Inside Legle Porcelain, the brand behind the bespoke tableware created for top restaurants across the globe

While Inhesion Asia was always a ceramics manufacturer, the brothers decided to take a stake in Legle Porcelain in 2009. At the time, the 120-year old family-run porcelain business focused on bespoke curations for prestigious customers, from private jets to royal families. “It was a small company with great heritage, and we resonated with its values,” Chang expands. “There are few brands in the world that come with such prestige, and we wanted to bring that to Asia.”

As such, for the past 14 years, a shift was made to bespoke services, maintaining Legle Porcelain’s traditional manufacturing techniques and luxury standards while catering to Asia’s hotel and restaurant sector. The first project the group undertook was with W Taipei in Taiwan, slowly building rapport in the industry. “At the time, most restaurants and hotels used European tableware brands that did not have the ability to work with chefs to evaluate custom needs, whereas we were able to offer this service.”

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Tan talks me through the process of curating and designing a collection. “We need to understand all aspects of the experience, from heritage and practices within cultures to technical considerations such as the size and temperature of dishes,” he says. For instance, Legle Porcelain once developed a pasta plate with increased thickness for a lobster pasta, allowing it to retain its heat even when customers take time to photograph the dish. “It is cooked to a certain temperature, presented, and once guests are ready to eat it it should still be at the perfect doneness,” Tan smiles.

Chang chips in: “one of our assets is that we understand the worlds of gastronomy, manufacturing, and design, allowing us to produce bespoke sets tailored specifically to a chef’s dishes.” After a complete picture is formed, the team curates a brief that is passed to Legle Porcelain’s London-based design house. “This is what we are valued for—our ability to pick a chef’s brain, speak in their language, and materialise exactly what they want in its physical form.”

While on paper, the process may sound streamlined, it is anything but. “Working with artists, one needs to be flexible, patient, and understanding,” Chang continues. “We only cater to the best, who want a luxury experience for all guests.” Legle Porcelain also caters to hotels, from Rosewood and Mandarin Oriental to The Peninsula, who also need to consider the overall image around the world while catering to operational functionality. “Balancing all these needs and elements, we design collections that have finesse but are durable enough to be handled by thousands across the world,” he adds.

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Take Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur for example. “The colour scheme of black and gold is consistent throughout the hotel, from elevators to suites,” Tan comments. He notes the beautiful set of black and gold plates and teacups laid out in front of us as we chat is identical to that in the Mandarin Oriental’s Royal Suite, utilised specifically by the Agong of Malaysia. “It’s all in the private moments where these whispers of luxury and amenities are noticed by the consumer, leaving an impression,” Chang says.

In 2017, Legle Porcelain created the Espace 1.0 collection for Julien Royer of Odette, Louise, and Claudine. “My brother Desmond, the brain behind the design and concept, worked closely with [Royer],” Chang says. Translating into space in French, the Espace collection represents an arena to elevate and showcase Royer’s creations. “What we have is just simple, white plates, but the attention to detail is immaculate,” adds Tan. For instance, one of the dinnerware vessels is notched, allowing diners to easily grasp a dish of pigeon lightly perched on the indent. Loyal customers are able to bring home an identical set of tableware for home use.

“Just last year, [Royer] decided he wanted a new collection that was even finer, but not deviating away from the original spirit, so we developed Espace 2.0,” Chang says. Compared to its original counterpart with sharper edges, Espace 2.0 features more smooth surfaces. 

I nod in agreement as Chang adds: “if the collections were placed in a museum, they would be mistaken for a piece of art.” And that is exactly what Legle Porcelain wants to achieve—tableware that is admired, appreciated, and able to uplift the enjoyment of a dining experience to a new level.

Legle Porcelain’s understanding of the culinary sector has positioned them as a valuable asset, winning the hearts of chefs and hotels across Asia. “We are working with 76 Michelin stars in China, 46 stars in Hong Kong, and 17 stars in Singapore, just in Asia itself,” Chang says. Closer to home, you may notice Legle Porcelain’s collections in restaurants from the likes of DC Restaurant and Restaurant au Jardin to Dewakan and Potager. “Chefs are artists, always looking for different ways to better themselves, and we are happy to be able to help them complete a beautiful story.”

In the last four years, the team also developed Ruyi Gastronomy, an evolutionary sub-brand that focuses on the cultural aspects of tableware, especially within Eastern culture. “The first collection was Aroma back in 2018, which consisted of a selection of teapots,” Chang says.

Since tea is best brewed at a particular temperature, the teapots are filled with warm water up to a marker, before being topped with boiling water to achieve a precise temperature. The walls of the teapots also differ depending on the variety of tea, as some teas are suited to hotter water (such as pu’er tea) and some suited to cooler water (for instance, green tea). As a testimony to the success of its reception, the tea set was used at a state dinner hosted by French President Emmanuel Macaron with Chinese President Xi Jinping in attendance.

While Legle Porcelain may cater to restaurants all across Asia, 85 per cent of manufacturing occurs within plants in Malaysia, such as the one we sit in. Tan takes me through the factory, and I am blown away by the craftsmanship that goes into each individual vessel.

Each process, from the making of moulds, shaping of porcelain, production of decal (a transfer system that applies a pre-printed design to tableware), and hand-painting of gold rims, is done by skilled artisans, some of whom are third-generation experts. Quality control is also immaculate; as I look through a pile of rejects, faults are hardly visible to the untrained eye, and I only notice slight notches when Tan points them out.

Touching on the future, Chang hopes to create more value for the industry, constantly learning from every individual partnership. “The artists will never get enough from us and we will never get enough from the artists,” he smiles. “We are partners, hand in hand with the creators, gaining new knowledge as our services are utilised to bring groundbreaking creations to the next level.”

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