The story behind Mei Lin Studio

Mei Lin Chen’s workshop smells of wet clay and the Kelvin. She throws on Wednesdays and Thursdays, fires on Fridays, and opens the door to the public when the kiln has stopped being the loudest thing in the lane.

She grew up between Glasgow and Hong Kong, and is tired of being asked which one her work “belongs” to. The bowls belong to the people who eat from them.

A typical commission takes three months. A typical Saturday visitor leaves with a cup and a story about their grandmother’s rice pot.

“I am not illustrating identity,” she says. “I am making objects that have to work at breakfast.”