Embracing Chinese Ceramic Heritage with Ginger Jar Lamp Company

Founder of Ginger Jar Lamp Company, Kate Sbuttoni is passionate about colour, ceramics, and Chinese culture.

Arriving in Hong Kong in 2010 and starting a family with her partner, Kate sought to join her artistic passions in a creative outlet that she would be proud about. The Ginger Jar Lamp Company began as “a light bulb moment” after a trip to China that ignited her interest in creating a product with China’s famous porcelain jars, traditionally used for spice storage.

The Ginger Jar Lamp Company brings together the rich history and vibrant blues of Chinese ginger jars with handcrafted, Asia-sourced artisanal lamp shades to create unique and limited-edition table lamps.

The ginger jars are sourced from Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province, the historical home of the Ming Dynasty Chinese porcelain industry and employ traditional methods and designs to breathe authenticity and auspicious meanings into each jar.

The lampshades are hand-made from fabrics found across Kate’s favourite Asian nations, pairing with the jars to create a unique product.

Starting in 2016, the business has ballooned with the production of a curated and limited-edition collection of ginger jar lamps. The Beat Asia sat down with Kate on a November morning to explore the story behind her creative journey and her inspirations of Chinese porcelain.

Kate has lived in Hong Kong for 12 years, immigrating to the city from London with her partner in search of a new beginning and career. When she took her first steps in the city, she became instantly enamoured with Chinese culture and history.

“The first thing I had bought was a double happiness ginger jar from an antique store on Hollywood Road. I fell in love with the shops on the strip and the iconic symbol of Chinese culture with the ginger jar,” Kate told The Beat Asia.

It was on a trip to Zhuhai, China, west of Hong Kong, with a group of friends that Kate had begun an obsession and love for the ginger jar. “We visited an antique market in the city with piles high of dusty ginger falls and I completely fell in love with them. I was overwhelmed by the sheer variety of designs.”

A friend accompanying Kate suggested that they buy one ginger jar and turn it into a usable and portable lamp, with the assistance of a neighbouring shop that was creating this product.

When Kate returned home to Hong Kong, she stated that she knew instantly that creating lamps out of vintage Chinese ginger jars was her next calling. “The name of the business literally popped into my head.”

After the birth of her second daughter, Kate was seeking a creative outlet and a business venture that she could build, turned off by the idea of working for someone else. “I wanted to channel things that were close to my heart and made me happy. The idea of [Ginger Jar Lamps Co] was a viable business.”

With no contacts in the art and antique space in Hong Kong, Kate set out on Google and Alibaba, contacting local Hong Kong and Chinese artists, factories, and suppliers for a route to establish a supply chain.

Kate visited the Hong Kong International Lighting Fair, held at the Wan Chai Convention Centre, to establish contacts. Through meeting with representatives of factories in south China, she reached a partnership with two factories in Dongguan, one for producing the lampshades and another for outfitting the ginger jars with the lighting fixtures, and a supplier in Jingdezhen who would source the ginger jars.

“It has been full steam ahead,” ever since she met her business partners in 2016.

Kate described the factory in Dongguan supplying her custom-made lampshades from Asia-sourced fabrics as “very willing and open to taking a risk with a small business.” She met her partners through Instagram, like how most of her business is conducted.

The factory is a lampshade workshop run by a group of families in the south Chinese city, using the sourced fabrics from Thailand, India, China, and Uzbekistan, among other Asian nations, to create bespoke and unique lampshades for the ginger jars.

The woodblock-printed cotton, cotton ikat, and silk sari designs are sourced from India, the silk ikat from Uzbekistan, and the silk dupion, mulberry silk and Chinese indigo cotton from multiple locations in south and east China.

“The lampshades are all about colour, pattern, and the diversity of shades [for me]. I did not want to limit myself and wanted to explore the styles of Asia. It is what appealed to me aesthetically.”

The ginger jars are sourced from Jingdezhen with Kate working closely with her supplier to ensure unique designs and styles for the final product, sent to the lighting factory in Dongguan for outfitting and storage at her workshop. All vintage stock are jars that are dated at least 30 years old.

“Living in Hong Kong, being in Chinese culture, it is important to cherish the vintage element [of the ginger jars] and bring something back to life [in a modern sense]. The auspiciousness of the [jars is] important, with each design carrying its own significance and meaning.”

Exploring her home office holding two floor-to-ceiling walls packed high with jars and lampshades, it is evident of the love poured into the research and selection of the Jingdezhen ginger jars and Asian-fabric lampshades.

Kate’s ginger jars feature large-sized Chinese princes adorned with writings of “kung hei fat choi,” butterflies floating in the wind, symbolizing matrimonial longevity, blue and white Pyrenees flowers of longevity, green round-shaped jars from Hunan Province that were once used to store rice wine, and elegantly designed blue and white jars with Chinese iconography.

Her most treasured selection of Ginger Jars is the “famile rose,” a type of Chinese porcelain first introduced in the ceramic industry in the 18th century. The design is unique from the use of soft pastel colours of blue, green, pink, yellow, and red to reflect a European style. The jars are wrapped with butterflies, symbolizing happiness and matrimonial joy.

With her business and creations, Kate has followed one quote, near and dear to her heart, from the creation of Ginger Jar Lamp Company until today: “Create the things you wish existed.”

“When I seek things for the home, I want these items to be artisan-made and unique. [With Ginger Jar Lamp Co], I wanted to create something that was unique and individual, and that celebrated Hong Kong and Chinese culture.”

“The ginger jar lamps may symbolize a special moment in time or market a celebration.” Her customers are both local Hong Kong Chinese and Western in Hong Kong, but also overseas in the U.K., the U.S., and Australia. Ginger jar lamps have been bought for individuals, baby showers, weddings, anniversaries, and leaving gifts, among all types of celebration.

“It covers a vast array of needs. It is beautiful, yet functional and serves a purpose ticking both boxes.”

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kate saw an unusual reverse rush of business. “Last year, things took off,” she said, “with spending so much time at home and more disposable income, people wanted to create their space at home in the most comfortable way possible. People were willing to invest in things to make their space attractive.”

“It's nice that you are getting something limited-edition and a hand-painted unique product, different to someone else’s [ginger jar lamp].”

Kate is still innovating and creating. Her most recent production is the “Hong Kong Homage” ginger jars. Made in Jingdezhen with hand-made finishes of blue pigment paint, the design features Hong Kong’s famous skyline, spliced with a series of auspicious Hong Kong symbols that represent luck and prosperity – lucky fish, towering pagoda, a slithery dragon, waving cat.

“The Hong Kong jars are being shipped all over the U.S., with my customers either visiting Hong Kong or living here and wanting a [lasting] memory and commemoration of the city.”

The ginger jar lamps are available to purchase through Kate’s official Instagram account and her website.

Prices for lampshades begin at HK$900 and lamps from HK$2,200.