• Julie and Jesse build porcelain pieces using found fragments and decaying moulds
• They produce in series, to better present concepts of gradual transformation
• Their ceramics blur the boundary between object and art

When Hong Kong-based duo Julie Progin and Jesse Mc Lin established a secondary studio in China’s porcelain capital, Jingdezhen, their downtime was filled with foraging through dusty piles of earth for shards of ceramics. Ignoring the sideways glances of locals, they found many pieces, some thousands of years old. "A porcelain cup that seemed to have stuck to a shelf reminded me of a similar mistake I had once made," recalls Jesse. For Julie, a fragment found in Uzbekistan featuring Han cobalt blue epitomised how ceramics migrate across cultures. As makers, their work oscillates between object and art, as they create unique pieces incorporating weathered industrial moulds, treasured trash and sculptural glazes. "There is a lot of joy in the ceramic process of capturing the essence of transformation and decay," says Julie.