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Today, we meet a porcelain maker dedicated to building its own luxury brand. You may
have heard of Jun Kiln porcelain. In the Song Dynasty some 1,000 years ago, there were five
famous porcelain kilns. Jun Kiln porcelain products are the rarest among all porcelains,
and have always been invaluable.
But today, we want to introduce you to the modern-day version of Jun Kiln porcelain.
Thanks to one manufacturer's strategy to make its porcelain pieces become luxury products,
these modern Jun Kiln pieces are fetching high prices on the fine porcelain market.
Miao Fengwei is board chairman of Rongchang Jun Kiln, located in Shenhou Town in central
China's Henan Province.
The porcelain made at his kiln sell for an average of 30,000 yuan, much higher than other
local porcelain wares, which go for just several hundred or thousand yuan apiece.
This is Miao Fengwei's Jun Kiln, which looks no different to other local kilns in terms
of material selection and workmanship. But the difference here is each porcelain piece
must undergo a strict and selective examination.
Miao Fengwei's kiln can hold more than 100 raw molds in each firing. But only a select
few from each firing are chosen in the end. For example, this latest batch generated fewer
than ten selections out of more than 300 pieces. In Miao Fengwei's eyes, strict selection is
quite necessary in the building of a luxury brand. But marketing porcelain as a luxury
product wasn't easy.
Unlike other porcelain makers, Miao Fengwei has set about building an internationally
famous Chinese brand. To achieve that goal, he set up a rigid quality supervision system
following the model of European luxury brands like Chanel and Hermes. Any product with a
minor defect is destroyed immediately. Selling them at a cheaper price is strictly forbidden.
In fact, it's widely believed China boasts a tradition of luxury goods ownership. China
is not only famous for silk and jewels, but also handicrafts of delicate workmanship.
Though many entrepreneurs have endeavored to produce fine consumer goods, they have
retreated quickly for fear of hardship. As a result, China hasn't yet produced a luxury
brand of international influence.
In April 2010, ten big domestic luxury brands were recognized by the media. They included
makers of Chinese white wine, porcelain, silk and rosewood furniture. The selection was
met with heated online debate. One netizen wrote on his blog that he'd consider these
local time-honored brands as opposed to real luxury goods. If luxury goods were defined
by such criteria, the number of luxury brands in China would certainly surpass any other
country in the world. In reality, these companies are still some distance away from being internationally
recognized brands in terms of innovation, product quality and marketing. Miao Fengwei
understands creating a world-famous luxury brand name is an arduous task.
Thanks to its rapidly growing economic power, China has become a key market for the world's
luxury brands. In 2009, consumption of luxury goods in China amounted to 9.4 billion U.S.
dollars, making the country the second-biggest consumer of luxury goods in the world. Of
all luxury goods on the international market, 27 percent flow into China. It's expected
sales of luxury goods in China will jump by more than 14 billion U.S. dollars in the next
five years, making it the largest luxury market in the world. But currently, none of these
luxury goods are made in China. The top 50 brands globally include 34 from Europe and
14 from the United States. That fact has pushed a number of Chinese entrepreneurs into building
top-tier, globally-recognized brands of
their own.
In order to fulfill his luxury dream, Miao Fengwei does something many people can't understand.
He destroys the porcelain pieces he makes.
Miao's Rongchang Jun Kiln has yielded enviable profit in China's porcelain business. Miao
Fengwei attributes his success to the decision to destroy porcelain pieces that don't meet
his stringent standards. The policy of breaking substandard products was implemented
in his
factory
a decade ago.
In addition to winning Miao Fengwei a reputation for
high
standards, the destruction policy has also made his products more widely recognized and
admired. His artwork has been presented to foreign guests as national gifts. During several
visits abroad in recent years, he has come to realize Jun Kiln porcelain has a competitive
advantage as a luxury good.
China's output of porcelain products occupies around 70 percent of the world's total, with
two-thirds of porcelain consumers worldwide using Chinese-made wares. But China takes
the lead only in the quantity of porcelain works produced each year. Fifty years ago,
porcelain wares made in China were priced at 0.3 U.S. dollars a piece. Today, that price
has only seen a tiny rise of 5 U.S. cents. Some commentators say what China sells is
resources, while porcelain pieces made overseas speak for quality and taste.
Progress in the international porcelain industry runs counter to China's decline in its porcelain-making
industry. Elsewhere in the world, there's everything from traditional handiworks to
large-scale, machine-based production. Designers, like Luigi Colani and S D Spontini, have earned
high esteem from colleagues in the industry. And famous porcelain brands like Germany's
Meissen, Wedgwood from the U.K. and Lladro in Spain were all born on this tide of development.
Rich cultural content, perfect quality and rarity - all of these are elements of what
makes a luxury product.