Conversations: The Curator's Eye

Editor's note: this is our own curator, speaking about the selection process behind every listing on this site.

The First Filter

'People imagine a beautiful warehouse of flawless cups. The reality: I reject between thirty and forty percent of what studios send me. Dull glaze. Uneven crystals. Warped rims. Hairline cracks hiding in the glaze. The studios have already filtered once; I filter again, with the collector's eye rather than the maker's pride. My loyalty is to the person who will drink from these cups.'

On Photography

'We photograph in natural light, and we never enhance the glaze pattern. A collector should receive exactly what they saw — no more. That discipline costs us some photos that could have been prettier, but it buys something priceless: trust. When a Porcelainess customer opens a box, the cup is always as beautiful as the listing promised. That consistency is our entire reputation.'

On the Rarity Question

'Customers ask why the inventory numbers are so small — five pieces, ten pieces. The answer is honesty: that is genuinely all that passed the filter. We could list a hundred mid-grade cups and sell them. Instead we list ten masterpieces and sell them. The collection stays true to its promise: every piece earns its place.' Read why we reject more than we ship →