LIM Kim Hui
Master Potter
Lim Kim Hui began his career as a full-time ceramicist at Ming Village more than 40 years ago. His time there was spent mostly on the wheel, throwing massive Chinese vases with the unwieldly medium of porcelain slip. After meeting and finally marrying Shee Bee Heo, they started their own pottery studio - Ceramic House.
Thus he began his journey of developing his personal style, formulating glazes and techniques in hand-building, wheel-throwing and reduction-firing. Mr. Lim's organic works make inventive use of colour and form, and are infused with Southeast Asian and Japanese elements.
Like many groundbreaking discoveries that go on to have lasting effects, Mr. Lim stumbled upon high-fire ceramics by chance. He created a series of pots that came out of his secondhand kiln with an enchanting smoked glaze and quality attaining that of porcelain ware. Unbeknownst to him, the maximum temperature of 670 degrees Celsius that his antique kiln thermometer registered was far off the mark. It was only after replacing it with a new thermometer did he realise that his pottery had been fired at temperatures above 1300 degree Celsius. Since then, Mr. Lim has refined his firing process, most notably uncovering the secret of tenmoku, which dates back nearly a thousand years to the Song dynasty. This is a feat only a select few other potters, and no other Singaporean, have achieved.
Mr. Lim is a member of the Nanyang Clay Group and the Society of Chinese Art.
He was commissioned by the Government of Singapore to design and produce artworks for presentation to the guests of honour at the 2009 Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
On top of participating numerous times in solo and group exhibitions locally, he has exhibited his chawan in Taiwan, China, Belgium and Japan.
In addition to teaching at Ceramic House, Mr. Lim teaches pottery at many schools across Singapore. He inspires all his students with his unbridled love of the craft, and no class with him ends without laughter.
SHEE Bee Heo
Master Potter
Shee Bee Heo was trained in blue-and-white decoration at Ming Village, a exhibition-style workshop that was well-known to Singaporean locals in the 80s for creating Ming-style pottery from scratch. She draws inspiration from nature and traditional Chinese ceramics, reinterpreting them in ingenious ways.
She owned and operated a shop in Orchard Road, creating personalised ceramic ornaments for locals and tourists. Eventually she phased the business out in favour of practising her craft at Ceramic House, but continues to produce these on select occasions.
Recently, Shee worked with the advertising agency TWGA and Manulife Singapore on the Life Saving Pot campaign, where she was responsible for the design and painting of the anti-mosquito plant pots that mimicked blue-and-white porcelain.