One of the best things about going out to see our artists in Beijing, apart from the fantastic food that I always eat too much off, is seeing the variety and creativity they produce in their work. Never do they cease to amaze me with their outstanding designs and the pains they go into detail with. Our latest visit was no exception.
A selection of Li’s work now showing in Portico Gallery Sevenoaks
And that is why it is no surprise that other galleries and shops are asking to stock some of our designers. Having worked previously with the wonderful Portico Gallery in Sevenoaks, Kent before, we were delighted that they asked to sell more of Li’s new ceramics from Qing Art. Impressed with the quality of the pieces and the innovative design they fit very well into modern, contemporary spaces.
Li’s ceramic bowls in his new Bird and Blossom range show off his hand made style beautifully depicting his signature kingfisher and lotus seed pod pattern. Available in blue, green and sage there are stools, bowls and more to choose from. And of course still available online and in our Margate showroom.
Steps up to the Bamboo Grove in Dong Lin Temple, Jiangxi.
What a week! To start with the weather out in China at the moment is amazing, I’d forgotten what Spring was meant to be like. Bright days, sunshine and budding green leaves sprouting up everywhere. Why don’t I go to China in the Spring more often? I’m pencilling it in for next year!
After having to cancel our Christmas trip it was wonderful to go over and see all our lovely and very talented friends. We have brand new art from An Gu Yu, gorgeous ceramics from the brothers Li and a new jewellery designer looks like it is on the cards! You can get a lot done in a week and Mao Ping and I certainly did. We don’t waste a minute and as soon as I landed I was whisked off to see Yue and his new range of furntiure…closely followed by lunch! Well, it would seem rude not to make the most of the opportunites to eat all that delicious food that I miss so much!
Life was not all work though and with a trip down south to see new ceramicists we managed to capture a bit of time to play too.
Mao Ping in Dong Lin Temple.
Dong Lin Temple in Jiangxi, the provence where Li’s brother has his pottery studio is beautiful and gave us time to reflect on Qing Art’s wonderful five year history and think afresh to the next five years! We even had time to climb the incredible stone stairway to the top surrounded by nothing but bamboo and the sound of birds. Bliss.
Over the next few blog posts I’ll update you on our new stock, our new ventures and show you some of the behind the scenes images of our artists. Until then, it’s great to be back. It’s even better now the sun is coming out here! And lovely to hear from our many customers through Facebook and Twitter. Please let your friends know we’re on there if they are not following us already. Thank you!
What an exciting week this was, a new shipment came in with lots of new furniture. A few custom built pieces went the same week to their buyers, the rest is in our shop where it is showing of its beauty.
Not only for Qing was this an exciting week, but also for Said who had his first week of work here. His first workday was when the shipment came in and he really proved himself with his hard work.
Mao Ping went back to Beijing to see his wife and baby girl, Anne-Marie is joining him today and together they will go to Yue’s furniture studio as well as go to see Li’s new ceramics, how exciting!
As Anne-Marie and Mao Ping are gone the interns will take over Qing for the next ten days. Isn’t it great that they trust us and give us the opportunity to show what we can do?
Come and give Qing a visit while we look after the shop!
As I was saying in my last blog post Said worked half a day at Qing last Friday. He helped Anne-Marie with moving new ceramic stools upstairs and doing some of the stock take, which is a good exercise to learn new words. I’m really delighted to have him working with us, he is a hard worker and I think he will fit in just right.
This coming Monday a new shipment will arrive and we’ll be busy changing the displays again. To make it easier Anne-Marie and I started to clean up down stairs so we know exactly what to find where. I can’t wait to see the new furniture that comes in (I added a picture of one of the incoming furniture, have a look).
Come and see our new items and be surprised of the beauty .
Six weeks have gone by and I have six more weeks to go. The time really flies when you’re having fun and making new friends.
One of my new friends is Mao Ping, I had the pleasure to meet him and got to know him better during a nice dinner in London. He is an absolutely nice guy with a great sense of humour!
Last Monday Qing had its ceramics photographed by Niko Kolios in the new showroom that Qing will move into at the end of this year! The photos are lovely and we can’t wait to show them to you. Niko is also currently studying photo journalism, with one of his projects being portrait photos, allowing me to be one of the subjects. It was very nice and while he was taking the photos we got to know each other better. It really feels good to get to know new people!
My friends over here also met a new face, Rutger, my boyfriend, who came over from Holland. We had an incredible weekend visiting new places and looking at all the things that I’ve learnt here in the six weeks, as well as meeting all my new friends. Said, a new student from Holland also arrived to explore the culture of England and to improve his English. He lives with me in Birchington at Steve’s residence, so it will be interesting to help him learn. Tomorrow he will spend half a day working at Qing! His English needs a lot of improvement so pop in and have a small talk with him :)
I’ve worked at Qing now for four weeks and I can tell you that every week is different (in a good way of course!). As I mentioned in my last blog post the showroom has had a complete transformation and looks fantastic. Customers reactions have been so enthusiastic, thanks everybody!
It’s been a busy week at Qing, with some great sales, for example two of our ceramic stools were delivered to Guildford this morning. The blue and white dishes are very popular as well, and I have to admit they are very cute!
Thursday was especially busy, so Anne-Marie decided that we should treat ourselves, and made an appointment for us to have a manicure next-door at Revitalize beauty salon, which we enjoyed immensely and gave us a chance to show off our beautiful nails that evening at the book club Anne-Marie belongs to. I love to read so was looking forward to going there. Everyone talked about a book they’d read recently, which was very interesting to hear because of all the different opinions. Then the books were left on a table so you could choose a new book to read, having heard about it. I also took two books with me, both are ghost stories.
Even though it’s grey and cold outside Qing has some customers popping in. It really brightens my day to have a nice talk and meet new people who are just as excited about our products as I am. Tomorrow evening will be even better, I’m going to meet Mao Ping. Anne-Marie and I are going to London, we’ll pick him up and go out for diner, I can’t wait!
This week was a whole new adventure for me. Anne-Marie took me to a business breakfast meeting, I’ve never been to something like that before. It was very interesting and I enjoyed it a lot. I saw this as a chance to get to know new people and hear about their businesses. My goal was to keep the conversation going and to keep asking as many questions as I could think of about their business, or about themselves, so I could improve my talking and listening skills. It was a good new experience and I got lots of practice. What I also did for the first time was try a scotch egg. Anne-Marie baked scotch eggs for the Bakery Club that she belongs to and saved one for me, in my opinion a scotch egg (baked by A-M!) is absolutely tasteful!
Qing Art has changed displays this week, the counter is in front of the shop now instead of at the back so you can see us better when you walk by. It was a nice challenge to move every piece of furniture to where we wanted it to be. Everything has a lovely place now and every piece can show of its beauty. Don’t be shy, have a look, let us know what you think of the beautiful new displays .
Let me introduce myself, my name is Sasha Van de Kamp. I am from Holland and working at Qing Art until April 19th for my work placement. I’m here to improve my English language and to make the best of new working experiences in a foreign country, I think I’ve found the best place to do this! Anne-Marie is a very good teacher and Qing Art has a lot of interesting customers and wonderful products.
In my first week I have already been in the newspaper with Anne-Marie about our Chinese New Year decorations, we have been to London to do a delivery of some of our beautiful lighting and there will be a lot more interesting things happen in the next few months I’m sure!
I’ll be writing up my experiences while I’m here and sharing with you all the great things I’ll be learning. And if you live near Margate, or can come and see us in the showroom, it would be lovely to see you here too!
It’s a past time of mine to occassionally go through the blogs and see what else is out there. Some great writing, fabulous pictures and information about things you knew nothing about! Imagine my delight then when I stumbled across Caribbean Living and found a writer talking about Oriental furniture! Wonderful.
Here at Qing Art, we send furniture all over the world, work for interior designers in helping their clients style a room and have a whole range of items not found on the website. Screens being one of them. Currently we have two beautiful wooden carved screens in the showroom and Yue, with more on the way in Autumn.
Remember, if there is ever anything you are interested in, but don’t see, please contact us and see if we can help. Or follow us on Facebook or Twitter for more pictures and information.
Jane Horrocks stars in ‘Sandra’s Story’ as part of Domonic Savage’s beautiful portrail of the complicated lives of individuals in Margate. Filmed in Papillion Interiors, this particular episode features furniture from Yue, note the Green Beijing Cabinet and Red Shelving Units, as well as throws fron De Xian and work from Li.
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