艷 陽 和 雨 天

                A journal kept across a 3-month pottery stint, every day between April to July of 2026. Later did I realise unlike design workbooks that were discarded some time ago, this was used as reflections to embed lessons as of late, well on top of putting drafts and plans on paper. It still amazes me how my peers persisted clocking-in daily despite the intensive training under an apprenticeship programme, a systemic structure deemed rare today requiring mutual trust between a student seeking mentorship and from a master of specified craft. To me the willingness by both parties to undertake such a close relationship is one of its kind, considering its lack of availability out there to learn while practicing through a considerably substantial period of time, without a fee while being invested to succeed. Here's to all my peers, and notably one assistant instructor who were always there for us. It is a wonder to have met each of you. ...

「 Geography is destiny. 」 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。 。   「 The world is the kiln. We are the clay. 」 Yet in whose hands were we shaped, ours?

                It is said that man walked the land, one day realising the impression they left behind on wet soil instilled an imagination that the moisturised sediments could be shaped and dried. On whether this occurred before or after the discovery of fire, I do not know. If it is to be of the former, I wonder if just by leaving it for dry would do any good. If not made a vessel, perhaps a decorated ornament of sorts. Did our ancestors only figured mud as functional storage after settling down, having enough of a nomadic pursue in certain regions? Hunters to store meat and fat, gatherers to preserve and ferment. I am getting ahead of myself here discussing clay from an anthropological approach.        "Too wet cannot, too dry cannot. Too fast cannot, too slow cannot." , was a phrase I jokingly came up with while wedging on my second week of pottery apprenticeship. A crude phrase that I believe enc...