Myrtel Bouveret , a French ceramic designer, posted pictures of a porcelain sculpture she made recently and shared the creative inspiration with her fans on Instagram .

It has been six years since Bouvrier finished her studies at Jingdezhen University of Ceramics in China and started running a design studio in Limoges, a city in southwest France widely known for its ceramics.

“It is my travels to the porcelain capitals of the two countries that continually inspire me,” said Bouveret.

Jingdezhen, located in east China's Jiangxi Province, has specialized in this craft for more than 1,800 years. In 2010, it established a pair of twinning relations with the city of Limoges, whose porcelain has been sold all over Europe.

Bouvetre is among the crowd of foreign ceramic artists and students who flocked to Jingdezhen, after Jingdezhen University of Ceramics and Limoges National High School of Art jointly established an international ceramics studio.

"I admire the craftsmen in Jingdezhen who inherit the millennia-old porcelain making technique," she said.

The studio has created hundreds of ceramic artworks. Among these works, two sets of ceramic light poles, designed and made by French and Chinese students at the end of 2018, are the most outstanding.

The two lampposts, which read "Thank you Jingdezhen and love you Limoges", testify to the cultural exchanges between the two countries. Now, one of them stands on the avenue of Limoges while the other is on display in the studio's exhibition hall.

On the other hand, Zhu Lei, one of the co-creators, had always been thinking about how to combine the concept of modern Western creativity with traditional Chinese skills while studying in the two places. "I want to combine the ancient charm of white and blue porcelain with Western aesthetics, to make them break with tradition and go out into the world," he said.

In the early 18th century, the "double composition" of kaolin -- a soft white mineral named after a village in China -- and porcelain stoneware were brought from Jingdezhen to France, playing a major role in the development of French porcelain.

The exchanges between the two countries in the field of ceramics are mutually beneficial, said Weng Yanjun, director of the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum, adding that colored enamel porcelain is a kind of porcelain that combines Western material with Chinese traditional technique.

While studying at Jingdezhen University of Ceramics, Bouuvrier once interned at Wanglong Ceramics Co., Ltd. in Jingdezhen, where foreign designers are involved in product design. A dish she designed there was admired by a Michelin-starred chef in France and then used as a plate to serve foie gras.

"Cooperating with craftsmen in Jingdezhen inspired me a lot," said Norman Trapman, a French designer who holds videoconferences with artisans once a week.

At an exhibition in Milan, Italy, earlier this year, a range of Celadon porcelain products for spas and spas, including a bathtub and wash-basin, designed by Trapmann, brought in global orders for the company.

"Cross-border exchanges and cooperation have helped us gain increasing weight in the global market," said Yue Wanglong, general manager of the company.