Celadon

Koryo Celadon (Korean Ceramics)

83-year-old Potter Yu is seen creating ceramic vases using techniques developed during the Koryo Dynasty in Korea a thousand years ago. He works with his sons and creates a hundred at a time, with one featuring a carved pattern of a dragon biting its own tale. They bake them all night in the kiln and in the morning they break into pieces any that are deemed "imperfect." At the end a poem is read over shots of the finished pieces and includes these lines:
"Howe'er, this is a dream of a thousand years, Koryo Celadon/
Hue, oh the hue, casting a shadow in secrecy, the laudable hue"

Korean Porcelain Trimming Skills w/ Moon Byeong Sik

On my recent visit to S. Korea I was able to connect with Moon Byeong Sik, a porcelain potter I had met a few years back. This was my first visit to his studio and he was gracious enough to offer me a wheel and some clay and we both threw pots and compared techniques. While neither of us speak too much of each others language, we were able to use the clay as a prop for conversation.