From London to Jingdezhen, a few months in the City of Porcelain

Hello everyone, finally after quite a long time I’ve managed to take some time to write about what’s happening in my life. It’s been a few years since my last—and only—post, which I published when I first created this website.

It was 2018, and I had arrived in London about two years earlier. A time of great change, as you can imagine: marriage, a new city, a new country, a new language, a new work environment, new dynamics.

After almost ten years, I can say that my life has changed incredibly since then, as probably happens to many people over a decade—especially between the ages of 40 and 50.

These have been ten years in which, in a certain sense, I had to start everything over again—particularly in justifying my presence in a country that was beginning its journey out of Europe, and where, being Italian, my presence needed a valid reason to be understood and accepted. It has been an inner process that recalls my coming out: the need to be recognised, to assess my own sense of belonging and conformity to categories that, when you change country, also change—or need to be translated, not only in their most literal meaning.

It has been, and continues to be, an internal struggle between ways of seeing life that often seem contradictory—at least in how they are expressed—but that teach me to recognise the essence of being human, and the even greater need, especially in times like these, to listen and to learn from those who think differently from me. This is an exercise that does not always come naturally, particularly when there is a lack of respect or acknowledgment of my point of view on the other side, the only way I can think of that would bring a positive contribution.

I decided to start writing again thanks to a special opportunity: a residency in China, in Jingdezhen—the porcelain capital par excellence—where I will spend three months at the Taoxichuan centre together with other members of the AIC.

I will be leaving in two weeks, and I can’t wait to be there. It will be a chance to experience an extraordinary culture, one I have never encountered directly, except through books or friends’ stories.

It will also be an opportunity to explore new materials and techniques, meet new people, and hopefully build lasting collaborations. Above all, I’m certain that, as in my previous experiences in Finland and Spain, a complete change of context will deeply influence both my practice and my way of seeing the world.

For this reason, I thought it would be meaningful to document this moment and keep a diary in which I can share what I will be exposed to and the impact it will have. I hope it can become a way to experience this journey together, even from a distance.

Thank you for choosing to be part of it.