Several times a year we travel to the origins and workshops — to see the lines, the copper, the incense, and the people who make them. Frontline sourcing is the first and most important step of Zhitang curation.
How We Source at the Frontline
We visit workshop by workshop and verify with our own eyes: materials and process are confirmed, and only pieces that pass hand inspection come back with us. Notes from the road become the provenance footnote of every piece.
Selected Field Notes
An Afternoon on Barkhor Street: Notes from Artisan Workshops
In the alleys of old Lhasa, we recorded an ordinary day in a workshop.
The Language of the Hammer: Four Generations of Lhasa Coppersmiths
One copper workshop, four generations of hammer sounds.
Thangka Mineral Pigments: From Ore to Line
How azurite and cinnabar become lines on canvas.