Close up on cloisonne

"We learned cloisonne after seeing the pieces displayed at the Palace Museum. We wanted to turn our hobby into a career, so that people could enjoy and learn to make the craft themselves," says Li, who worked in a finance company before quitting his job to launch Handcraft Addicted, a DIY workshop where participants can make cloisonne. Since 2018, they have opened three workshops in Beijing.

Traditionally, the art of making cloisonne involves many steps, including making a metal base, soldering delicate metal strips bent to the outline of a design, filling the spaces with different colored pigments and firing. The couple simplify the process so that participants only have to learn to bend the thin metal wires into their desired pattern, and apply the powdered ore pigments.

Instead of focusing on making traditional cloisonne objects, such as plates and vases, the workshop allows participants to create the designs they want on panels of glass, resin or wood.