We should be proud of our rich cultural heritage, and one of the best way to show that is to have traditional furniture or decor items in our homes. When that is overdone, however, you end up with a musty collection of uncomfortable decor that make the home feel old-fashioned and dowdy.

Hai Chen, one of China's foremost contemporary ceramicists, is giving traditional blue and white porcelain a modern edge. Detour onto Zizhong Road and visit tiny Blue Shanghai White, where the owner designs ceramics and wood furniture inspired by classic blue and white porcelain.

Her full name is Wang Haichen. But she prefers to use Hai Chen as a brand name for her work.

"The name of Blue Shanghai White evolved because all of my works are blue and white porcelains and also because the first shop opened so far is in Shanghai," she said.

"At the same time, blue and white patterns remind people of the lotus flower that retains purity although growing out of mud," she added.

At some point in the late 13th or early 14th century, potters began to exploit the pure white of the clay, producing the blue-and-white ceramics still associated with Chinese porcelain today.

Designs on the pottery were bold, precise and usually filled the entire space with panels and borders during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). In the early period of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), the Yuan designs of the blue and white pottery not only continued but also changed and refined the colors, shapes and designs being used.

By then, the designs had changed to delicate and beautiful floral designs and dragons. Popular shapes were vases, jars, dishes and stem cups, on which the deep-blue designs were painted. Often an under glaze was used in either red or blue with other color used to create contrast in the design.

"During the ten years that I have worked with ceramics, I have been getting more and more interested in blue-and-white porcelain," Hai Chen said. After graduating from the Middle School of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, she declined to follow in her painter father's footsteps but chose another medium: ceramics, studying at the Ceramics Department of the Central Academy of Art and Design.

She tries to express her understanding of contemporary porcelains while recalling the classic Chinese artistic traditions. Since moving to her hometown of Shanghai from Beijing in 2000, she has started a "ceramics salon," which holds lectures, small exhibitions, workshops and pottery sales.

"I have always been searching for something that merges East and West, traditional and modern, hardship and pleasure, real and unreal," Hai Chen said.

In 2003, she opened her first showroom just off the Bund, she hoped to share her passion for her art with the public. In May, she opened her second shop in an old house on Zizhong Road near Xintiandi.

"My hand cast and hand painted fine quality porcelain and wood furniture adds value to daily life and brings the delicate beauty of China into your home. I have designed several innovative porcelain stools and tables that force the viewer have to re-assess their daily life," she said.

Every idea originates from Mother Nature, such as the 8,500-yuan (US$1,049.38) yin-yang chair that's made of aged wood and engraved with blue and white porcelain. The place where the two chair backs meet is an image of the Tai Ji.

Tai Ji refers to the ancient Chinese cosmological concept of the interplay between two opposite yet complementary forces (yin and yang) as being the foundation of creation.

The chair allows two people to sit and talk face to face instead of in a row, and gives a sense of interactivity.

"I love old Shikumen houses which are a special old form of building architecture only found in Shanghai. When these old houses were being torn down, I picked up some aged American pine wood and use them for my furniture," she said.

Shikumen houses feature a stone gate framing a black wooden front door that leads to a small enclosed courtyard.

In her store, people will find a 2.5-meter long table (8,800 yuan), which is made of the black wooden front door engraved with blue and white porcelain.

"In general, many designers would over-integrate porcelain with handicrafts, but personally I think it's nothing more than a raw material. It's definitely not limited to just dishes and cups," she said.

Address:

• Room 103 No. 17 Fuzhou Road

• No. 369 Zizhong Road