This is just your normal, everyday apartment in Taipei County's Taishan Township. A cabinet just inside the door bristles with adorable porcelain knickknacks, such as his-and-her kitty-cat cell-phone dangles, a big-eyed-cat keyring, astrological sign pendants, a Hompy name card holder, and a RonG piggy bank. Each lovable piece goes through a series of ten stages all done by hand, including prototype, mold, and blank production, carving, coloring, firing, and finishing, before it is complete.

The four partners--Lin Shu-hui, Sun Shang-yan, Chiang Pei-jung, and Kao Shih-han--all graduated from the Crafts and Design Department at National Taiwan University of Arts. They founded their studio in June of 2001 prior to finishing school, because they wanted to continue the feeling of creativity they felt during their graduation exhibition.

Escape from nine-to-five

After graduating, all four women found themselves in office jobs, but their passion for pottery continued to burn inside them, so they performed their craft after work.

Sun Shang-yan, who once worked for a gift designing company, puts it this way: "Back in the office, I felt like a vending machine: the boss told me what to do and I would do it. End of story. He would smother any enthusiasm I had by shooting down my suggestions with responses like 'That wouldn't be cost effective.'"

After more than a year of this kind of schedule, they all agreed that both the office grind and doing their pottery business after hours was too exhausting. Each of them put NT$60,000 into a kitty dog-eared for buying secondhand equipment, including a "pug mill" (clay kneading machine), pottery wheels, and a kiln. They named their new studio "Flintstone" in hope that sparks of inspiration would set their creativity ablaze.

These skilled artisans feel that ceramics makers in Taiwan "take themselves too seriously." The vast majority of pieces on display in Yingko's old town, for example, are either large decorative works or practical utensils like cups, plates, bowls, pots, and vases. You could walk around all day and not see any colorful, interestingly shaped bric-a-brac. They decided to focus their energies on the knick-knack market to give them a chance to bring their young imaginations into full play and brighten up lives with their ceramic artwork.

At an art bazaar held during the celebration of the anniversary of the founding of their school, Lin Shu-hui noted that bric-a-brac was popular with women. Flintstone's best-received products are currently its various cat collections and its major clientele consists of students from elementary school through university.

Flintstone may just be getting off the ground, but its owners have no problem taking advantage of the various financial resources out there.

In 2002, Flintstone was awarded second place at the Taipei County Citizens Plaza Public Art Competition for its playground slide. It also received NT$200,000 as a cultural innovation industry grant from the Council of Cultural Affairs in 2003. It is enjoying increasing recognition.

Sun Shang-yan designed a series known as "Kitties Learning to Love." One of the pieces is a sitting cat designed so that a small plant can be placed within its embrace, symbolizing the idea that like a plant, love will sprout if you water it. Another example is a standing cat with clock, which suggests that love grows sweeter over time. Items like this that combine wit and practicality are very popular.

In 2004, the agency for the renowned illustrator Jimmy asked them to design pendants and cell-phone dangles based on characters from Jimmy's drawings.

All National Taiwan University of Arts graduates, these four young ladies (left to right: Kao Shih-han, Sun Shang-yan, Lin Shu-hui, and Chiang Pei-jung) create delicately handcrafted porcelain pieces to bring art and beauty into their own lives and the lives of others.

Letting their imaginations fly

Flintstone has painstakingly built a name for its handmade products and is working hard to bring them to the market.

Because she used to work at the Yingge Ceramics Museum, Lin Shu-hui has made the museum her starting point and is contacting museums islandwide to introduce Flintstone's studio and artwork. She has succeeded in convincing a number of them to display their products. With products currently being exhibited and sold from some 20 retail points, they are averaging NT$300,000 in turnover each month.

"I feel a sense of accomplishment and a tiny thrill when I see how well loved our work is," Sun Shang-yan relates. She hopes that they will be able to expand their business and that their creativity will become more readily accepted by the market. Profits are not large--they make about as much as they did in their old office jobs.

Flintstone has successfully exhibited all kinds of fun, lighthearted ceramic curios each of which is a little mirror reflecting the ingenuity of these four young creators.