Products with a soul

Studio Pieter Stockmans creates porcelain with a soul.
Rooted in tradition, shaped by craftsmanship, and driven by innovation. Three elements are central to their work: earth as the foundation of tradition, water as a symbol of precision and flexibility, and sun as a source of inspiration and recognition. Each piece tells a story of generations, technique, and creativity.

Earth: the foundation of tradition

Studio Pieter Stockmans builds on a centuries-old tradition. The artisanal production of hard porcelain, developed in 1780 in Tournai, forms the foundation of the studio. Under the leadership of Pieter’s daughter Widukind, who has been responsible for the daily management of the studio since 2007, and head designer Frank Claesen, this knowledge is brought to life in the atelier in Genk. Each design is unique, entirely handmade, and free from mass production. The porcelain stands as a symbol of sustainability: a gift that lasts for generations.

Water: the flexibility of craftsmanship

Porcelain is not shaped — it shapes its makers. The process consists of 17 meticulous steps and demands the utmost precision. During firing at 1400°C, the porcelain shrinks by 17%, making each creation a technical masterpiece. The result is fully vitrified, snow-white porcelain that can be used unglazed without leaving fingerprints. These qualities make it suitable for daily use and ideal for demanding chefs and luxury brands such as Dom Pérignon.

Sun: inspiration and recognition

Studio Pieter Stockmans combines tradition with innovation and experimentation. The designs are appreciated worldwide — from international top restaurants to iconic collaborations such as the Memorial Vandamme and the royal wedding in Monaco. Museums like the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Metropolitan Museum in New York also showcase the work of Studio Pieter Stockmans. With awards including the Henry Van de Velde Award and the Red Dot Award, the studio stands as a benchmark of craftsmanship and creativity. In 2024, Studio Pieter Stockmans is appointed Purveyor to the Royal Court of Belgium — a remarkable recognition of their craftsmanship.

Philosophy

The porcelain art that emerges from Studio Pieter Stockmans results from a combination of traditional craft production (invented in 1780 in Tournai) and a contemporary approach. The studio has been well known for its experimental approach to limited series of porcelain since 1987. There is no place here for traditional design. The designers, Piet and Frank, are constantly stretching the limits of porcelain. He makes exceptional design objects that acquire a domestic and international reputation. Studio Pieter Stockmans is Belgium’s only specialist in design for hard porcelain.

Unique collections, limited series

Our limited, unique collections take shape at the C-Mine site in Genk (Belgium). It was here that Pieter Stockmans designed and made, among other things, the trophy for the Memorial Vandamme and the plates for the royal wedding in Monaco. The studio is highly regarded by many top international restaurants. The studio has designed custom collections and bespoke items for ***Michelin chefs in Belgium, France, Germany, UK, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, USA and Switzerland. Such luxury brands as Dom Pérignon are also eager to collaborate with the studio.

Highly-praised porcelain art

Pieter’s work is on show in well-known museums including the Victoria & Albert in London, the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. In 1988 he was awarded the State Prize for the Visual Arts. In 1995 he was a Cultural Ambassador of Flanders. In 1996 he received the prestigious Red Dot Award and two years later accepted the Henry Van de Velde Prize for his entire oeuvre.

A family with a passion

Sixty years of expertise and love of the product. Pieter is passionate about passing this on to his daughter Widukind, who has been responsible for the daily running of the studio since 2007, and his son-in-law Frank Claesen, who creates new designs. Together with their team of six they continue the special tradition of handcrafted hard porcelain.

Atelier

Time and patience as art

To create a handmade Studio Pieter Stockmans product requires a lot of time and patience. Porcelain cannot be moulded; on the contrary, it moulds those who make it. Every operation demands meticulous attention. Each step in the process contributes to the exceptional final result.

A durable product for many generations

Hard porcelain is fired at 1400°C. This high temperature and the specific level of pressure in the kiln results in a product that is snowy white and sintered to full density. It is no longer porous and you can use and clean it unglazed. The lack of glaze means you make no finger-marks on it when you serve. An undeniable advantage. An individual technical approach is taken to each product, because the high temperature makes the porcelain shrink by 17%.

Stockmans porcelain is among the highest quality in the world. It is suitable for microwave and dishwasher. Its high quartz content makes it highly wear-resistant. It is handcrafted porcelain that is brought to the table as a gift and is passed on for generations.

Limited and unique collections of quiet simplicity

Studio Pieter Stockmans swears by limited series. Mass production is out of the question. As a result of this choice – and the high quality of the porcelain – leading chefs like to come to the studio for custom items. They select designs that inspire them to create a new dish, or else they have a design custom-made for their own creations. The designs of Studio Pieter Stockmans porcelain are sober and discrete.

Experience the atelier up close

Curious about how porcelain comes to life?

Plan your visit and discover the atelier, where each piece is handcrafted with passion.

Visit the atelier

Our craftsmen

The craftsmen in our studio in Genk follow a two-year training programme. During this period, they learn step by step all the skills required to create high-quality products. Since we have developed a unique technique for almost every plate, this knowledge cannot be acquired anywhere else. Moreover, as we produce in small series and don’t recreate every product every year, continuous guidance remains essential — even after the basic training.

After ten years, our craftsmen become true experts in our studio. After twenty years, they can call themselves masters in their field. We maintain a close bond with them, as they deserve our deepest respect. With their golden hands and exceptional craftsmanship, they embody teamwork at its finest. In our studio, you don’t work next to each other — you work with each other.

Our designers

Even before our porcelain products are handcrafted, everything begins with an intensive design process in the plaster atelier. Here, the designer searches for a form that aligns with Pieter Stockmans’ philosophy. Using tools like small saws, knives, and sandpaper, the plaster is shaped into an original design that guarantees the quality and authenticity of the final product.

The craft of porcelain requires expertise passed down from generation to generation. Every handmade piece tells a story, which you continue when you set your table or enhance your interior. Studio Pieter Stockmans creates timeless pieces meant to be passed on to the next generation.

Pieter Stockmans - Designer

"My creativity comes from the act of working itself. The core is the process from which the object emerges. Creating evokes ideas. Creating is choosing. Setting one idea aside and giving another a chance. It is this interaction that gives every new creation a special feeling."

Widukind Stockmans - Business manager

"The designs of Studio Stockmans create an experience. That is why the unique handmade character remains so essential. Set your table with beautiful dinnerware and take the time to enjoy your meal."

Frank Claesen - Designer

"I initially struggled with the material. I wanted so much for the porcelain to behave exactly as I wished. But it was precisely the material itself that challenged me to discover new paths."

Finne Claesen - Designer

"The strength of innovation lies in respecting the past and having the freedom to explore new paths."

Special moments

Discover key moments in Studio Stockmans’ history.

Belgian Royal Warrant Holder

Recognition of our craftsmanship by the Royal Court as Belgian Royal Warrant Holder. (© Koninklijk Paleis, België)

Red Dot Design Award

In 1996, Pieter Stockmans received the prestigious Red Dot Design Award.

Dom Perignon

Bento box as business gifts for Dom Perignon.

Duvel

Limited edition porcelain glasses for the Belgian beer Duvel.

Mauro Colagreco

DAUW plate with a food creation by chef Mauro Colagreco of restaurant Mirazur, ranked number 1 in 'The World’s 50 Best Restaurants' of 2021.

Royal Monaco Wedding

Studio Stockmans crafted hand made porcelain plates for the Royal Marriage of Prince Albert of Monaco and Charlene Wittstock.

Usain Bolt

Usain Bolt receives our porcelain trophy at Memorial Van Damme, an international athletics event in Brussels.

Discover more about the art of Piet Stockmans

Besides his work as a designer, Piet Stockmans has built an impressive artistic oeuvre. Visit the dedicated art website at pietstockmans.art and be inspired by his free work.

Go to pietstockmans.art

Stories

Top restaurant in Monaco serves desserts on Belgian porcelain creations.

For the first time in his career Piet Stockmans designs a table ware, devoted to the arts of cooking of Alain Ducasse who runs his restaurant “Le Louis XV” in Monaco.

Alain Ducasse learned to know the work of Piet Stockmans four years ago during a trip to Belgium. He visited the studio of Stockmans and was touched by the pure and passionate way in which Stockmans and his small team work. Especially his modern approach of porcelain and the play of white and blue and of gleam and mat charmed Alain Ducasse.

He asked Stockmans to develop dessert table ware in his familiar, recognizable style. In round and rectangular forms. High or low. In white porcelain with a blue rim or blue porcelain with a white rim. Each piece a bit different. Stockmans’ creations totally merge into the environment of the Louis XV. And the desserts of pastrycook Olivier Berger have all their own plate on which they look marvelous. The magic of sweetness on contemporary porcelain.

“A lot changes in the field of cooking but at the field of porcelain there is almost no evolution.”, says Alain Ducasse. “There for I made an appeal to Piet Stockmans. His creations show a renewed vision on porcelain which is really unique.”

Hof van Cleve

“I view Stockmans porcelain as a blank canvas for my cooking. A blank canvas which draws attention to the purity of the ingredients and their presentation. All Stockmans’ designs are contemporary and delightful to work with. No fancy frills, but instead subtle detail and a thorough focus on the essential. And that is precisely why I find their porcelain designs truly inspiring. The right plate can really make a dish stand out and so add even more to its presentation.”

“I have been working with Stockmans porcelain for three years now. Out of the current collection, Dauw, Disk and Carboniferous are my favourites. I also had some made to my own design, in order to create the perfect plate for serving a new dish. Piet and Widukind share my philosophy and the narrative I want to bring to Hof van Cleve. And that makes our partnership very special.”

(Peter Goossens, Hof van Cleve, Kruishoutem)

Tableware

Declutter the table to allow the eye to focus on the essential, and surprise the guest with a little unexpected roughness and texture… With tableware that’s entirely designed to serve the pleasure of the diner.

The large majority of the tableware items are by Pieter Stockmans. His collaboration with Alain Ducasse which dates back more than a decade has created a real sense of complicity between the porcelain-maker and the chef. He especially appreciates his keen eye and high standards. For the restaurant at the Meurice Hotel, Alain Ducasse has opted for very simple forms, to which Pieter Stockmans has added his own special touch. For example, the shape of the O’reille plate with its slightly oval design is a remarkable technical feat. And the rough porcelain of the Disk plate is embellished with a shower of gold to give it a noble appearance.

All the pieces are made entirely by hand. As a result, every piece is slightly different, each expressing the hand of the craftsman in its own special way. In the words of the designer, Pieter Stockmans: “At our studio, everyone has to be creative”. He adds: “What drives the creative process is the material and the object’s function. We find ideas as we work with the clay. We’re always looking to push the boundaries of design”. The Nautilus plate is a good example of this approach: its matte appearance, rough texture and above all its unexpectedly shaped ‘well’ make it unique. Its manufacturing process is one of Stockmans’ jealously guarded secrets.

The dessert-ware marks a clear break with convention, with white giving way to black. The dessert plates are by J.L Coquet, the acclaimed manufacturer of Limoges porcelain. For the dessert, crispy lace crêpes are presented in an intricate silver crate, resulting in an unexpected combination of noble and everyday materials.

The elegant crystalline wine glasses have been especially made for the restaurant by MD Crystal. The water glasses are by Carlo Moretti, the Murano glassmaker who has mastered the very special technique of obtaining different colours within uniquely shaped creations.

The table also features two other particularly beautiful and original tableware items. One is the butter dish, handcrafted by Mustapha Messaoudi, stone craftsman and founder of the Var-based company Lou Mortié, recognised by France’s chefs association for culinary quality, Le Collège Culinaire de France. The dish’s daringly simple shape – an uncomplicated parallelepiped – is a nod to traditionally shaped Parisian paving stones. The second tableware item is the bread tray in the form of a simple board, which has equally clean lines and features a matte finish and soft feel. The tray is made of resin and was designed by the Californian Tina Frey.

The table decoration changes depending on the meal being served. On the lunch table, guests can find magnificent copper cake moulds taken from Alain Ducasse’s personal collection. In the evening, the vegetables are placed on a beautiful yew wood table from the Château de Versailles – a tribute on the part of Alain Ducasse to nature, which has always been one of his great sources of inspiration.

Pieter Stockmans designs three unique glasses for Duvel

Artists including Arne Quinze, Daan and Stefan Glerum have done similar in the past. In 2016, Duvel teamed up with Genk designer Pieter Stockmans for their artistic range of Duvel glasses.

Duvel Moortgat has never hidden its passion for design. The brewery has actually set up several partnerships with art centers in the past, and can also look back on successful collaborations with artists, performers and even chefs, all of whom have creatively restyled the iconic Duvel glass and bottle.

Names including conceptual artist Arne Quinze, Brussels artist Denis Meyers, musician and creative genius Daan and British design duo Eley Kishimoto have in the past let their imaginations run free and honoured the Duvel glass with clever design.

Pieter Stockmans was given carte blanche – with a view to the holiday season – for the Duvel artistic collection in 2016. The Genk designer is revered among the leading lights in the world of gastronomy for his unique, sustainable and traditional tableware graced with personal touches. To say Stockmans is to say white, ‘Stockmans blue’ and porcelain. All features which can also be found in these three glasses with a clear nod to the experimental.

The Duvel designs by Studio Pieter Stockmans were produced in a limited run of just 100. Another wonderful collector’s piece to put under the Christmas tree. (DB)

Weekend Knack 07/12/2016