MEISSEN Designer Zhuoyu Hou
  • Before product designer Zhuoyu Hou starts her daily work at the porcelain manufactory, she brews a pot of hot tea. This little tea ceremony is her connection to her home country China and brings her inner peace and energy for the day.

    Growing up in a small village in southern China, Zhuoyu Hou was surrounded by pristine forests, mandarin trees and rivers. Everyday objects and toys were also handmade by the villagers from natural materials such as bamboo, wood or clay. This time close to nature influenced Zhuoyu Hou and awakened her passion for craftsmanship.

    The now 30-year-old artist became enthusiastic about drawing and creative design with clay at an early age. She deepened her skills with drawing lessons and by attending a high school with an artistic focus. With her commitment, Zhuoyu Hou fulfilled her dream - she studied industrial design at one of the best art universities in China, the China Academy of Art in Shanghai. As her life progressed, her interest in Bauhaus design brought her to Germany. There she was offered the opportunity to study ceramics and glass design at the Burg Giebichenstein Art Academy near Halle. During her studies, she completed an internship at the MEISSEN porcelain manufactory. Together with the manufactory, Zhuoyu Hou realised her graduation project for her master's thesis. The idea that her product developments could wear the world-famous blue Crossed Swords excited her so much that Zhuoyu Hou has now been working as a product designer here at the Meissen porcelain manufactory since 2016. With her nature-loving personality and her aim to combine beauty with the functional use of the objects, she is an enrichment for the traditional and open-minded manufactory.





"For me, transforming inspirations from nature into haptic forms and designing functional and at the same time beautiful porcelains is the greatest thing about my work."
  • One of Zhuoyu Hou's first projects for MEISSEN was the "Antarctica" collection, which was inspired by an arctic ice landscape and a family of penguins. The form-giving dynamic curves contrast with the angular openings and visualises the belly and head of the penguins. The different sizes represent the members of the penguin family - mum, dad, a older brother and a baby. The size variations allow a versatile use in everyday life, as individual pieces or as an arrangement of different objects of the series. Inspired by the ice landscape, the designer also developed various bowls, candle sticks and mugs. Zhuoyu Hou uses the vases not only for flowers, but also as water carafe or milk can and the bowls for fruit or snacks.

    The product designer's Chinese roots also inspired her to create the "Ying and Yang" vase pair. Despite their different heights and widths, both vases have the same volume, which stands for the balance between Ying and Yang. The two vases are perfect for presenting flower bouquets in a new and unusual way.

    With her open-minded attitude and cultural affinity, Zhuoyu Hou is always seeing new projects and inspirations. It makes her proud to see her works immortalised in Meissen porcelain and she is happy to preserve and continue the traditional heritage of the manufactory.