Shanhai World
A civilisation made physical — over eight hundred hand-built figures, a 340 m² terrain, a world you can walk around.
Chinese Cultural Commission Atelier · Shanghai
Made for a person,a place, or a moment.
Bespoke cultural artworks, objects and spatial commissions by Lu Renjie — rooted in the Three Books, open to the wider traditions of Chinese civilisation.
The atelier
One authorship. Every scale.
SHANHAI ATELIER makes one-of-one works for private collectors, families, brands, hotels and significant spaces. Every commission begins with a source that can be traced, is transformed by a single artistic language, and is realised — in ceramic, bronze, stone, wood, paint or light — from a seal you can hold to a hall you can walk.
- 809
- sculptural forms
- 3,407
- totems
- 420
- bronze-script phrases
- 340 m²
- largest world model
Commission paths
Begin with why, not with what.
Six ways into the atelier. The form — painting, ceramic, bronze, a set, a symbol, a room — is decided by the meaning.
- APrivate Collection & LegacyOne-of-one works for a person, a family, a life.
- BBespoke Objects & SculptureCeramic, bronze, metal, stone, wood, lacquer — from the desk to the plinth.
- CVIP, Corporate & CommemorativeGifts and anniversary works that keep their authorship.
- DResidence, Estate & Private SpaceA focal work, an art wall, a sculpture garden, a private world.
- EHospitality, Brand & DestinationLobby, suite and restaurant art; cultural art programmes; brand collaborations.
- FArchitectural & Site-Specific ArtWhen the work needs to become a wall, a courtyard, a hall or a destination.
APrivate Collection & Legacy
Selected works
Works that are hard to copy.
A civilisation made physical; a painting with a hidden world; twelve figures that only exist together.
The Shanhai Map
Eight metres of mineral pigment holding two worlds — one seen in daylight, one revealed only under ultraviolet.
Twelve Beauties
Twelve ceramic figures that only make sense together — a reading of Dream of the Red Chamber, held in private collections worldwide.
China Dragon
A 12.8-metre painting whose body is the Yangtze and whose ground is 1,800 cells of living heritage.
RenderingShanhai Huntian — Celestial Sphere
An ancient cosmological instrument re-made as a kinetic bronze object; from the desk to the atrium.
Why commission here
01
Source
Every cultural reference can be traced and understood — the text, the vessel, the script it came from.
02
Originality
Nothing is a historical reproduction. The work is a contemporary authorship with a consistent visual system.
03
Realisation
From drawing and maquette to fabrication, logistics and installation — one team, one contract, any scale.
How it works
Seven steps from a conversation to a provenance record.
01
Discover
A conversation, free of charge, to establish whether we are the right atelier for the work.
02
Cultural & personal brief
Who it is for, where it will live, what it must mean. Sources are identified and the scope defined.
03
Concept & maquette
A paid design stage: research, drawings, a maquette or material samples. Approval before anything is built.
04
Material & engineering
Structure, weight, mounting, fire and humidity, site constraints — resolved with your architect or designer.
05
Making
In the atelier and with its fabrication partners: clay, kiln, foundry, stone, metal, glass. Progress is documented.
06
Delivery & installation
Crating, insurance, customs, transport and installation by the atelier's team, worldwide.
07
Provenance archive
Certificate, unique work ID, source note, making record and care guide — entered into the private archive.
The free stage decides whether we should work together. The paid concept stage decides what the work should be.
Lu Renjie, portrait
IMG-010
Founding artist
Lu Renjie
Founding Artist & Creative Lead · b. 1982, Shanghai
Lu Renjie is an independent artist working in painting, ceramics, sculpture and installation. Over more than a decade he has built a single, systematic visual language from the Classic of Mountains and Seas — 809 sculptural forms, 3,407 totems, 420 bronze-script phrases, an eight-metre painting with a hidden world and a walkable world model — and applied it to private commissions from the scale of a seal to the scale of a corridor.
Making
Clay, kiln, bronze, stone, gold.
Everything shown on this site was made by hand or cast, carved and painted from a hand-made original.
Clay
IMG-180
Kiln
IMG-181
Patina
IMG-182
Source & meaning
From one line of text to one object.
- 01
The source
“Large as a tiger, of five colours complete, with a tail longer than its body.” — Classic of Seas, Inner North
- 02
The reading
Not the striped tiger of later painters. Mass, five colours, a tail that is the creature's largest fact, and speed.
- 03
The object
Zouyu, from the collector set — hand-modelled, cast, its line from the Classic on the base.
Selected projects
From a wall to a destination.
Tell us what this work needs to mean.
A member of the studio replies personally within one business day.