Wedgwood Jnr holds court while promoting his saucy ceramics
It's a very Hong Kong allegory: nibbling dim sum on fine English china. That's what the society ladies were doing on Monday as ceramic maker Wedgwood hosted a gathering at the Peninsula's Garden Suite after opening a shop in the arcade downstairs featuring its new Vera Wang crystals and chinas.
Naturally, it was all very elegant, tasteful and refined. In between bites of har gau and siu mai, Thomas Wedgwood, the energetic, hip young eighth-generation descendant of the founder, tried to convince us that table ware can also be sexy.
'If you ever get the chance, sit at a potter's wheel and turn the clay,' Wedgwood, in town for only two days, began. 'It's one of the most therapeutic and, as my wife says, sexy things you can do.'
Yes, we saw the Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore scene in Ghost too. This hands-on enthusiasm is one reason why Thomas decided to enter his family business.
'I studied marine biology. I never felt pressured and was always encouraged to do what I wanted, but I saw the passion my father, grandfather and great-grandfather had. Ceramics is one of the cornerstones of culture. Dining is the foundation of so many social activities.'
Still don't think a dinner plate is a sexy thing? Wedgwood has the ultimate argument: 'A good date starts in the kitchen and ends in the bedroom.'
