In 1987, Wang, then 34, traveled to the United States to study glassmaking. After returning to Taiwan, he founded Liuli Gongfang with Chang Yi and Yang Hui-shan. Five years later, in 1994, Wang founded tittot, raising Taiwanese glass art to a new level. In 2003, tittot became the first company engaged in the creative arts to be publicly traded in Taiwan. Its stock has risen from NT$17 per share to around NT$45 (late November 2007), bettering the performance of many electronics and financial stocks. Wang could finally enjoy the sweet taste of success.

However, Wang, who has described himself as "hyperactively creative," was not content to just stop there. His newest creative endeavor is NewChi, devoted to rendering everyday objects in porcelain. His creations include tea sets and vases which, with their angles and edges, shatter convention and yet still exude the aura of the East. What surprises does Wang have in store, now that he has made the move from glass to porcelain?

NewChi's flagship store, which opened in 2006, is situated on tree-lined Jen-ai Road in Taipei. Dozens of pure-white tea sets and teapots sit silently upon dark wood display cases.

In an expansive display case, a set of vases entitled "Can't Stand Without You" occupies center space. The vases are is round up top and taper to a point below. A few holes have been opened up near the top. The vases cannot stand on their own, but are supported and balanced by the other vases linked together by a series of wooden rods. The aesthetic effect is one of both solitude and companionship.

Inspired by the zun vessels of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the tea set "Imperial Memories" imparts a sense of grandeur and refinement to both host and guest.

Inspiration for today

Another set, entitled "Imperial Memories," takes its artistic cues from ancient Shang and Zhou zun vessels. The teapot is narrow-waisted, like the figure of a beautiful woman. Its handles, situated on either side, support the structure from top to bottom. The vessel's design is majestic, dignified, and crisply structured. The cups, for their part, have been created with substantial handles that lend a self-assured air. The saucers' raised edges echo the curves of the cups. Drinking tea from these vessels, one naturally experiences a taste of refinement and lofty self-assurance.

His work "Love, Deconstructed," has been formed around the idea that building a house relies on meticulous design. In this set, two rhomboid forms interact and harmonize. Above them, fence-like enclosures rise up. Uniquely, this teapot has no handles, and so in pouring tea one must grasp onto its rhomboid body, imitating the constant care that characterizes love itself.

Aside from these grander works, NewChi has also produced some delicate, lovely playthings. For example, Wang has used the form of crescent-shaped divination blocks to create salt and pepper shakers for the dining table. Other products include rounded candy containers and pencil holders shaped like gourds.

Each creation displays a spare, modern design, evoking both visual surprise and pleasure. But why has Heinrich Wang departed from traditional, rounded designs by infusing his creations with such angles and edges?

Wang, who has been at the top of the glassmaking field for almost 20 years now, replies that glassworks are pieces of art that one can look at from afar but not closely handle. Viewing such a work is a kind of spiritual communion. However, Huang has always wanted his creativity to touch ordinary life as well. For their part, porcelain objects are intimately connected with everyday life, and their weight, function, and form can be experienced through direct touch.

Wang says, "In the past, when people thought of porcelain, they thought of it as the finest representation of Chinese culture. However, in the last two or three hundred years, modern porcelain art has not made any further breakthroughs." In Europe, a century of porcelain art in the great workshops has merely effected decorative variations. True innovation has likewise been rare.

According to Wang, the Ru ware of the Song Dynasty was spare yet full of feeling, while the celadon porcelain of the Ming and Qing Dynasties was elaborate and florid. Both styles have had a deep impact on the history of Chinese culture. But how can vessels used for modern life be characterized, and in what cultural form shall they be expressed? How can modern vessels match the pace of modern life? These questions have guided Wang in all of his designs.

One may take "Imperial Memories" as an example. Through the repetition of the curved lines of the teapot, one detects the rich formality of imperial times. When taking tea, one experiences a weighty solemnity, grandeur, and substance from the vessels that is indeed uplifting.

In 2003, tittot became a publicly traded company, and Y.S. Wang, Heinrich Wang's second oldest brother, took responsibility for its management. Heinrich Wang turned part of his focus towards creating NewChi. With his wife Shen Ching-chun as the chairman, and his tall, striking daughter Janet Wang in charge of marketing, NewChi has sought to inject new vitality into modern life through its lively porcelain works.

A pair of rhomboid forms curve sharply to support the tea pot, resembling the way that lovers cling to each other, caring for each other at every turn.

Twenty years of porcelain dreams

Nonetheless, breaking with tradition is never easy. Wang well knew that traditional teapots, cups, and vases were designed with an eye towards their function. They tended to be rounded in form "because porcelain has its own set characteristics, which are difficult to alter."

Once wet porcelain is placed in the kiln, where temperatures can rise to above 1,000°C, it softens and vitrifies. As it cools, it shrinks and changes shape. A rounded form is used so that as the porcelain cools, the shrinking can be more evenly distributed. However, Wang feels that in modern life, many objects of daily use have undergone radical change. Thus, he wanted to infuse his porcelain ware with a modern aesthetic and visual vocabulary.

Even though glass art was Wang's first love, he has in fact been involved with porcelain for over 20 years.

In 1987, Wang traveled to the United States to study glass art at the College for Art and Design in Detroit. Not far from his dormitory was Memphis, a furniture store founded in 1981 by Ettore Sottsass, who made a name for himself in Milan, and for a period stood at the forefront of international design.

Wang saw that the furniture and vases there were made from a variety of materials and rendered into incredible avant-garde shapes, such as a fierce-looking bookshelf whose shelves were raised at a 45-degree angle, or long vases formed out of layers of rounded glass. In his spare time, Wang drew three or four porcelain designs, not thinking that they would come to be appreciated by others.

However, the firm that bought his designs never actually produced them. Wang wondered if this was because his designs were impractical, or because they were impossible to produce.

After returning to Taiwan, Wang tested out his designs at kilns in Yingko and Hsinchu. However, no one could successfully realize his designs. He was even ridiculed by the pottery masters, who asked, "Do you know what you're doing or not?" After all manner of frustrations in Taiwan, Wang could only lay aside his porcelain dreams to focus on his glass art.

Wang's piece entitled "Can't Stand Without You."

Trial by fire and clay

In 1993, Wang left Liuli Gongfang. In this period of reclusion, he once again thought of his unrealized ambitions in porcelain. Thereupon he visited Nikko, the third largest porcelain company in Japan. Nikko used fully automated plants to produce its bone china tableware, and did not have many porcelain masters on site.

When the president of Nikko saw Wang's design for a tea set in the form of a four-petalled plum blossom, with handles from the intersection of high-hanging forms, he excitedly asked Wang for the designs. "I will ask our artisans to see if they can produce these in our kilns. If they succeed, we'll sell them for you," the president told him.

After a year of trying, however, Nikko could only produce the cups. Due to the complicated nature of the firing process, low yield rate, and high costs, the company was only able to display Wang's tea set as an experimental work in its company offices.

However, Wang was ecstatic at seeing the sample cups that had been produced by the Japanese company from four molds. He says, "I discovered that with the right attitude and methods, my works could be produced!"

"Renowned porcelain makers such as Wedgwood in England or Rosenthal in Germany, were all over a hundred years old. Not only did they have powerful brands, but they also had broad market recognition, complete product lines, and extensive sales networks. To succeed against such formidable competitors, we had to make real artistic and technological breakthroughs," says Wang earnestly.

Believing that mindful work produces fine results, Wang moved forward with fresh ardor. He spent four years traveling in such places as Taiwan, China, Japan, Europe, and Southeast Asia, seeking out over 200 kilns to produce samples of his work. Only after countless failures did his products slowly begin to emerge.

With thin-rimmed glasses and hair tied back, the cultured Heinrich Wang has immersed himself in glass art for many years. Now, with he seeks to breathe new life into the aesthetics of everyday life by bringing forth his NewChi line of pure white, innovatively styled porcelain for daily use.

Phoenix from the ashes

Porcelain art has been around for a thousand years. While there are a number of different ways to create and produce porcelain, the basic method includes formulating the composition of the clay, forming, shaping, firing, glazing, and glaze firing.

NewChi's porcelain is a brilliant, reflective white. Any blemish or coloration diminishes it greatly.

Although the introduction of animal bone meal into Western-made porcelain produces nice colors, this practice is not very environmentally friendly. Nor does it accord with NewChi's fresh, modern spirit. Wang says, "When you look closely at bone china, you see that there is a slight yellowish tinge. Chinese porcelain, on the other hand, has a slight grayish tinge. Sometimes, after looking at dozens of white porcelain clays, I have to change the light to get a better view. I spent three years just to perfect my porcelain clay, which is crystalline, flawless, and just the right hardness.

Moreover, different kinds of clay will differ in elasticity. Even purple clay has been used in limited fashion to render rectilinear designs, but this type of clay has a shrinkage rate of 6%. As the metallic content decreases, the shrinkage rate can rise to 15%. "This means that sometimes a teapot and its lid are wildly mismatched in terms of size," he says.

Not only that, NewChi's tableware is suffused with lines and geometric forms, with straight lines, arcs, corners, curves, and hollows as part of its design. Master artisans followed the designs in producing plaster models, but when the porcelain was fired at over 1000°C in the kilns, straight lines were bent, flat surfaces buckled, and lengthy stretches were diminished. The finished works did not have the same dimensions as their originals, and were lamentably skewed.

In order for the plaster mold to "stand" well, firing supports had to be introduced, just as scaffolding is built around a house under construction. These structures allowed the clay to be supported as it took shape in the kiln.

At the beginning of 2007, the National Palace Museum in Taipei held an exhibition of Ru ware, at which artisans' firing tools were also displayed. These tools included firing pads, washers and supports that were used to separate the body of the work from the crucible and prevent the work from deforming.

"Even ordinary round cups need to be supported during firing. I have very high standards for these firing supports. They require special designing, especially for creating asymmetrical vessels," says Wang. If the clay shrinks unevenly, cracks develop. In order to prevent shrinkage and deformation, the firing supports are made from a similar composition of clay, often twice the amount of clay needed for the work itself. Since the supporting structures can only be used once, having shrunk during firing, they represent a considerable production cost.

(facing page) Heinrich Wang who had a privileged upbringing, has been interested in drawing, painting, and design since he was a child. These interests formed a solid foundation for his later creative endeavors (courtesy of tittot).

The joy of opening the kiln

Some specially designed porcelain ware, such as Wang's "By the Measure of the Sea," which features a curving base with handles taking a 105-degree curve, has to be fired upside down. This is because the handles need to be suspended, with the lid forming a base. If the piece is fired "right-side up," the handles will buckle and the flat surface of the lid will cave in, deforming the entire piece. Firing upside down allows the vessel to rest on the kiln's platform. The handles require five firing supports to complete. The wine vessel from "Imperial Memories," for its part, requires eight firing supports.

Each piece of NewChi's tableware, unique and as pristinely white as precious jade, results from incalculable human labor and thought. None of this guarantees success, however, for everything depends on the moment at which one opens up the kiln after firing.

"At the moment when I open up the kiln, I see my sketches transformed into beautiful works. That kind of joy and excitement is indescribable!" exclaims Wang. In the beginning, his failure rate was almost 100%. After four years of experience, his success rate climbed to 30%. All of NewChi's works are entirely handmade.

Through overseeing both the vibrant hues of the glass art at tittot and the simple and austere white porcelain of NewChi, Heinrich Wang is striving to bring refined artistry to the Taiwanese creative world. The photo shows Wang with one of his unique glass pieces, "A Good Host" from the series "Wind and Light."

A creative trilogy

From tittot to NewChi, from resplendent, multi-hued glass to austere white porcelain, Wang's creative life has unfolded as a trilogy. The first element in this saga was that of mental determination. Wang learned that anything that was easy had already been thought of and done. To Wang, this realization was a realistic rather than pessimistic assessment of things, and meant that he had to forge his own creative, yet untrodden path.

The second chapter was that of learning that there is no such thing as free lunch. For the crafting of crystal and glass, one must interchangeably use a dozen or more techniques that lead to infinitely varied artistry, such as the blowing, pulling, dewaxing, fusing, and slumping of hot glass; and the sandblasting, grinding, cutting, painting, and inlaying of cold glass. In the beginning, Wang employed a process with 47 steps, the most complicated of which was that of lost-wax casting. He did this to differentiate himself from the blown and cut glass already prevalent around the world. Even though production costs were high, the reward was sweet. For only through this process did Wang attain to the third chapter in his trilogy, that of breaking through to true artistic heights.

In 2000, tittot CEO Y.S. Wang invited the French branding consultant Brand DNA, whose clients have included Nescafe and Samsung, to analyze tittot. Their findings included the following six characteristics of the company: 1) the artwork was resplendent in color, translucent, and uniquely formed; 2) the artistry was world class; 3) the works combined sound structural design with an artistic sensibility; 4) the works were infused with a Chinese cultural spirit; 5) the works were full of feeling and story-telling power; and 6) the works were artistically trendsetting.

Heinrich Wang feels that the assessment of the international consultants accords well with the five elements of his own creative ethos: that his works are characterized by a fusing of idealism, professionalism, trendiness, craftsmanship, and cultural depth.

In Wang's view, professionalism includes sales, finance, and creativity. For example, when tittot first began, there was really no thought of "design" per se. Wang simply produced the ideas that blossomed in his own mind. However, when he began to assemble a team of specialists around him, the company began to interact more extensively with the outside world. It was only through proper marketing, sales, and understanding of the market that tittot's creative story could be fully told.

Taking the Buddhist icons that Wang designed for tittot as an illustration, one finds that each dynasty has had a different aesthetic sensibility. Tang Buddhas are vital and full, while today's Buddha images emphasize the communication of joy. Moreover, people nowadays feel that a 1:9 head-to-body ratio is more beautiful, and this is the ratio that tittot has adopted. When placed in the home, Wang's Buddhas are like family friends that offer constant encouragement, and are not just reverential objects to be worshipped from afar.

Wang says, "Our distinctive identity comes from artisanship and cultural depth." Superb craftsmanship itself is of exceedingly high value, not to mention the pride that is generated from drawing on one's cultural roots. Thus, Wang's work is frequently inspired by the aesthetics of Zen, the rhythms of fengshui, and the yin-yang balance of Taiji, the Great Ultimate.

A penholder in the shape of a small gourd.

A connoisseur of life

Heinrich Wang was raised in well-to-do surroundings in Indonesia. His family owned a fabric store, a photo shop, and a denture shop. Wang came to inherit the singular good taste of his father and the multifaceted talent and craftsmanship of his mother. This heritage would form the foundation of his creative life.

Wang is the inspirational spirit behind tittot and NewChi, expressing his own unique artistic identity through his works. One sees this spirit in his attire and demeanor, which are at once scholarly and cultured.

Wang happily shoulders the burden of his artistic endeavors in glass and porcelain. In seeking after new milestones in his life, he is like a person who jumps into the fray, though with ample blueprints tucked under his arm, brilliantly focusing all of his energies on his creative aspirations.

"The Ballet" tea set: Thin, delicate handles support the semi-curcular body of the vessel like the way that a ballet dancer artfully balances on the tips of her toes.

(photo by Jimmy Lin)