Feats of clay

Liquid flowing into the plate of a set focusing on mountains. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Collection

The museum he founded in 2013 houses thousands of industrial-design products he collected from around the world to show a brief design history in the West. There is also a special showroom to display Yang's own designs that won him dozens of prizes, including Germany's Red Dot, America's IDEA and Japan's G-mark.

Yang says his approach to life is simple, but that doesn't mean he does not care about things he uses in daily life. As a designer, he wants things to be simple as well as beautiful.

Yang has designed hundreds of products, including a smart bike, bags, chairs, sofas, lights, screens and tea sets. They all look simple yet visually pleasing.

This is the first time for Yang had done dinnerware. He and his team spent half a year on the project: The challenging part was how to produce those plates with uneven sides in large quantities. The uneven inside of different patterns makes the porcelain look like flowing pictures when liquid is put in.

"The lifestyle I promote is from an aesthetic or spiritual side. Chinese consumers living in big cities have turned from their previous pursuit of blind consumption to a pursuit of showing their own personalities," says Yang.

It's the spiritual enjoyment obtained from a product that matters most, he adds.