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American China

Porcelain dinnerware inspired by people, objects, and events in Chinese American history

By Brian Foo

  • Soup spoon with overlaid graph of percentage of Chinese immigrants to the United States

    Soup Spoon

    The soup spoon takes the shape of the percentage of Chinese immigrants of all new immigrants to the United States every decade from 1880 to 2010. The dip in the spoon shows the effect of the Chinese Exclusion Act, enacted from 1882 to 1943, which banned all immigration of foreign born Chinese to the United States. Read more

  • On left, the slippage data of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. On right, a plate with a crack down the center corresponding to the slippage data.

    Plate

    The plate has a crack down the center based on the slippage of the San Andreas Fault during The Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake which killed thousands and devastated the San Francisco Chinatown. However, the event had the ironic effect of opening a new window for Chinese immigrants since the earthquake also destroyed the city birth and citizenship records. Read more

  • On left, a poem carved on the walls of Angel Island. On right, tea cup with poem carved on its interior.

    Tea cup

    The tea cup has an excerpt of a poem carved on its interior, based on a poem carved on the walls of San Francisco's Angel Island immigration station, where many Chinese immigrants were interrogated and detained for days to months at a time. Read more

  • On left, a traditional iron. On right, a tea pot inspired by a traditional iron.

    Teapot

    This tea pot is based on a traditional iron used in Chinese American laundries in the beginning of the 20th century. By the 1920s, about 30 percent of all Chinese workers in the United States worked in laundries. Read more

  • American China by Brian Foo © 2018
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