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| Sunday, 1 September 2002 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Vessel' glides in with panache by Jayanthi Liyanage
Barely two centuries after Josiah Wedgwood, "the Father of English Potters" famed his native Ireland for "the most beautiful ceramics ever made", the potter's den of Dankotuwa Porcelain Ltd. (DPL) is poised to etch a new ridge in the global porcelain market with "Vessel", Sri Lanka's first collection of original designer shapes in fine china tableware. "Vessel", under the brand name "Elan", is already making its second appearance in Frankfurt, Germany, at "Tendence Fair", scheduled to be held from August 30 to September 3, where buyers all over from UK, USA, Europe, the Middle East and Asia converge. "Vessel first came out to the global market in February at Ambiente Fair in the same venue," says Kithsiri Wijesundera, Managing Director, DPL. "Which was just to show the new shapes and get a feed back from the market. But now we are ready to fill our order books with a fuller range of Vessel, with new items added to suit the tableware requirements of different countries." "Vessel" culminates a prime diversion of DPL which has gradually taken shape for the past few months, parallel to the ridge DPL has engraved in the global porcelain market as one of the biggest names in hand-etched gold and platinum-decorated high quality tableware, with mastery in traditional porcelain, specially catering to USA and Europe.
"Until recently, our procedure was to get the designs, shapes and specifications from reputed international customers and produce porcelain ware accordingly, to be marketed under their labels," Wijesundera says. With some of the world's topmost department stores such as Macy's of USA, Ralph Lauren, Walt Disney, Debenhams and House of Fraser of UK, DPL soon became Sri Lanka's biggest exporter of porcelain tableware. "We have been a supplier of Ralph Lauren for the past 11 years." own identity and to do that, we have to bring in good designers and develop our design-based marketing skills." This is how the Britishers, Pam Greeves, a design consultant formerly at Wedgwood, and Jonathan Smith, a senior shapes designer formerly at Royal Worcester and who also created Dankotuwa's first break-through "designer" tableware, "Vessel", came to experiment with new porcelain shapes and designs at DPL. "Vessel" also establishes DPL's entry into a growing global market of lightly-decorated, simply-shaped, natural ceramic, whiteware matching the contemporary, casual life styles of avant-garde tastes, of specially the youthful and the upper-strata consumers. "Ceramic industry is design-led," proclaims Smith, "If you don't put money and commitment to develop new shapes, you get left behind. Specially in the West, the current trend is for minimalistic whiteware." Assents Greeves, "Casual dining is extremely popular in Europe." Also, the ceramic products need to meet the demands of the modern kitchen - to withstand the heat of a scorching oven; to be effortlessly transferred from oven or microwave straight to table and then, to dishwasher for easy clean-up and back to refrigerator storage.
As Smith laughingly explains, what inspired him to create this amazingly simple, translucently pure, "Vessel" shape is an inconspicuous showerhead. "When I came to Sri Lanka, I brought a lot of interesting magazine cuttings to show DPL managers and one was the picture of a lady holding a flexile showerhead around her arm." And the unique "twill" on the tableware which makes it different from all the other designerware? "It was the way the lady wrapped the flex around her which gave me the concept of the twist which is wrapped around the ceramic pieces," Smith says. "This twill is exclusively DPL's. It has never been done before." Extraordinarily fashioned by Smith and DPL factory personnel in just three months for its first launch in February, "Vessel" comprises chop plates, dinner plates, salad plates, bread and butter plates, rim soup plates, tea pots, coffee pots, pepper pots, sauce boats, breakfasts cups, tea cups, coffee cups, mugs, open vegetable bowls, vinegar bottles, herbal oil dishes, candle holders and many more. The creamer and milk pitcher do not have a hand-hold - another novelty. The absence of usual roundness is the "Vessel" hall mark of its lean and tall pots, pitchers and mugs. Smith's prediction for the modern age of ceramics : "To be a world class ceramics supplier, you have to put time and effort to develop exciting new shapes and patterns of superb quality, different to what other ceramicists create while also remaining practical. One of them just might be the winner!" Local ceramic lovers need not lose heart. "Vessel" will be introduced to the Sri Lankan markets in a month's time," promises Wijesundera. And diverts our attention to another first for DPL. "For the first time, our products will be marketed under our own brand label 'Dankotuwa' in Asia, Middle East and Eastern Europe." In ample evidence, the factory showrooms are lined-up with a host of new collections. 'Regency' is one collection where rich, ornate, 24 karat gold designs are hand-etched on porcelain for lavish, awe-inspiring dining, by DPL's own gold printers, considered to be among the best in the world. DPL's gold and platinum printed ceramic ranges come in both classic and contemporary shapes. "Flamenco" range offers ceramics of floral and chequered patterns which you can mix and match. Greeves, intent on developing DPL's contemporary markets, showed an instance where she skilfully had the traditional motif 'lotus' gold-etched to create a less formal, modernist tableware. "Using DPL's traditional strengths, we want to open up a new section of market, globally and locally, where people can be modern and casual," she says. "In Europe, modern living makes dishwashers essential, but as gold doesn't fare well in the dishwasher, most of the best gold has to be hand-washed," Greeves points out. "So many people don't buy it. "But, with modern techniques, DPL has produced a range of tableware which is still best gold but dishwasher-safe." They are now in the process of developing a gold range which is microwave-safe. Tagged "Asia's Best Porcelain Manufacturer", DPL's rich gold tableware was picked thrice to adorn the Annual Oscar Awards Banquet in Hollywood. It was also a "Gold Sponsor" at the recent Asian Athletics Championships and produced a range of porcelain souvenirs to commemorate the event. |
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