Tian Chengtai

Tian Chengtai (田承泰) was born in 1952 in Nanzhuang Township, Miaoli County, a place of mountains, rivers, and quiet rural life that has remained the source and home of his work. He came to pottery late, beginning at the age of forty after years of trying his hand at business in the city. Returning home to Miaoli, he built a wood-fire kiln and spent six years making wares without selling a single piece. He works exclusively with local Miaoli mountain clay, throwing and trimming each bowl in a single unbroken session, and fires his pieces over three days and nights using only the ash of collected driftwood as glaze. Of the roughly three hundred pieces in each firing, he considers thirty a success, and those that fall short are smashed without hesitation.

His bowls fit naturally to the hands and lips, opening the energy of Taiwanese teas in a way that feels inseparable from the island's own soil. He has always reminded collectors that his bowls are made to be used, not admired on a shelf.