Frequently Asked Questions, and the owner tries to frequently answer.
Q: Where are you from really?
A: We are based in Hong Kong. Our major designers are British as they live in London. The products are made in China, and they are stocked in 4 warehouses allover the world in different continents. So we are worldwide, and we are Hong Kong.
Q: Where are the products made?
A: They are proudly made in our own factory in China. If you want to know the location, its shown in the About Page in this website. Or if you would like to see it, we welcome customers' visit. But, make sure you book in advanced as we are pretty busy with everyday's manufacturing.
Q: What are your factory's specialties?
A: We use the best ingredients in clay and they are sourced locally to reduce carbon footprint. The energy we used is natural gas, so its the cleanest possible. The firing temperature is 1300c oxidation so we are able to make one of the strongest porcelain on earth with bright colours.
Q: How's production environment?
A: Pretty much up to international standards. Our factory is free of toxic metals, and when they are fired at 1300c they will all evaporate anyway. The workers are all happy to make a living and have been with us for a while. We pay overtime hours legally, and they are provided with uniforms, masks, gloves whenever needed.
Q: Whats the difference of porcelain and stoneware?
A: They are all part of the ceramics family. Porcelain has water absorption rate of <0.5% and stoneware is above that. What does that mean? It means when you leave them in sink with food residue, stoneware will absorb water up its body, and make them smell. Porcelain will not absorb and stay hygiene.
Thats why we pride our products to be hotel / restaurant quality. Oh yes, they will withstand in industrial dishwasher as well.
Q: And what is bone china? Is it animal bones?
A: When bone china was invented by the British they discovered adding animal bones will make the porcelain creamy and shiny! But these days due to animal rights we use synthetic bones, which eventually turn into calcium oxide and part of the chinaware. We keep the recipe of 48% artificial bone ash.
In fact artificial bone ash is more expensive to make, and they are more consistent, and hey, they are ethically correct.
Q: What about the bright colours on your products? Will they may come off like enamel or melamine?
A: Our products are mostly fired at 1300c. The colours are made together with the products in this temperature. So we don't do lower fired pigments like melamine. The high temperature of making also means it will withstand anything cooking temperature, or acids so the colours won't peel off.
Q: Why your ceramics can withstand oven? Or Stovetop?
A: First, we fire our products high temperature. 2nd, the materials are stable, so it withstand temperature change.
But don't use on stovetop. The temperature on stove is 400-500c, which will break our porcelain immediately causing potential injury. Stovetop ceramics is a special material so our products are NOT designed for this purpose.
Q: Why are your products heavier than what I known of?
A: We chose to be, its part of the design that makes them different and functional.
Its a common misconception for a group of people to think light weight or thin ceramics means quality. Its totally a consumer choice, and there is no definition of light weight = quality.
In fact, we choose to be medium body so that you can use them everyday without being over-conscious of breaking them. They are also solid and strong so that you can use in dishwasher and oven. The products also feel casual and contemporary when they are made this way.
I often ask the asker the same question, silk is regarded as an expensive material, and you don't really want to wear a pair of silk jeans. Its 2017, we live a modern lifestyle.
Q: Why are we picked to be the world latte art championship official cups?
A: Our products are dense, so it traps heat better to avoid a cup of cold cappuccino 3 minutes in. They are round base for ease of latte art, and to aerate the espresso shot much faster. The crema will also form naturally with a round base.
Apart from these functions that make them perfect for coffee shop environment, they also come in nice bright colours for different types of corporate image and interior settings.
If you still don't believe me, go ask a barista why.
Q: Why can you ship from Europe or N. America? You are from China!
A: We have reliable logistics partners that legally import the products to different countries. We can ship local for wholesale orders so you don't have to worry about import duty and you pay minimum freight.
Q: I want to buy Loveramics but I won't buy anything from China because I have never seen a country with such cruelty to animals (real question being asked in 2015).
A: I am sorry for the experience you had. But to be honest, its a country with 1.4 billion people. There are good and bad people when you have such a big sample size. What I can promise is our operation involve an honest few thousand people, and we put our name and hearts on the products so we are responsible for them.
And, I have never seen that part of animal cruelty myself so I cannot speak on behalf of you or the aggressor but I truly believe most people in China are just human beings and they share the same integrity and values of many others.