Ceramics can help connect cultures

My travels in China have had an enormous influence on my work as a Dutch ceramics artist.

In 2012, I first visited Jingdezhen, China's ceramics capital, in Jiangxi province. Since then, I started to read about China and Chinese ceramic arts. During another visit to Jingdezhen this year, I visited Gaoling Mountain, where china clay was first found.

I've been working with clay for almost 40 years. I love the smell of clay and I love working with clay. At that mountain, I saw the caves where people used to dig clay thousands of years ago and the paths they used to walk along. I could even feel the history in the air.