About Us - Tradewind Treasures

Browse Categories

Shopping Options

Browse by Price (USD)
150.00 - 300.00
300.00 - 400.00
400.00 - 500.00
500.00 - 600.00
600.00 - 0.00

About Us

TRADEWIND TREASURES is the flagship brand developed by Ming Blue & White Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian company committed to developing quality products from historic porcelain shards recovered from shipwrecks in the South China Sea.

We are united by a passion for the past and are excited about transforming these historic shards into items that can be worn, displayed or simply enjoyed for what they are - an authentic testimonial of the incredible history of our region as the meeting place of east and west!

BRINGING UP HISTORY
Tradewind Treasures purchases porcelain shards directly from the maritime archaeologist involved in the shipwreck discovery.

In appreciating the beauty of these pieces, it is also important to acknowledge the effort taken to recover them. Proper maritime excavation is painstaking and dangerous work requiring well trained and disciplined specialists. The Wanli wreck, for example is located at a depth of 40 metres. At this depth, divers only have a very limited time at the bottom before they must begin decompression.

The Wanli Shipwreck diving crew help in bringing up the
basket of "PORCELAIN TREASURES" recovered from the
bottom of the South China Sea.

The Wanli Shipwreck contained a large
number of shards because the Portuguese
merchant ship had exploded after a gun
battle with a Dutch warship.

SORTING THE SHARDS
We personally sort through the shard material and select the best shard for our purposes. Although messy, this is certainly one of the favourite parts of our job!

There is always the thrill of starting through a new sack of shards – who knows what treasures we might uncover!

Occasionally we come across kraak dishes, the motifs of which have never been recorded. When this happens, we have to pass this information to the museum researchers to keep in the museum archives.

CLASSIFYING THE CERAMIC
Over the years, we have amassed a substantial collection of shards and we have kept careful records of the relative amounts of different shard types. These assist us in assigning their value. Rare shard types are carefully inventoried and only made available through limited releases. We are familiar with the motifs used in Chinese porcelain and take into consideration the significance of the auspicious symbols featured on the ceramic shards when we produce our pieces.

Although, some shards may be from a generic pattern, each is subtly different reflecting the individual strokes of the artists and artisans of centuries past who were involved in their creation. And, you must forgive us if our earrings or cufflinks cannot be perfectly matched!

SHAPING THE SHARD
There are some tricks to working with a special medium like porcelain. Through a process of trial and error, we have worked out the best processes to prepare the pieces for use. The details of this, of course, will remain a trade secret!

DESIGN
We conceptualise the design ourselves so that we may show off the shards to best effect. We are also pleased to work with talented designers whose creative vision routinely transforms mere shards into absolute works of art.

With our own designs and those of talented artisans with whom we work in collaboration, we hope to continue to diversify our range and strive for a look that is modern, edgy and crafted with exceptional quality.

Snake bracelet enhanced with a Ming
shard of foliage drawings.

Each Tradewind Treasures item is a timeless heirloom with a story to tell.
In designing our pieces, we tend to let the shards tell us what they are going to be, rather than take the opposite route of cutting them to fit a pre-set mould. That is why each piece stands alone as a one-of-a-kind creation.

Blue rimmed lotus earrings.
The Lotus flower signifies purity,
spirituality, love, enlightenment.

SETTING IN SILVER AND OTHER MATERIALS
We believe 92.5 sterling silver is the best medium to set off the beautiful tones of blue & white. Although ceramic is quite hard and not as fragile as you might fear, working with it is a delicate process that requires skill, patience and experience. For example, overheating could cause the shard to crack or the glaze to cloud over, while lack of care while buffing the silver to a fine finish could chip the glaze and ruin the piece.

In this work, we are pleased to have found superb silversmiths that have pioneered new techniques in working with ceramic and silver. We look forward to continuing to working with others as we expand our collaborations to include other crafts persons working with a variety of materials including glass, bronze, leather and wood.

Shopping Cart

Your shopping cart is empty.

Best Seller

No Product.

New Product