A day in Yunnan.
We are a small house — a few craftsmen, two apprentices, and the unhurried rhythm of a workshop in the hills of Yunnan. Days here are long and quiet. The work is slow by design. Between cuts there is tea, and talk, and the changing light over the valley. This is the life behind every piece we make.
The day starts at the wheel.
Work begins early, while the light is still soft. A piece left mid-polish the evening before is picked up again; the wheel turns; the room settles into its quiet hum of concentration.
There is no music, no rush. Only the sound of stone meeting wheel, hour after hour.
Reading the rough over tea.
New stones are laid out on the bench and studied — turned in the light, debated, set aside. Most are passed over. A pot of tea is poured and forgotten while a decision is made.
Some stones wait weeks for their first cut. We are in no hurry to be wrong.
The life around the work.
Tengchong, on the old jade road.
For centuries, jade from northern Burma crossed into China here. The town still carries that history — in its markets, its workshops, and the people who have worked stone for generations. We could not do what we do anywhere else. The place is part of the craft.