Zisha Pottery and Design

Students study zisha clay and learn to shape it by hand, combining traditional techniques with their own ideas for vessel design.

Student outputHandmade zisha teapots with individual choices of form and surface decoration.

Methods & activitiesVisit clay sources and workshops in Yixing, observe clay processing, and practice hand-building with guidance from zisha craftspeople.

Project progressHandmade zisha pieces completed.

Hands-on learning in a Zisha workshop in Yixing

Understanding the clay

Students visited the Huanglongshan mining area in Yixing to examine the raw material used to make zisha clay. Observing and handling it helped them relate its composition and properties to the demands of pottery making.

Making a teapot by hand

Workshop visits introduced the stages of selecting and processing clay, shaping vessels and firing. Guided by zisha craftspeople, students prepared clay strips, formed teapot bodies and smoothed the surfaces to make their own teapots.

Developing a personal design

Students learned about vessel forms, makers' marks and the contemporary zisha market. They experimented with shapes and added personal symbols to their pieces, using traditional techniques to express their own ideas.

Project guidance

Kelvin · Industry Practice Teacher

Kelvin guides this project. Zisha craftspeople in Yixing introduced students to hand-building techniques as they made their own teapots.

Read the teacher’s profile