Why Porcelain Is So Expensive | So Expensive | Business Insider 

1) translucency isn't very important and glazed stoneware can look identical otherwise 2) You can just glaze with a stencil 3) Replace intuition with climate control and humidity sensors etc 4) Robots

historically porcelain was vastly more expensive than other ceramic ware, especially when it was exclusively produced in china and exported to european aristocracy (edmund de waal has a great book The White Road detailing the history of porcelain thats worth reading if youre interested in that history). however at this point while porcelain is more expensive than other clays that hardly factors into pricing in the context of contemporary handmade ceramics (the fact that toilet's or like a plate from target are both made of porcelain and cheap underscore this). if i make a 2 pound bowl the material cost with porcelain is maybe $1.50 and stoneware $0.75 and I sell the bowl for $35.00 that difference in material cost is fairly insignificant compared to other factors involved in pricing (labor for instance). the fact the ware is handpainted with under and overglaze adds far more significant cost to the production of the ware on the backend than using porcelain.

Not specifically about porcelain, but cheaper products are less ethical and use products not from a great quality and may have so ecological issues. Expensive products are easier to film in their creation because the producers have nothing to hide, they don't have underpaid and exploited workers, they can mask if their products are bad for the environnement. It would be tougher to film. In our modern days, in the textile industry, clothing is cheap because of multiple factors for example : polyester is the principal fabric so it is plastic and easy to create (unlike cotton or wool which needs to be harvested from plants/animals) ; clothing are made from models so it can be easily remade instead of a super tailored gown that will suit you perfectly ; usually and sadly the seamstress are exploited so they don't get paid much. Showing those can be interesting but can cause polemic, even juridiction issues (if an employee shows the true face, they might get fired ; often those places are shown illegaly so they might get sued) and I think risk it can be okay for mainstream television (we have some programs who do those sorts of series in France but by mainstream television) but a YT channel may be a litttle riské. Sorry for my english, I'm french !

the company shown isn't even the more expensive side of porcelain. the porcelain products we make now pale in comparison to what was achieved centuries ago - techniques that have now been lost. replicating them can cost thousands of dollars and it's still not up to par. ultimately, for porcelain, it's a combination of raw material composition, risk and craftsmanship. combine all of those and you get the final price (+supply/demand).

I'd watch that- especially if they did comparisons with higher quality

I mean they make wares for both design queues so it's a double win win for them.

You’ve repeated yourself five times you must’ve been an English major.

@@maximilian6829 Bad habit when I'm typing on my phone for some reason.

Yeah, let's hope they never go with Flippy, the robot arms 🤹

I agree, have to move with the market. I respect the traditional designs but wouldn’t want them in my house. Glad to see they are providing new designs.

Arita Porcelain Lab

It's called "so expensive" for a reason

I know!

It isn't difficult to make a Google search

@@sarge6283 it isn't that hard for a channel with 6M subs to copy and paste a website either 👀

Awesome. I admire the authenticity in your comment and have subscribed.

I imagine when you hold a Christofle porcelain plate in your hands your heart beat goes up (mine does.)

@@skwalka6372 people don’t love items just because they are premium, they love it when there is an emotional linkage, this is especially true for things people made themselves. I might be wrong but I think between the bowl he made in 2nd Year and a premium brand bowl, given they have a similar design, this person would prefer the one he made himself.

Yea, it s like butter in touch, very hard to control especially using the wheel

Electives are unreasonably expensive but they offer this: random opportunities to learn about things that will be useful in other areas of life later on. Like nutrition, economics and philosophy classes. They may seem useless to an EENG but its provides you with understanding other areas of life like health, wellness, interpersonal relations, and consumerism/market events. This stuff just eventually comes in handy, even within your own field of work/business.

What else do you do when you do pottery all your life.

He's been doing that job, for as long as I've existed!😳. He is truly a Master Craftsman. The musician whose custom order this is, must be on of the rare, and lucky musicians who are able to make a living from their music. And a very good living it would appear, because I imagine that this order was very expensive. I'm really curious how much this set costs.

Porcelain is not expensive, the artistry is. Misleading video. I'm crappin on porcelain so porcelain is not expensive. This is like doing a video on why wood is so expensive.

@@goofyfoot2001, there are plenty of types of wood that are hella expensive.

@@goofyfoot2001 Some varieties of wood ARE expensive, regardless of the design of the finished product. That is the very reason fake wood finishes of some wood varieties have become popular.

Made me sad when the artist couldn't afford to buy the 100g of paint. They do all this work and can't afford some nice things for themselves.

Low wage workers is the saddest part when the final object costs so much.

@@REDnBLACKnRED it really is, breaks my heart every time.

Paolo from Tokyo makes videos more in-depth than this about Japanese businesses, if you're interested in docs like these then I have zero shame in shouting him out.

I know right, I love them so much

@Whatasp±①③④⑥③⓪⑥①⑦③⓪ Hey Nigerian can you stop scamming others?

@@bustavonnutz please link to his RU-vid channel - sounds very interesting!

@@bustavonnutz don’t like him - stop promoting him

Did you notice she said they put underglaze on bisque? Is that how your studio did it? I thought UG generally goes on before the 1st firing.

@@aaronbennack714 I did! and yes, we do the same thing. Our process is typically: the potter throws the pottery on a wheel, the pottery spends about 24 hours slow drying, a carver uses tools to make designs in the clay, the pottery is then dried completely, once dry it is bisque fired, then any underglaze is applied before the glaze and final firing. I’m not especially certain of what the norm is, this is the only studio I’ve ever worked at and I just follow the process set out for us by the potter. I’m employed there as a carver and underglazer.

I don't get it. Please explain why the porcelain at China Town is so cheap ?

​@@MattMundane plastic

As is the case with almost everything hand-made. Huge props to all artisans that have spent thousands of hours perfecting their craft and work hard to bring us these wonderful products

True, but with Amazon and all the deceptive marketing and D-T-C e-commerce, cheap ultimately sells and most of the brands on Amazon, are "no name brands."

Its actually too pretty, as it’s expensive and so beautiful I wouldn’t want to use it as a plate

Yep. Similarly, the lost artifact "The Heirloom Seal of the Realm" made from a rare piece of jade during China's Qin Dynasty also had a piece of its corner destroyed, so artisans replaced the corner with gold. This is supposed to be one of its primary distinguishing features making it unique from other imperial seals...no doubt helping to identify it if it is ever found.

I am surprised that lots of people don’t plan ahead like this - one should always think ahead for making improvements so that one’s children have good lives. I feel that this is behind what they are doing, planning for the beauty of the future.

@@BlackSeranna i wonder, will this store exist even if we (somehow) become interplanetary? Probably, maybe as a luxury decoration company?

@@aslamstudio558 it absolutely will. However, I am willing to bet that people from this line of work will move to another planet, learn something unique about the soil on that planet, and create a new type of porcelain that will also be beautiful. These people are innovators.

The old imperial porcelain capital of China, Jingdezhen, was given special patronage by the various imperial houses of China starting in the early 11th century. The potters there still handmake porcelain in much the same fashion as they once did centuries ago. They even survived the Cultural Revolution by diversifying from artisanal porcelain wares to making trinkets bearing Maoist slogans lol. There's also a 600-hundred-year-old wood-fired kiln that has been in continuous operation since the early Ming dynasty in one of the porcelain 'factories'

@@hoennnoodle im just surprised shops like these last for so long

Government subsidies (biofuel/crop insurance/etc.) and the resulting 'over supply'.

one of the factor could be explotation of local farmers (in the case of chocolate, bananas for example)...the reasons wont be as pretty as these series

There's actually a few videos about "Why is it so cheap" like palm oil and air travel!

there's the cost, the exploitation, the hidden cost, the subsidies

Corn in the US is mass-produced. There is usually only a handful of people working on one farm at a time because there is equipment that can mass plant and harvest, and in large part the corn is payed for by the government.

I'm fairly certain that the energy requirement to ramp something up to 1300C and hold it there for (guessing) 36 hours before ramping down again is pretty intense in it's own right. Add a ton of labour on top... and yeah.. Imma just gon get some stuff from Ikea.. :P

ok

are you asian

Overrated check India lol

⤴️⤴️⤴️⤴️ .Thâñks før wãtçhīñg. Ïñböx thē ñümbêr åbøvê ī gôt sömēthîñg tø shōw yåh.⤴️⤴️⤴️⤴️..

I have a large porcelain vase from my deceased, extravagant mother outside holding my hiking sticks. I think I'll bring it in now. Right ?

Chinese artisan porcelain maker are using more traditional way. All hand made. They don't use such mould you see in the video. That requires much experience. Also the painting style and color are totally different.

like tea and silk it was a state secret.... westerners stole the intellectual property.... isn't it ironic

I'm curious, why the quote marks around the word modern?

@@louisejohnson6057 (2)

@@ShiratoriIsOffline , sorry, that means nothing to me.

@@louisejohnson6057 oh, it just means I have the same question, just force of habit lol

@@louisejohnson6057 I think they might be trying to make the distinction that not ALL Japanese dislike colorful pieces.

That’s traditional Chinese design.

Well the one plate they showed near the beginning at 0:22 was def Japanese patterns

​@@julioduan7130 Arita porcelain painting is definitely a Japanese style. If you have the same painting in China, could you please provide a picture and a detailed description? Arita-yaki originated when a Korean potter, 「李参平」“”Ri San-pyo“”, who was forcibly taken to Japan during Hideyoshi Toyotomi's war of aggression against Korea in the 16th century, discovered clay suitable for making pottery in the mountains of Arita. There is no direct relationship between Arita-yaki and China. Later, Arita-yaki was rapidly developed during the Edo period by potters such as 「柿右衛門」“”Kakiemon“”, leading to the current style.

those that go to the thousands are most likely customized pieces

If I want a nice set I would rather get a colourful one with extremely detailed art. But yes a sleek design that screams business fits better with modern houses. But then again why do people even want their home to look like an office :)

I heartily agree!

Some are just gifted.

@@Rudy97 absolutely

Okay

We call it cheena mati.

Everyone knows stuff made in Japan is the highest quality there is.

China is the dumpster of the world. Everyone should avoid there. Also. This show is about expensive things. Not cheap sweat shop garbage.

They don’t want the viewers to associate China with valuable fine China.

@@julioduan7130 Yes, and it's all part of the massive propaganda campaign that prepares the west for an eventual war with China.

it might be hard for business insider to get permission to enter china at the moment because china is locking out a lot of foreigners especially the kind with cameras cause they are fearful of western spies , so business insider is probably just defaulting to japan for a lot of things

Funny, in Indonesia mati means death so China mati means to us "Dead China"

@@laosi4278 😅

@@laosi4278 👍 Good One!!!

@@laosi4278 @Tri**69, @Re**4what kind of human u are to make up such shameful joke when you are still benefiting from China’s creations! I cannot name even one single thing that is derived from Indonesia, but I won’t say something like Dead Indonesia.

Yes, I've purchased a few Franz porcelain pieces and absolutely love them - they'll be passed down to my kids or they could sell them as porcelain holds its value. Things should last lifetimes and people should look at themselves as care takers not owners. I find regular use of paper plates absurd as well - you can get gently used sets of dishes (not porcelain) for $5-10.

@@namehere4954 my family has a gorgeous set passed down from my great-grandmother and it still looks completely new. Porcelain is ageless.

the Chinese use child slave labor... are you referring to Chinese slave masters?

It's because a lot of your traditional craftsmanship got destroyed or died off during the Communist Revolution. For example, 景徳鎮is world famous for its beauty, but the pieces with intricate craftsmanship aren't produced as commonly anymore and the pieces produced are for more mundane uses. I think the same goes for 仏山, 漢口,　朱仙鎮. On the other hand, most Japanese know of Arita still and they still keep up with the traditional crafts at the traditional level. China had amazing craftsmanship before the revolution. Suwato embroidery, for instance, rich silks, beautiful ceramics. I can't find them in production anymore (and I've looked). The places where they kept old craftsmanship never underwent socialism and they've kept what is called the elite class. Some may call it capitalist rot, but culture always flourished when the upper class was bored and could patronise such artisanship.

@@GabrielleduVent Reading this makes me sad, because I love my grandma's culture's art. I barely see anything from China and yeah it sounds about right. :( A lot of China's rich thousands of years history is closed off from the world. For example, I'm learning embroidery, but I've never heard of suwato embroidery, yet when I search it's on par or heck even more better and skillfully made than medieval european lace, yet I've seen information of medieval lace even when I'm not looking for it. Same for tatting. I wish the chinese preserved their history a little better.

YES. I'm tired of them always choosing to go to Japan.

Xi Ling, you can still find masters in porcelain making in China. Jingdezheng has a national ceramics institute and a thriving ceramics community with a weekend market of students selling their wares. Many potters from around the world also setup studios there to draw inspiration from each other. Even Japanese potters. Dehua white porcelain is still being made in China. If you know mandarin, you can watch it documented in many CCTV documentaries on the artisans. Don't expect Western media to show you anything that promotes China. Everything refined and Chinese, they try as much as possible to highlight and feature instead alternatives from other Asian countries as replacement. Not only porcelain, the finest wood furniture made only with joinery by Chinese artisans and exported them to the world. These were highly valued because they when compared with furniture held together by nails lasted longer and don't fall apart easily. They still make and export it to Chinese in South East Asia. Many of these antique porcelain and furniture pieces still exists on display in National Trusts houses once owned by aristocrats in UK. China may have gone through a very rough time in foreign invasions, revolution, ww2, civil war and cultural revolution but it doesn't mean that they are totally a cultural desert now. Many traditional arts, crafts and culture are experiencing a revival and greater appreciation.

She couldn't afford a paint. Some paints are really expensive.

⤴️⤴️⤴️⤴️ .Thâñks før wãtçhīñg. Ïñböx thē ñümbêr åbøvê ī gôt sömēthîñg tø shōw yåh.⤴️⤴️⤴️⤴️.

Not be grammar Nazi but it's hat. Again I'm not trying to be that person.

How are u able to watch a 7 min video in 1 min?

yes ,i a gree

I’m 21 years old & I review products on my RU-vid channel.. tryna get out the hood by 30 little by little💯

bot

Every ancient design was a contemporary one once

@@knty4 Yes but our contemporary really is boring.