Born from Stone: The Story of Myth & Clay

After the pandemic, our founder travelled to Tibet. Along the road, he noticed how rain changed the stones. Pale, dusty surfaces became darker, revealing colors that had been hard to see. He began wondering whether that color and texture could become part of a cup.

That question became the starting point for Myth & Clay.

Our cups take shape in Jingdezhen, with much of their imagery drawn from the murals of Dunhuang. Painted over centuries, these murals hold scenes of music, animals, daily life and religious belief. They show what people valued and what they hoped for.

The paintings are fragile. We wanted more people to encounter their stories, including people who might never visit the caves. A cup offered a way to bring those images into everyday life.

The mineral surface matters to that idea. Ground stone and minerals create a grainy, uneven texture that recalls an old wall. A painted deer or a flowing robe becomes part of that surface. You can feel the raised details beneath your fingers as you turn the cup.

In our work, the deer carries a wish for kindness, while flying figures express freedom and hope. These meanings help us choose what to paint. You might choose a cup for its story, or because you like the way a particular deer looks back over its shoulder.

Making it takes patience. The clay is shaped, trimmed and dried. The mineral texture is built up in stages, with firings between them. Raised details and painted scenes are added by hand, and the inside is glazed for drinking.

Many of the mineral colors look grey before firing. Their colors emerge in the kiln, and the final shades cannot be fully predicted. Even cups painted with the same materials can come out differently.

A cup usually takes around three months to complete, across the full process of making, drying and repeated firing. Some pieces pass through the kiln five times. Detailed paintings can take days or weeks, and a failed firing can mean losing all that work.

Deer King Jataka, Mogao Cave 257, Dunhuang. Image: Dunhuang Research Academy / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The same deer, horse or cloud may appear again. Its brushwork, color and surface will vary. That is why we photograph each cup individually: the piece you choose is the one you receive.

From the beginning, these cups have been made for use. The glazed interior holds your tea or coffee; the painting gives you something to look at while you drink. You can follow a scene around the cup and notice a detail you missed before.

That daily encounter is what we hope for: an old story becoming a familiar part of someone’s life.