Creating diverse new shapes could solve problems in the china industry

In regard to your piece Big trouble in little china (News Analysis, DW 10 September), it is amazing how traditional the ceramic business is throughout the world. So traditional that the way it is used has never changed.

The new millennium will be very competitive; the way designers think should be changing.

They talk about porcelain as an artistic and creative material. Does this mean that it has never been treated like that before?

I don’t understand how the industry can really change when it does not challenge anything else but shape and patterns. How much more creative can it be if it sticks to the same round shapes?

I believe the industry should be applying different concepts to its products, looking into other areas for inspiration and real change.

Diversity is the key. Everything seems very predictable and common sense to me, with some exceptions, like Rosenthal’s Versace range, when at least the products are linked to a name, a lifestyle.

If designs were more intelligent, the diversity I talk about could happen, and the fragile china industry could enter a new millennium with a new face, a new proposal, a new culture.

Cristiane Dias

Cristianedias@hotmail.com