mostly of opalescent blue pieces (ranging from grayish blue to a plum colour), many strikingly splashed or mottled in purple or crimson. These glazes generally had a fine network of cracks. Another well-known class had a type of red, or flambé, glaze and was most often seen in flowerpots, bulb bowls, elegant shallow dishes, waterpots, and small boxes. During the Huizong reign of the Song dynasty, the Jun kiln produced its wares for royalty. When production increased during the Song and Yuan dynasties, techniques from the Jun kiln spread to the Henan, Hebei, and Shanxi provinces. http:// www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/116931/ Jun-kiln Jun ware (Chinese: 鈞窯 ; Wade–Giles: Chün) is a type of Chinese celadon. The use of straw ash in the glaze bestows its unique blue glaze suffused with white. The ware was created near Linru County in the province of Henan at the Jun kilns of Yuzhou City during the Northern Song dynasty (960–1126) to the Jin dynasty (1115–1234) and Yuan dynasty (1271–1368). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jun_ware This page was last modified on 18 June 2013 at 14:44. b. Ru kiln, Pinyin Ru yao, or Wade-Giles Ju yao, kiln known for creating highly prized Chinese stoneware.

The Ru kiln produced ware for a short period during the years when Northern Song emperors Zhezong (1085–1110) and Huizong (1110– 1125) ruled. No more than 60 intact pieces from the kiln were known before the discovery in 1986 of the original kiln site, which is in the village of Qingliangsi, in Baofeng county, Henan province. This site has yielded at least 37 more examples (22 of which are intact). The undecorated bluish or greenish gray glaze of Ru wares was cloudy and opaque, often with a slight lavender tinge and a fine, irregular network of cracks. The glaze typically covered a gray stoneware body that had a simple, elegant shape. h t t p : / / w w w. b r i t a n n i c a . c om / EB c h e c k e d / topic/306954/Ru-kiln c . G e k i l n , P i n y i n G e y a o, Wa d e - G i l e s romanization Ko yao, kiln known for the wares it produced during the early Song dynasty (960–1162), probably in the Zhejiang province in China. Scholars are uncertain of the kiln’s exact location. Legends recorded in documents of the Ming dynasty suggest that the kiln was named after the elder brother of the director of the Longquan kiln. Typical forms of Ge ware included tripods, fish-handle stoves, and five-foot stoves. The bodies of the wares varied from thick to thin and were usually black, but sometimes gray or yellow. Glazes often covered fine networks of cracks and were usually pale blue, moon-coloured white, gray, or greenish yellow. Extant pieces of Ge ware are spread throughout China and the world. h t t p : / / w w w. b r i t a n n i c a . c om / EB c h e c k e d / topic/320713/Ge-kiln

d. Cizhou kiln, Pinyin Cizhou yao, WadeGiles romanization Tz’u-chou yao, kiln known for stoneware produced in Handan (formerly Cizhou), Hebei province, in northern China, primarily during the Song (960–1279) dynasty. h t t p : / / w w w. b r i t a n n i c a . c om / EB c h e c k e d / topic/612101/Cizhou-kiln e. Guan kilns, Pinyin Guan yao, or Wade-Giles Kuan yao, Chinese kilns known for creating an imperial variety of stoneware during the Song dynasty (ad 960–1279). After the Song royal court moved to the south, Guan kilns produced ware from about 1127 at Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. One of the official kilns, Jiaotan, has been located by scholars near Wugui Shan (Tortoise Hill); many rich examples of the ware were unearthed there. Guan ware was characterized by a wash of brown slip and by glazes varying from pale green to lavender blue. Artisans often applied brown pigment to emphasize a wide-meshed network of cracks. h t t p : / / w w w. b r i t a n n i c a . c om / EB c h e c k e d / topic/324168/Guan-kilns http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiln 13. Bared product = unspeakably rude, Sympathy of things, chapter two the matter of ornament, p.75 14. William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and libertarian socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and English Arts and Crafts Movement. He founded a design firm in partnership with the artist Edward Burne-Jones, and the poet and artist Dante

Gabriel Rossetti which profoundly influenced the decoration of churches and houses into the early 20th century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morris http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jmorris. htm 15. Arts and Crafts movement: English social and aesthetic movement of the second half of the 19th century, dedicated to reestablishing the importance of craftsmanship in an era of mechanization and mass production. The name derives from the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society (1888). Inspired by John Ruskin and other writers who deplored the effects of industrialization, William Morris founded a firm of interior designers and manufacturers to produce handcrafted textiles, printed books, wallpaper, furniture, jewelry, and metalwork. The movement was criticized as elitist and impractical in an industrial society, but in the 1890s its appeal widened and spread to other countries, including the U.S. Art Nouveau. http://www.answers.com/topic/arts-and-craftsmovement http://www.answers.com/topic/arts-and-craftsmovement#ixzz2cQ22wE40 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_and_Crafts_ movement 16. Lars Spuybroek is Professor of Architectural Design at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He is the author of NOX: Machining Architecture (2004), The Architecture of Continuity (2008), Research & Design: The Architecture of Variation (2009) and Research &

Design: Textile Tectonics (2011). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lars_Spuybroek 16-1.Owen Jones (15 February 1809 – 19 April 1874) was an English born Welsh architect. A versatile architect and designer, he was also one of the most influential design theorists of the nineteenth century. He helped pioneer modern color theory, and his theories on flat patterning and ornament still resonate with contemporary designers today. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Jones_ (architect) This page was last modified on 3 August 2013 at 12:53. 17. The Sympathy of Things: "The Sympathy of Things: Ruskin and the Ecology of Design," the new publication by Lars Spuybroek is now available in V2_'s webshop. "We have to find our way back to beauty," writes Lars Spuybroek in the introduction to The Sympathy of Things. In this book Spuybroek argues that we must "undo" the twentieth century – the age in which the sublime turned from an art category into a technical reality. This leads him to the aesthetical insights of the nineteenth-century English art critic John Ruskin, from which he distils pointers for our time. In The Sympathy of Things, the old romantic notion of sympathy, a core concept in Ruskin’s aesthetics, is re-evaluated as the driving force of the aesthetic experience. For Ruskin, beauty always comprises variation, imperfection and fragility, three concepts that wholly disappeared

from our mindsets during the twentieth century. Spuybroek addresses the five central dual themes of Ruskin in turn: the Gothic and work, ornament and matter, sympathy and abstraction, the picturesque and time, ecology and design. He wrests each of these themes from the Victorian era and compares them with the related ideas of later aestheticians and philosophers like William James and Bruno Latour. http://v2.nl/publishing/the-sympathy-of-things 18. Graffiti Delft, a. graffiti,(singular: graffito; the plural is used as a mass noun. Also known as Graff ) is writing or drawings that have been scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and it has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire.In modern times, paint, particularly spray paint, and marker pens have become the most commonly used graffiti materials. In most countries, marking or painting property without the property owner's consent is considered defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti b. Delfts blauw, Original introduction text is in Dutch: Delfts blauw is een type faience (aardewerk) met blauwe decoratie, dat traditioneel in Delft wordt vervaardigd. Het ontstond aan het einde van de 16e eeuw als goedkoop alternatief voor het blauw-witte Chinese porselein. Het Delfts blauw

werd in korte tijd zeer populair en beleefde een bloeiperiode in de periode 1650-1750, toen er in Delft een honderdtal aardewerkfabrieken actief waren. De industrie werd omstreeks 1800 weggevaagd door goedkoper aardewerk uit met name Engeland (Staffordshire). Tegenwoordig is er nog maar één fabriek in Delft die ‘echt’ Delfts blauw produceert. Andere soorten Delfts aardewerk zijn het meerkleurige Boerendelfts en het Delfts wit. http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delfts_blauw This page was last modified on 24 July 2013 at 17.02. 19. Hugo Kaagman, Original introduction text is in Dutch: In 1983 kreeg hij van de gemeente Amsterdam zijn eerste officiële opdracht: het maken van een graffitikunstwerk op een wand bij de voorlopige Waterloopleinmarkt. Verschillende reizen naar Marokko en Senegal beïnvloedden zijn werk en oosterse decoratiepatronen verschenen in zijn werk. Hij wist dit op creatieve manier te vermengen met Oud-Hollandse ambachtelijke kunst en maakte daarna driftig gebruik van het Delfts Blauw, door hem enigszins spottend “Shocking Blue” genoemd. http://www.kaagman.nl, http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Kaagman Chapter 2 20. Serif: In typography, a serif is a small line attached to the end of a stroke in a letter or symbol, such as when handwriting is separated

into distinct units for a typewriter or typsetter. A typeface with serifs is called a serif typeface (or serifed typeface). A typeface without serifs is called sans serif or sans-serif, from the French sans, meaning “without ”. Some typography s o u rc e s re f e r t o s a n s - s e r i f t y p e f a c e s a s "Grotesque" (in German "grotesk") or "Gothic", and serif typefaces as "Roman". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serif This page was last modified on 11 August 2013 at 02:32. 21. Sans Serif: In typography, a sans-serif, sans serif, gothic, san serif or simply sans typeface is one that does not have the small projecting features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. The term comes from the French word sans, meaning "without". Sans-serif fonts tend to have less line width variation than serif fonts. In print, sansserif fonts are used for headlines rather than for body text. The conventional wisdom holds that serifs help guide the eye along the lines in large blocks of text. Sans-serifs, however, have acquired considerable acceptance for body text in Europe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans-serif This page was last modified on 1 August 2013 at 17:11. 22. Redundancy, Changefulness, Rigidity, Naturalism, Grotesqueness and Savageness -the Sympathy of things. Spuybroek’s list is based on an earlier list of characteristics of Gothic compiled by 19th century art critic, artist and poet John Ruskin. Spuybroek uses his list to conduct an experiment on digital Gothic design. This explains the terminology he borrows from

Gothic church architecture. 23. …Sympathy, in my briefest definition, is what things feel when they shape each other…, Sympathy of things, preface, p.9 24. … redundancy and abundance. Sympathy of things, the digital nature of gothic, p.58 -59. 25. …Changefulness: Sympathy of things, the digital nature of gothic, p.59 26. …Rigidity, Sympathy of things, the digital nature of gothic, p.59 – 60 27. …Naturalism: Sympathy of things, the digital nature of gothic, p.60 28. …Savageness, Sympathy of things, the digital nature of gothic, p.60 29.....Grotesqueness: Sympathy of things, the digital nature of gothic, p.60 30.The testing period ran two months in total. I spoke with and got feedback from more than twenty people. Fifteen students and six faculty members from maHKU, Utrecht Graduate School of Visual Art and Design, five students from Universiteit Utrecht, two students from Universiteit van Amsterdam, two secondary school students, and one professional working in a government agency, besides a number of working designers. 31. Life of Pi, A young man who survives a disaster at sea is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While cast away, he forms an unexpected connection with another survivor: a fearsome Bengal tiger. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_of_Pi

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454876/ 32."...This stylized, networked and always polychromatic ornament…" Sympathy of things, quote from Oven Jones from Lars Spuybroek. 33. …Pattern is something that occurs, not something that is…Sympathy of things, the digital nature of gothic, p.60 34. None-symmetric composition but filled with personality, Sympathy of things, the digital nature of gothic, p16 35. Ying & Yang, In Chinese philosophy, the concept of yin-yang, pinyin: yīnyáng), which is often called "yin and yang", is used to describe how seemingly opposite or contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world; and, how they give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. Many natural dualities (such as male and female, light and dark, high and low, hot and cold, fire and water, life and death, and so on) are thought of as physical manifestations of the yin-yang concept. The concept lies at the origins of many branches of classical Chinese science and philosophy, as well as being a primary guideline of traditional Chinese medicine, and a central principle of different forms of Chinese martial arts and exercise, such as baguazhang, taijiquan (t'ai chi), and qigong (Chi Kung) and of I Ching. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang This page was last modified on 19 August 2013 at 04:26.

36. Savageness, Sympathy of things, the digital nature of gothic, chapter one, p.16 37. Imperfection, Sympathy of things, the digital nature of gothic, chapter one, p.14 38. … occurs in extension of savageness, Sympathy of things, the digital nature of gothic, chapter one, p.16 39. … changefulness …, Sympathy of things, the digital nature of gothic, chapter one, p.14 40. The sixth characteristic, “redundance”, Sympathy of things, the digital nature of gothic, chapter one, p.14 41. Sympathy of things, the digital nature of gothic, chapter one, p.16, second paragraph 42."...balance, symmetry, contrast,…"A text book dealing with Ornamental design for woven fabrics, by C.Stephenson and F.Suddards, chapter 9, laws of ornamental composition, p141 43. Rules make good servants,… A text book dealing with Ornamental design for woven fabrics, by C.Stephenson and F.Suddards, chapter 9, laws of ornamental composition, p149 Chapter 3 44. Up here now, June 2013 Mahku grad. Platform in Hoog Catharijne, Utrecht 45. Chinese proverb: Chinese proverbs ( 諺語 ,yanyu) are famous sayings taken from literature, histor y, and famous people like philosophers. There are hundreds of Chinese proverbs addressing all aspects of life from education and work to personal goals and relationships.

This is a collection of Chinese proverbs and idioms ( 成語 chéngyu), given in and sorted by their pinyin transcription. Chinese proverbs and four-plus character idioms are developed from the formulaic or social dialect/saying/expression ( 歇後語 in pinyin: xiēhòuyu) and historical story in Chinese. Some proverbs are literary; that is, from a written source. (See the historical written language or the more modern written language.) Others originated among families, street vendors, and other commoners--all walks of life. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Chinese_proverbs (This page was last modified on 3 August 2013, at 10:25) http://chineseculture.about.com/od/ thechineselanguage/a/Chinese-Proverbs.htm http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Chinese_proverbs 46. …It is the typefaces… come from: VISIBLE LANGUAGE, an independent scholarly journal published continuously since 1967. Search all abstracts (1967–present) Interdisciplinary, innovative, rigorous, scholarship in visible language—this is what characterizes the journal Visible Language. So what is visible language? http://visiblelanguagejournal.com 47. …I think that ultimately this is what technology is…, Sympathy of things, the ecology of design, chapter five, p.332

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#Blauw and White Looking For A New Blauw And White Decoration Approach Based On An Experimental Process MaHKU Graduation Thesis Li Hanlu Utrecht 2013, August MaHKU, Utrecht Graduate School of Visual Art and Design This thesis is a part of my research project in Master of Arts in Editorial Design; I would like to thank all the people that have helped me a lot, especially for their knowledge, input, encouragement and support: Henk slager, Arjen Mulder: always guided me into a right direction from the confused theories and practical issue; Annette Heinen, Hein Eberson, Klaas Kuitenbrouwer and Max Bruinsma that reminded myself and helped me to find the right approach among the research; the Jessica’s family, whose always made me believe in myself even if I messed up very now and then, and gave me enough strength that i could stand up from failure, and continue came along till today; Buffy, Anina, Aggelos, Peter, Rik, Andy, Jonnore, Candy, Emily, Christian, Marc, Zsuzsanna, Oberon, Kim; last but not least because of my family’s strongly sopport that I could became a designer, and develop my own career in another country. Most images were founded on Chinese/European arts and history webpage; my excuses that I could not provide information to all the images referring to the author. The cover image is the photo I took from the serving dish with the pattern No.2437, Ni Yan Dai Xiao Yi 你眼带笑意 . Title reference: In honour of the Delft tradition and Dutch designer Mr.Hugo Kaagman.

Li Hanlu was born in Wuwei, Gansu Provience; and studied packaging design at Chongqing Technology and Business University for her bachelor degree; currently she is searching for an internship after graduate; if she will have a chance and enough financial support she would love to establish her own decoration design system combing with Chinese decorative language from national minorities together with her partner in the future.

Contact information E-mail: leona2012conutrymusic@gmail.com Telephone: 06-31903042