Walk into the Nanjing Folk Customs Museum located in the Ganjia compound, full of tiger elements and a rich New Year atmosphere. In the studio of Gao Ruilei, a representative inheritor of Nanjing folk fabrics, the reporter saw the "Joyful Tiger" series brooches and pendants he designed for the Year of the Tiger. It's called "Joyful Tiger", and it looks really pleasing. As early as last July, Gao Ruilei began to produce works related to the year of the "tiger", and now he has made more than 100 pieces. An embroidery needle, a piece of white cloth, and several silk threads of different colors gradually spread between his dexterous hands.
"Joyful Tiger" looks cute,
It doesn't seem fierce at all
Gao Ruilei is known as the "Jinling embroidery man", since childhood with his mother to learn traditional cloth craftsmanship, originally the mother wanted to have a daughter to inherit his craft, did not expect to give birth to three sons, only he inherited the mother's embroidery craft. Since childhood, he learned the art from his mother and liked to paint those embroidery patterns. Now I plunge into embroidery and often forget to eat. "It feels very addictive, because the color of the embroidery piece needs to be done in one go, and once it is interrupted, you will not find the feeling." As an Anhui native who has lived in Nanjing for nearly 30 years, the roughness of the north has laid a solid foundation for him, and the tenderness of Jinling has given him delicate stitching and gentle patterns, allowing him to weave and embroider in parallel. On this basis, he also used the techniques of "pan gold" and "pan silver" to form a unique "Jinling embroidery" with strong personal characteristics.
Gao Ruilei's work and design thinking have also kept pace with the times. For example, innovative patterns, or the addition of modern materials to embroidery, so that young people can see creativity, both to inherit handicrafts and not to lose the sense of fashion. Picking up some of the Designs for the Year of the Tiger at hand, he told reporters that this year he not only completed the embroidery work "Fu (Tiger) Qi Gui (Turtle)", but also specially designed the "Joyful Tiger", which looks cute and has big watery eyes, which is very pleasing. Taking the embroidered tiger as an example, folk fabric art has its own tradition, and the steps cannot be chaotic. In the embroidery process, it is necessary to embroider the "soaring nose" first, and the folk have the first "ventilation"; followed by the mouth, which is used for "eating", followed by the "king" character of the eyes and forehead.
"The tiger is the king of the hundred beasts, the mascot, Bao Ping' and is also the harmonic sound of the word 'Fu' in our folk culture, Chinese like to rejoice and celebrate in the New Year, so the tiger I embroidered is not very fierce." It is like a tiger, but it is not too fierce, so that we are very happy to see it, rejoice and rejoice in the New Year, and the blessings are continuous. A tiger is being embroidered at hand, and he told reporters while embroidering, "The whole tiger is uneven, and when embroidering, we must pay attention to loose and tight, when it is loose, when it is tight, it is tight." After the final preparation, and then put in chinese herbs, cotton, trays to prop up, it looks very full and more beautiful. The same joyful tiger was made by him and his wife's skillful hands into creative little tiger brooches, pendants, small bags and so on.
"Touch the tiger's head to eat and wear without worry, touch the tiger's body step by step, touch the tiger's back, glory and wealth." Touching the tiger's tail is perfect. "My mother is older, her eyes and cervical spine are not very good, and Gao Ruilei also assisted her in making a series of tiger head shoes and tiger head hats to pin people's beautiful and prosperous life." Put on tiger head shoes, put on the tiger head hat, tiger tiger is mighty, thrive means. In the process of making tiger head hats and tiger head shoes this year, Gao Ruilei used different techniques, materials and shapes, which also made the little tiger look more cute and happy. Yunjin replaced the cotton cloth and rabbit hair that had once been pure cotton, and the "Joyful Tiger" replaced the tiger that was once "fierce".
"The smallest tiger head shoes are only 2 centimeters long and are used as pendants, which is in line with the aesthetics of young people; the normal size of tiger head shoes is more popular with the elderly and is bought back to wear for the children of their grandchildren." Gao Ruilei said that considering the beauty and comfort, this year's tiger head shoes he made, specially laid with a layer of thick heel sole, and with a colorful silk thread bottom, children put on, not only more beautiful, but also make the walking posture look better, reflecting the shape of the body.
Handmade can not be mass production, look forward to working with a professional team
In Gao Ruilei's studio, in addition to the jubilant little tigers occupying the C position, there are also a variety of exquisite embroidery ornaments. Butterfly-shaped brooch, long tassels can also be removed, there have been CCTV hosts with it on camera; Nanjing's flowers magnolia flowers, plum blossoms have also been reproduced into the brooch, embroidery luster with shiny beads; as well as birds, insects, nature's spirit show is tied on the hairpin. The girls walked by and specified that they couldn't help but take one or two pieces home. Nanjing actor Haiqing came to visit, and he also loved to buy a lot to take home. Don't underestimate these small objects, each one will take at least a day or two for Gao Ruilei.
Gao Ruilei is committed to inheriting and promoting traditional culture, opening free schools to teach unemployed women and the disabled the skills of making fabrics, which can not only enable them to have a skill, but also inherit traditional memories, so that more people can understand the intangible cultural heritage project of "folk fabrics". "Craftsmanship requires continuous innovation and development, and the integration of tradition and fashion is the best way out for intangible cultural heritage." Gao Ruilei said that he integrated good wishes into his works, hoping that the people of Nanjing would be able to be tigers and tigers in the Year of the Tiger, and that fu (tiger) qi would return (turtle).
Today's inheritors embrace new media, and many try to speak for themselves in various forms such as video and live broadcasting. But at present, Gao Ruilei's "Six Dynasties Handicraft Workshop" is handmade by his family, and also with several apprentices, it is difficult to mass-produce, and the price is more expensive than the general machine production, so he is not operating an online store, mainly some familiar friends customize embroidery to him through friends. At present, he is generally able to maintain a normal life, but he also relies on other income such as classes to support his indulgence in embroidery development. He told reporters that he has also tried a lot, opened a micro-store, done consignment sales, live sales also sold well, such as selling nearly 10,000 yuan in one night, but he still hopes to do more communication through the platform of the inheritance of exchange and teaching, according to everyone's needs can also do sales, he laughed and said, "If you want to see a big man embroidery." He also looks forward to working with a professional team to end "going it alone" and making this craft develop better.
Yangtze Evening News/Purple Cow News reporter Zhang Nan