Transcript

Short Stuff: All About Porcelain | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

From Stuff You Should Know · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 13 min · 2,357 words · 43 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Short Stuff: All About Porcelain | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW", an episode of Stuff You Should Know published January 1, 2026 (13 min, about 2,357 words). It mentions 14 people, works and ideas, including Porcelain, Kaolin, Soft Paste, Hard Paste, Bone China.

What this episode is about

Porcelain is a type of ceramic distinguished by its high density, durability, and non-porous nature, making it far more robust than commonly perceived. Comprised mainly of clay, quartz, and feldspar, porcelain's characteristics are influenced by the raw materials used and the firing process, which together determine its strength and variety.

Key takeaways

  • Porcelain: the unsung hero of your grandma's kitchen, tougher than it looks—just ask your toilet.
  • While Europeans were obsessed with 'China,' they took centuries to crack porcelain's secret sauce—thanks, Marco Polo!
  • Toilet vs. fine china: both porcelain but with firing temperatures so different, it's like comparing coal to diamonds.
  • Translucent porcelain: because sometimes, your cup should show off both its beauty and your hand underneath.
  • Glazing might look fancy, but in porcelain, it's just makeup—impermeability is built-in from the get-go.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 3:00: Porcelain, Kaolin
  2. – 6:00: Porcelain, Soft Paste, Cornwall, Kaolin
  3. – 9:00: Porcelain
  4. – 12:00: Porcelain, Bone China, Hard Paste, Soft Paste
  5. – 13:00: iHeart Radio, Linda Kyle, Livia

Notable quotes from "Short Stuff: All About Porcelain | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW"

  • All right. Well, let's talk porcelain because porcelain isn't something I really knew much about either until I did this research. And porcelain, as it turns out, you might.
    about Porcelain · at
  • Yeah. And that's usually going to be like that mixing bowl like table wear is usually that kaolin.
    about Kaolin · at
  • Tile where you can do that. a lot of times floor tile can be porcelain. but this all originated in China about 2,000 years ago during the Tang Dynasty.
    about Tang Dynasty · at
  • Out. this was in I guess the 18th century and by the latter half of the 18th century in the 1770s they found that cow and clay in Cornwall England and so the Brits were like we…
    about Cornwall · at
  • Yeah. And I think you're right. I think the Europeans use that soft paste a little more. So, it's a little more prone to chipping. It's a little grainier. just not as hardy overall.
    about Soft Paste · at
  • Auction record for Chinese porcelain was set about I don't know in 2014 when the Mayang chicken cup was sold for $36 million.
    about Mayang chicken cup · at
  • Yeah, for sure. you said bone porcelain. If you've ever heard bone china, that was something the English did and that's actual bone.
    about Bone China · at
  • Stuff You Should Know is a production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts, iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
    about iHeart Radio · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Johan Friedrich Bruter — Person · Referenced expert/innovator (as described) · 1 mention
    He is named as the German alchemist who reverse-engineered Chinese porcelain, representing Europe 'cracking the code' in the 18th century.
    Yeah. a German alchemist Johan Friedrich Bruter and he figured it out. this was in I guess the 18th century and by the latter half of the 18th century in the 1770s they found.
  • Marco Polo — Person · Historical figure (referenced) · 1 mention · first at
    Marco Polo is referenced as encountering porcelain and helping open trade routes that fueled European demand and import of Chinese porcelain.
    About 700 800 years later is when they really developed the porcelain as we know it. the porcelain that Marco Polo found and brought back to Europe and they were just went wild for this stuff.
  • Livia — Person · Production team (thanked) · 1 mention · first at
    Livia is thanked among contributors, implying a role supporting the show (likely writing/production).
    Ben and Jerry, of course, and our everyone who contributes as writers, Julia and Anna and Livia and Dave and Kyle. I think that's everybody right now, right?
  • Linda Kyle — Person · Production team (thanked) · 1 mention · first at
    Kyle is thanked among the current contributors, indicating a support role for the show.
    Everyone who contributes as writers, Julia and Anna and Livia and Dave and Kyle. I think that's everybody right now, right?

Companies & orgs

  • iHeart Radio — Company · Publisher/producer (credited) · 1 mention · first at
    The episode credits iHeart Radio as the production company for Stuff You Should Know and promotes its app and distribution channels.

Products & tech

  • Mayang chicken cup — Product · Example of value/rarity · 1 mention · first at
    Used to illustrate porcelain’s collectible value: it set an auction record for Chinese porcelain at $36 million due to rarity and peak-quality era production.

Concepts & topics

  • Porcelain — Concept · Core topic · 21 mentions · first at
    The episode explains what porcelain is, how it’s made, why it’s durable, and how different types (hard/soft paste, bone china) developed historically and industrially.
  • Kaolin — Concept · Key raw material · 2 mentions · first at
    Kaolin is described as the most common and valuable clay used in porcelain, enabling fine, durable, non-porous wares; its discovery in Cornwall supports British production.
  • Soft Paste — Concept · Technical category · 3 mentions · first at
    Soft-paste porcelain is contrasted with hard paste as a European-associated approach that is grainier and more prone to chipping, tied to firing temperature and material density.
  • Hard Paste — Concept · Technical category · 2 mentions · first at
    Hard-paste porcelain is presented as the main Chinese method, associated with higher firing temperatures and greater durability compared with soft paste.
    And I'm not quite sure I get the impression that China made its porcelain one of two ways and the way that they mostly made their porcelain was through hard paste and that the…
  • Bone China — Concept · Variant type (discussed) · 2 mentions · first at
    Bone china is described as an English innovation using bone ash to strengthen porcelain and allow lower firing temperatures, though it’s noted as not as strong as other porcelain.

Places & events

  • Cornwall — Place · European resource location (referenced) · 2 mentions · first at
    Cornwall is cited as the place where Britain found kaolin in the 1770s, enabling domestic porcelain production after European efforts to replicate Chinese methods.
  • Tang Dynasty — Event · Historical period marker · 1 mention · first at
    The Tang Dynasty is cited as the era when porcelain originated in China about 2,000 years ago, though in a rudimentary form.
  • Yuan Dynasty — Event · Historical period marker · 1 mention · first at
    The Yuan Dynasty is described as the period when porcelain developed into the form recognized today, later prized in Europe.
    Later in the Yuan dynasty, it's about 700 800 years later is when they really developed the porcelain as we know it. the porcelain that Marco Polo found and brought back to Europe and.

Full transcript with timestamps

Hey and welcome to Short Stuff. I'm Josh and there's Chuck and it's just us, but it's Short Stuff. And Chuck, this is the last episode of 2025.

That's right. That's it. That's all I had to say about that. All right. Well, let's talk porcelain because uh porcelain isn't something I really knew much about either

uh until I did this research. And porcelain, as it turns out, you might know this, you might not, is a type of ceramic. It's a subset of ceramics.

What uh they are both made of clay and they're both kilfired, but porcelain clay uh is has a much higher density and it's fired longer and at higher temperatures. Uh and thusly is much more durable, uh has very high performance characteristics. And it's, you know, porcelain is that that super hard mixing bowl that you got from your grandmother that like you can't break. Well, you can't break them, but just super hardy, super dense, non-porous, uh, clay like material.

Yeah, I guess I haven't had much experience with porcelain because I always thought of it as very delicate and highly breakable, but apparently that's not true. And once I thought about it a little bit, I was like, actually, I have lifetime experience with porcelain in the form of a toilet, but I hadn't really thought about that.

Yeah, toilets. Yeah, they don't break. Try it. You can't do it. So, there's three things that show up in any kind of porcelain. Um, and it's all natural. That's one of the big attractions of porcelain, too. It's clay, quartz, and feldspar, which is a kind of um rock that can form from all sorts of different stuff. Uh, and there's all sorts of other stuff you can throw in, but depending on the kind of um porcelain that you come up with, it's basically dependent on the materials you use, the raw materials, and then how high a temperature and how long you fire it for in the kiln. Those are the big variables that produce different kinds of porcelain. But probably the most common material that's used is called kalin, which is a kind of clay that's almost white. And this is like the big money porcelain clay.

Yeah. And that's usually going to be like that mixing bowl like table wear is usually that kaolin.

Uh very very fine particle size. Um it's super durable like we were talking about and and not permeable by any liquid. Just try it again. And you know when we're talking firing temperatures, uh we'll get to a couple of different kinds of porcelain, but it can go up to 2300° F, about 1260 C. And it kind of just depends on the what you're making it for, like is it a toilet or is it a mixing bowl or is it fine china?

And one other thing about porcelain too that I hadn't realized is that some kinds of it are translucent. And I was like, wait, that means kind of see-through. And I looked up pictures of it and yes, you can hold porcelain up to a light in your hand and you can see the silhouette of your hand on the other side of it. Did you know that?

Yeah, cuz I've worked with porcelain tile where you can do that. Uh, a lot of times floor tile can be porcelain. Um, but this all originated in China about 2,000 years ago during the Tang Dynasty. Uh, but it wasn't like the porcelain we know. It was basically like, hey, we put out our fire and they discovered this really hard, unbroken, solid pieces of stuff.

And that was just rudimentary porcelain. Uh, later in the Yuan dynasty, uh, it's about 700 800 years later is when they really developed the porcelain as we know it. the porcelain that Marco Polo found and brought back to Europe and they were just went wild for this stuff.

They did. Um and the market for porcelain opened up pretty quickly um because trade routes were open thanks to Marco Polo. But the Europeans could not figure out how their Chinese friends were making this stuff. So um all of the porcelain coming into Europe was foreign made in China. Um, and that's why a lot of porcelain table wear is called China because that was kind of like the um like champagne is the sparkling wine. China was the porcelain, right?

Um, and it took them quite a couple hundred years I think before they finally cracked the code. And it was an alchemist who figured out how to make porcelain by basically reverse engineering a piece that he had from China.

Yeah. a German alchemist uh Johan Friedrich uh Bruter and he figured it out. Uh this was in um I guess the 18th century and by the latter half of the 18th century in the 1770s they found that cow and clay in Cornwall England and so the Brits were like we can start making this stuff finally. We've got the we got the good stuff right here in Cornwall.

Is it cowolin like Shaolin? I don't know. I like how you said it. Oh, how'd you say it? Kolin like reg no

so yeah so the Brits are like great we can put all this together thanks to Ber and uh Cornwall and start making our own porcelain and I'm not quite sure I I get the impression that China made its porcelain um one of two ways and the way that they mostly made their porcelain was through hard paste and that um the other one is soft paste and it has to do with the density of the the raw materials you're using and then how high a temperature you fire it at and for how long like I was talking about before. These are basically the two types two main categories of porcelain.

Yeah. And I think you're right. I think the Europeans use that soft paste a little more. So, it's a little more prone to chipping. It's a little grainier. Um just not as hardy overall. Uh and then you got to glaze this stuff after you um fire it. But the glazing, I thought, you know, because I didn't know anything about this stuff, I thought the glazing might be kind of the final key to make it impermeable to liquids.

Me, too. Uh but really has nothing to do with it. It's already impermeable. Uh the glazing is just decorative.

Yeah, it's impermeable because it vitrifies. So like the the glass mater glass-like materials become glass in it. So it's like kind of glassy. Really good porcelain is. Um, so I say Chuck, um, we take a little break and come back and talk some more about porcelain. What do you think?

Let's do it. Chuck, I'd like to share something that I learned in our dolls episode that I didn't have a chance to fit in, but now I do because it seems like all of our episodes are now interlocking for some reason. But unglazed porcelain is called bisque. Bisque.

Okay, that was it. Like b i s q e. Exactly. Like uh tomato, shrimp, lobster. Lobster. That's the money one. Sure.

Although a lot of the times that stuff's langustino, you know. I didn't know that.

Yeah. I mean, if you go to like a really high price seafood restaurant, it'll be real lobster. But that lango is a pretty good sub.

Is that a rock lobster? Langustina. No, it's I think it's just like a little tiny uh a little tiny guy.

Tastes like cheese. It I mean it looks like lobster meat, but it's the they're little, you know, it's like a shrimp size.

Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah, I've seen those before. I've never seen a langina, though, now that you mentioned it. I've never looked that up.

I think I'd like to see what the creature looks like. Yeah, I'd like to see that, too. I've only seen it dead. I think that's what grabs everyone's faces in Beetlejuice during the Calypso scene.

All right. Uh well, I mentioned earlier before the break about porcelain tile. Uh it's very hardy tile for a flooring uh or the wall. But if you're cutting porcelain tile, uh you're probably going to need a tile saw. We talked about wet saws before. Um they're wet because they you're moving at such high speeds and drawing so much heat that the water cools off that blade. Uh and there's a couple of ways you can actually form that tile. if it's uh up to like 4T x 4T uh you basically have a a special mold, but anything bigger than that and you're compacting it like just pressing layers and layers of ceramic powder until you get your desired uh size.

Yeah. With a big old machine, right? Yes. So, um there's a few reasons that people prize porcelain. For one, it can be really, really valuable as we'll see. But also, like I said, it's a all natural material. Like a lot of the glazed um colors that they use in glazing are like cobalt, iron oxide, copper.

Mhm. Um the raw materials are things like clay and feldspar. It's really easy to clean, as you know, with a toilet. Uh very resistant to mold and bacterial growth, as you know, with a toilet. Uh it's water resistant, you know, like a toilet is. It's good for foot traffic like a toilet.

Um, and it doesn't emit harmful substances like a toilet. It can also be recycled, but that is a real niche um I guess method or technique. Like you can't just throw porcelain into your single stream recycling can. Yeah. You have to go seek out somebody who recycles it. But the very fact that it's recyclable gives it kind of promise for the future as we get better and better at creating a circular economy.

That's right. Uh you mentioned how valuable it can be. The the world auction record for Chinese porcelain uh was set about uh I don't know in 2014 when the uh Mayang chicken cup was sold for $36 million. Uh and you know why is anything valuable is because there's not many of them. It was was crafted uh between 1465 and 87 when porcelain was just peaking at its quality, but they were producing the lowest amount. So, it's just super rare. Uh so that's why it fetched 36 million.

Yes. And that also points something out about porcelain, too, is if you take good care of it, it's so durable, it can last thousands of years. So, or at least a thousand years, as far as we know. And there's like people are into porcelain like collecting table wear or vases or things like that. Um and so there's like a whole world out there available to you to get into bone bone porcelain, hard paste, soft paste. Uh well, basically those kind. And uh if this thing floated your boat at all, I think good luck with your new hobby.

Yeah, for sure. I mean, you you said bone porcelain. If you've ever heard bone china, uh that was something the English uh did and that's actual bone. And they I think when they were sort of first searching out how to make this stuff, they before they cracked the code, they would use like eggshell and stuff like that to no avail.

Uh and finally they landed on actual human bone ground down obviously a very strong thing. Uh bone ash would be um not from humans apparently from farm animals and it would really strengthen that stuff. And uh bone china you don't have to fire as high. You can fire at lower temps. It's just not as strong. There is no way that in the history of Bone China, no psycho has made it with human bones.

Yeah, that's a good point. Uh, are you enjoying your coffee? Exactly. Oh, man. Chuck made me giggle. That means short stuff is out.

Hey, wait a minute. Can we uh say goodbye for the year? Oh, wait. Yeah. Uh, yes. Thank you, Chuck. Um, I say we do that, too.

Goodbye. No. Uh, we in all seriousness, we want to thank everyone for another great year. Uh somehow here in year 17, we're enjoying things as as much or more than we ever have, which is hard to believe and pretty wonderful for us. And you know, big thanks to uh Dave and and Ben and Jerry, of course, and uh and our everyone who contributes as writers, you know, Julia and uh Anna and uh

Livia and Livia and Dave and Kyle. I think that's everybody right now, right? It is.

Yeah. Let's We can thank the Grabster for the old days even. There you go. He comes up and selects sometimes too, doesn't he?

Yeah, for sure. So, um I just want to say thanks for everyone for for keeping us employed in and what's for me the greatest job in the world. Means a lot.

Agreed. I second Chuck and uh yeah, thank you everybody. Thanks for another great year and we'll see you next year for another great year.

And now with Short Stuff Out, yeah, short stuff is out. Stuff You Should Know is a production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts, iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Short Stuff: All About Porcelain | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW"?

Josh Clark (Host), Chuck Bryant (Host).

What is "Short Stuff: All About Porcelain | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW" about?

Porcelain is a type of ceramic distinguished by its high density, durability, and non-porous nature, making it far more robust than commonly perceived. Comprised mainly of clay, quartz, and feldspar, porcelain's characteristics are influenced by the raw materials used and the firing process, which together determine its strength and variety.

What is mentioned in this Stuff You Should Know episode?

14 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Porcelain, Kaolin, Soft Paste, Hard Paste, Bone China, Cornwall. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Short Stuff: All About Porcelain | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW"?

The episode runs 13 min; the transcript is about 2,357 words in 43 timestamped sections.

More from Stuff You Should Know

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.