Between the low-quality Chinese dishes you can buy in some Asian supermarkets and the many and varied choices, how can you choose authentic, good-quality Asian dishes?
1. Don't buy plastic
You're probably going to come across a lot of plastic Asian plates like the one pictured above. Let's cut to the chase: no, this is not a good idea. Traditional Chinese dishes have never been made of plastic, which is a purely modern, industrial product. What's more, the style remains outmoded overall, and of course very bad for the environment.
2. Don't buy popular crockery that can be found everywhere.
This tip may seem trivial, but look at it from another point of view: if a product is very popular, like the bowls above, you're going to be buying mainly industrial products made in assembly-line factories. I'm not saying the quality is bad, but if you want to add your own personal touch to your cupboards, opt instead for genuine Chinese handicrafts, traditional or modern.
3. Try dishes with reactive enamel
Reactive glazing is a traditional technique used by Chinese potters. It involves carefully selecting the glaze recipe, or in other words the glazed layer of the dishes, and making this layer react with the temperature to form unique and different patterns. Each dish is therefore unique, like our "snowy" bowl created by our craftsmen. This technique was also widely used on traditional Chinese tea cups, which were highly prized by emperors: the Tenmoku cups.
4. Buy your crockery from tableware enthusiasts
The best way to ensure the quality of your purchase is simply to buy from connoisseurs. At Tenmo, Vuthara and Yongyun launched this project with the aim of democratizing artisanal tableware and taking guests on a journey through time and space. Each piece is carefully selected by the team and artisans to bring you the very best creations. No more supermarket crockery!
Read more about glazing techniques:
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gla%C3%A7ure