Porcelain maker's China ambition

The company uses a glazing technique that can preserve colors for thousands of years and possesses a world patent for its mold-casting technique. Each piece is fired at 1,200 C and goes through more than 100 manufacturing steps before completion. It is best known for its three-dimensional sculptures and hand-painted animals and flowers.

Chen refuses to label his products Chinese because they are "neither Western nor Chinese but both, and I don't want to lose either part of them by pleasing the other". He portrays his clients as people between the ages of 30 and 60, not too burdened financially and keen on the finer things in life.

"But I do believe there is a common eye for beauty shared by human kind, just like people will find the sunrise beautiful both in Paris and Shanghai," he added.

The company has around 2,000 employees at two factories that manufacture millions of pieces sold around the world. They are in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, and Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, the country's, if not the world's, most famous porcelain-producing centers.

Employees of Franz Collection Inc design new products in its factory in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. [Photo/China Daily]

 

Each year, it introduces 200 new designs to refresh its offerings, which number about 1,000.

Chen said the company is never short of ideas to create new designs because it is "building a brand based on a history and an empire of more than 5,000 years".

"For products like our porcelain, customers are paying maybe 10 percent of the total price for the china per se, while the rest is an agreement, and ideally appreciation, of the aesthetic value and humanity expressed through the item," said Chen.

"Every year we invest tens of millions of yuan in research and development to upgrade our designs and the technology that helps to realize the wild fantasy of the design," he added.

Despite the fact that overseas sales still outnumber domestic ones, accounting for 65 percent of the total, Chen said that the mainland is quickly catching up with a large proportion - at least 60 percent - made up of "purposeful gifting".

"In Europe, private use is the main reason dominating the market, while in Taiwan it is shared equally between private use, collection and gifting," said Chen.

A recent study conducted by the Hurun Report, China Rich List and Their Evolving Lifestyles, found that porcelain was ranked the fourth favorite item for collecting by China's richest people, after watches, classical art and drinks. For personal investment, art came second, after property, on the list.

"Traditional items collected by the rich such as cars and trophy properties have gradually fallen out of the list, coming to sixth and seventh in the 'What do you like collecting?' section, while those considered 'of better taste' and 'low-profile' are rapidly on the rise, which reflects growing interest in sophistication," said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of the Hurun Report, at a forum in Shanghai late in March.

Francis Chen Liheng, founder and president of Franz Collection Inc, poses beside chinaware products. [Photo/China Daily]

"If you define luxury correctly, China has got its own luxury already, such as tea, china, jade and Moutai ... the country's rich are not hiding their interest in these things at all," added Hoogewerf.

Chen, however, is not concerned about selling his products as luxuries. He cooperates with luxury fashion houses such as Lanvin and historical sites including the Palace Museum in Beijing to launch limited edition chinaware that could be as expensive as 400,000 yuan apiece. Chen is rather careful about the luxury label. He believes according to its Chinese characters it is a negative word meaning "the more you have, the more people will keep their eyes on you".

Aside from the problem of shortage of talent that has befallen many Chinese entrepreneurs, Chen said that what has troubled him most is that he has seen copycats of his delicate, pricey tea sets.

He said he is helpless regarding that, adding jokingly that perhaps to be counterfeited is "one of the qualifications to be a brand in China".

He said he would learn to accept it if it was also a part of the deal to be the world's top china producer, a position in his view still occupied by Wedgewood.

"From my perspective, to be number one is not judged by how much money you make or how many stores you open, because my intention is not to make money as a priority. It's the influence and changes you leave to the industry and posterity that matter most. I think Mr Wedgewood is incomparable in the industry," he said.

"And for me, I would be perfectly satisfied if, centuries later, someone would treat Franz as a treasure after discovering it buried," he said.

Q+A: Chen Liheng

xujunqian@chinadaily.com.cn