With highlights including the Thousand-Year Kiln Fire Carnival Night and pottery – making activities joined by top influencers with millions of followers, the 9th China Ceramic Creativity Week 2025 is about to kick off!
The 9th China Ceramic Creativity Week 2025 is just around the corner! Featuring the Thousand-Year Kiln Fire Carnival Night and pottery – making sessions for top influencers with millions of followers, the event covers a wide range of activities such as art exhibitions, competitions, cultural and creative markets, and musical performances. Don’t miss the chance to visit and experience it!
On December 1st, a press briefing for the 9th China Ceramic Creativity Week 2025 was held in Shiwan, Foshan. During the briefing, the Shiwan Sub-district officially announced the relevant activities of this year’s event. It is reported that themed “The Rise of Form and Spirit: Co-building a New Urban Humanistic Ecosystem”, the Creativity Week will be launched across the entire Meitao Bay in Foshan from December 5th to 11th.
As a highly influential annual IP in China’s ceramic field, the China Ceramic Creativity Week has been successfully held eight times since its inauguration in 2017. Today, it has evolved into a vital platform that gathers global ceramic resources, promotes industrial transformation and upgrading, and facilitates the innovative dissemination of culture. This year’s event will continue to focus on the boundless possibilities brought by cultural empowerment, injecting strong momentum into the initiative of “Building a New Foshan”.
From “Industrial Rust Belt” to “Cultural Show Belt”: Co-building a New Urban Humanistic Ecosystem in Meitao Bay
After three years of intensive development, Meitao Bay has completed 174,000 square meters of renovated venues. Twenty – eight key projects, including the Hongwei Gang Cultural and Creative Block and No.7 Ceramic Warehouse, have been put into effective operation, forming a sound spatial matrix integrating “industrial parks, cultural venues and art spaces”.
Meanwhile, the area has gathered 174 ceramic art masters at all levels (including 27 national – level masters), over 300 young and middle – aged artists, and nearly 20,000 cultural and creative practitioners. It has successively won many honors, such as the National – Level Tourism and Leisure Block and the Practice Base for the “New Types of Cultural and Artistic Workers” Cluster of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, with its profound cultural heritage and vigorous industrial vitality continuously bursting forth. Recently, “You Zhuzhi” in Foshan’s Meitao Bay was selected into the national list of Typical Innovative Practices of “Integrating Intangible Cultural Heritage into Modern Life” in 2024, becoming the only selected project in Foshan.
The theme of this year’s Creativity Week, “The Rise of Form and Spirit: Co-building a New Urban Humanistic Ecosystem”, is highly consistent with the spirit of “Adhering to a People – centered Approach in Promoting Cultural Construction” proposed at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important discussions on “humanistic economics”, and the arrangements for the high – quality development of the cultural industry during the 15th Five – Year Plan period.
The event aims to push Meitao Bay into a brand – new stage of prosperity. Here, cultural IPs and commercial traffic boost each other; traditional craftsmanship and trendy fashion complement each other. Enterprises, brand managers, artists and young makers work together to share development achievements. Industry, art, design, IP and technology integrate and coexist, sparking a steady stream of creative vitality and propelling Meitao Bay to a new level of development.
Over 30 Events to Create Highlights of the Creativity Week
Centered on five core positioning – internationalization, diversification, fashion, technology and industrialization, the Creativity Week focuses on five key directions: international exchanges, creative design, multiculturalism, industrial empowerment and university – industry cooperation. Adopting a “1 + 1 + 2 + N” framework, it consists of three parts – “Trend Breaking Boundaries”, “Integration and Symbiosis” and “Art Blooming”. With more than 30 events organized, it comprehensively showcases the vivid practices of cultural empowerment and urban humanistic development.
- One Opening Ceremony: Titled “Trend Power Breaking Boundaries: Sailing into a New Chapter”, it will highlight Meitao Bay’s development achievements, the launch of the Lingnan Culture IP 100 Creative Center and the signing of key projects, demonstrating the integrated ecosystem of “industry + art + design + IP + technology” in Meitao Bay.
- One Creative Design Night: As part of the opening ceremony of the 9th China Ceramic Creativity Week on December 5th, this session will include the screening of investment promotion videos and promotion activities for Meitao Bay, building an efficient platform for connecting international creative resources.
- Two Professional Matching Conferences: On December 6th, two conferences will be held consecutively – the Innovative Cooperation Matching Conference for Shiwan Figurines and the Cross – border Aesthetics Matching Conference for Ceramic Tiles × IP. These conferences will precisely address industrial development challenges and promote the implementation of creative ideas and their commercial transformation.
- A Series of Special Activities: Covering five modules including competitions, forums, industrial events, exhibitions and festivals, the event adopts an innovative format of “Creativity Week + Experience Month” and will last until December 31st, enabling full public participation and shared benefits across the region.
Five Key Highlights: An Invitation to the Ceramic Creativity Feast
1. Launch of the Lingnan Culture IP 100 Creative Center
The Lingnan Culture IP 100 Creative Center will be officially unveiled at the opening ceremony. Adopting a cooperative operation model guided by the government, operated by the market, linked with industries and coexisting with communities, the center focuses on advantageous industries such as pan – home furnishings, home appliances and clothing. It aims to build a national – level cultural IP industrial cluster integrating creative incubation, industrial empowerment, consumption stimulation and service guarantee.
In the future, relying on this creative center, Shiwan will continue to hold events such as the Lingnan Culture IP 100 Design Competition, international local art residencies and the Shiwan Cup. It will gather creative talents worldwide, including IP designers and young artists, providing solid support for cultural empowerment and industrial renewal.
2. Gathering of Elites: Global Experts Discuss Cross – border Integration
The Creativity Week has brought together more than 400 industry elites from over 15 countries and regions around the world, forming a communication network covering the Guangdong – Hong Kong – Macao Greater Bay Area, radiating the whole country and connecting with the international community. The attendees include international authorities such as Luca Fois, professor from the School of Design at Politecnico di Milano in Italy, and French artist Pascal Marquet; national – level ceramic masters like Pan Bolin; and 50 top trendy toy brand managers with more than 30 leading IPs including Miaoxiaofei, Shark Cat, Calabash Brothers and Steamed Bun Family.
At that time, international experts will share cutting – edge experiences. Leading IPs will carry out cross – border co-creation with inheritors of intangible cultural heritage and ceramic tile enterprises. The collision of wisdom from different fields will bring new ideas for the innovation of ceramic culture and industrial development.
3. Industrial Empowerment: IP Energizes New Drivers for Ceramic Development
The two high – level professional matching conferences will be the highlights of industrial empowerment. The Innovative Cooperation Matching Conference for Shiwan Figurines will gather IP copyright owners, ceramic masters and distributors to explore modern and commercial development paths for traditional ceramic sculpture IPs, promoting their transformation from exquisite handcrafted works to popular market products.
Centered on the concept of “life aesthetics”, the Cross – border Aesthetics Matching Conference for Ceramic Tiles × IP will solve the industry pain point of simplistic labeling cooperation, promote the expansion of ceramic tile products into fields such as trendy toys and home furnishings, and realize the two – way empowerment of cultural and commercial value. Meanwhile, a number of key projects focusing on cultural creativity and the integration of culture and tourism will be signed at the conferences and the opening ceremony, further improving the industrial ecosystem of Meitao Bay.
4. All – region Immersive Experience: Hundreds of Venues and Exhibitions for New Cultural Experiences
Adhering to the concept of full public participation and shared benefits across the region, the Creativity Week will launch a series of activities themed “Hundreds of Venues and Hundreds of Exhibitions”, creating an endless art feast. Core venues such as Nanguo Ancient Kiln, Shiwan Ceramic Museum and Meitao Bay No.7 Ceramic Warehouse will host more than 20 themed exhibitions, including the Galloping Horses – Chinese Zodiac Ceramic Art Exhibition for the Year of the Horse, Masterpieces Exhibition by Top Artists and the “Temperature” Foshan Contemporary Ceramic Art Invitational Exhibition, covering various aspects such as ceramic history and contemporary creations.
In addition, Nanguo Ancient Kiln will hold the Galloping Light – Thousand – Year Kiln Fire Carnival Night and the 2025 Nanguo Ancient Kiln Autumn Kiln Opening Festival simultaneously. A signature wall will be set up at Hongwei Gang, and a trendy toy corridor will be built in Shiwan Park. Citizens and tourists can participate in interactive activities such as pottery making and IP signature drawing, immersing themselves in the unique charm of ceramic culture.
5. Accelerated Internationalization: Cultural Exchanges as a Bridge to the World
The Creativity Week continues to strengthen international exchanges. The Kapok Winter Residency Program and the DOUBLE 24 International Workshop will invite many domestic and foreign artists to carry out creative work in Meitao Bay. In addition, the 2025 Shiwan Cup International Grand Prix for Young Ceramic Sculpture and Ceramic Tile Art has attracted artists from 31 countries and regions worldwide, with international works accounting for 27%, a record high. This will help Foshan’s ceramic culture step onto the world stage through international exchanges.
The holding of the 9th China Ceramic Creativity Week 2025 will continuously inject vitality into the city, boost industrial efficiency and bring more surprises to citizens. It also serves as a crucial opportunity for Foshan to showcase the charm of ceramic culture to the world and build a platform for global creative exchanges and cooperation.
Let’s meet in Meitao Bay for this ceramic creativity feast. Let’s appreciate the beauty of ceramic art, embark on a new creative journey, explore new industrial opportunities, and witness the brilliant take-off of this millennium – old ceramic capital in the new era!