Close up on cloisonne

About eight years ago, Li Jinglong and Guan Dian visited the Palace Museum in Beijing. Like many tourists, the young couple were amazed by the ancient complex, which is also known as the Forbidden City. It was China's imperial palace from 1420 to 1911 and is home to over 1.86 million cultural relics. The cloisonne objects on display attracted them in particular.

"We spent hours looking at those beautiful objects. We just couldn't take our eyes off them," says Li.

Born and raised in Beijing, 35-year-old Li is no stranger to cloisonne, since there were a pair of cloisonne vases in his grandparents' home. His wife, 34-year-old Guan, who learned to paint as a child and later became a designer after graduating from the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, is also familiar with cloisonne, as it appears in her art books.

As a result of their visit, the couple made the bold decision to open a workshop to promote Chinese-style cloisonne.