Nine years ago, Wang Xiaolu and her mother, Dao'an, a non-hereditary heir, opened a silver silk shop in Wenshufang, Chengdu, so that more people can contact and like this intangible cultural heritage craft. After the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020, the store business was affected, in order to let the Silver Silk Intangible Cultural Heritage Studio and physical store continue to operate, Wang Xiaolu began to try e-commerce channels, and Taobao stores became "timely rain" at a critical moment.
Open a small shop in the Internet celebrity destination and let the intangible cultural heritage crafts "fly" into the homes of ordinary people
The Spring Festival is approaching, Wang Xiaolu is a little busy, she and the studio craftsmen have been working overtime to prepare silver filigree goods. Every year during the Spring Festival, chengdu locals have the custom of praying for incense in Wenshu Monastery, when Wenshu Fang will be particularly lively and the passenger flow is also large. Although affected by the epidemic, she can't determine the situation of this year's Spring Festival, but she still decided to prepare in advance, "after all, our handmade production is limited, in order to avoid shortage of goods in the first month, as far as possible to spend time to prepare more goods, not to mention that online store channels also need to prepare goods, and the recent consultation volume of Taobao stores is also relatively large." ”
"Daoan Silver Silk" shop located in WenshuFang, Chengdu.
Wang Xiaolu's "Daoan Yinhuasi" shop is located in WenshuFang, a popular landmark district in Chengdu. "Dao'an" is the name of Wang Xiaolu's mother, who is a national non-hereditary inheritor of Chengdu's silver filigree making technology, and one of the few silver filament craftsmen who can independently design, produce, and master technologies such as "tireless molding". It is understood that the silver filigree has a history of more than 1700 years, once exclusively for the enjoyment of the court nobles, divided into the north and south factions, the northern faction is represented by the Beijing filigree inlay, characterized by "gold plating, burning blue, inlaid treasure"; the southern faction is just the opposite, "no gilding, no burning blue, no inlaid treasure", emphasizing the shape and line beauty of silver. The Chengdu silver silk inherited by Dao'an is the representative of the Southern School, and together with Shu embroidery, lacquerware, porcelain tire bamboo weaving, and Shu brocade, it is called "Chengdu Five Golden Flowers".
In 2013, Chengdu built the "Intangible Cultural Heritage - Handicraft Theme Street" in WenshuFang, and specially invited "Dao'an Silver Filigree" to join. At first, Wang Xiaolu's mother did not quite agree, and after she left the Chengdu Gold and Silver Products Factory in 1999, she set up her own silver filigree studio in 2003, accepting orders from all over the country and even overseas, and did not want to invest any more energy in running stores.
But Wang Xiaolu has her own ideas, "Mother makes collection-level works, a silver filigree ornament takes months or even years, the price is often tens of thousands of yuan or even hundreds of thousands of yuan, not ordinary people can afford to consume." Wang Xiaolu has always had a dream, hoping that this intangible cultural heritage craft can "fly" into the homes of ordinary people. After graduating from high school, she applied for the tourism handicraft design and production major, and began to design and make some silver filigree jewelry when she was in school and brought them to the exhibition, which was very popular.
A non-hereditary work of silver filigree by Ren'an.
Located in the center of Chengdu, adjacent to Wenshu Monastery, Wenshu Fang has become an Internet celebrity tourist destination. In addition to Dao'an silver filigree, Intangible Cultural Heritage crafts such as Shu embroidery, Shu brocade, lacquerware, and bamboo weaving have also been settled. "Unlike Kuanzhai Alley and Jinli, the environment of Wenshu Fang is more elegant, in addition to foreign tourists, local residents also like to come here to shop, and many people themselves have a strong interest in intangible cultural heritage." After opening the store, Wang Xiaolu found that there are many customers who like silver filigree jewelry, "Some guests spent hundreds of dollars to buy earring necklaces, and after a while they came to buy more advanced collections, and some foreign tourists even came to visit." ”
There was no business in the store and he was not willing to disband the studio, so he decided to find a way online
Dao'an silver silk store is about 40 square meters, in addition to wang Xiaolu's silver silk jewelry, there are also mother Dao'an's collectible ornaments and silver wire paintings. Wang Xiaolu said that since its opening, the business has become better and better, with an average of hundreds of pieces sold every month in 2019, and the summer or holiday store needs five or six people to be busy. Wang Xiaolu will also come from the studio to personally help and explain the process and production process of silver filigree to the guests. At that time, she was busy designing new accessories while planning to open several more branches.
Silver silk craftsman Wang Xiaolu at work.
However, in 2020, the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic has seriously affected the domestic tourism industry, and the always lively Wenshu Fang has become deserted, and the shops sometimes do not open for several days. "Occasionally, when a customer comes into the store, even if they look at a piece of jewelry, they hesitate for a long time, and they don't buy it as happily as they did in previous years." During that time, the studio's master was much streamlined, leaving only one employee in the store, and his mother Daoan was very anxious. "My mother is not someone who has not experienced great winds and waves." Wang Xiaolu said that in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, many of her mother's works were entrusted to several merchants in Wolong to sell, and many shops were seriously damaged after the earthquake, and some bosses have disappeared so far. "At that time, the economic loss was very large, but she was still strong, decided to start from scratch, and trained many post-90s craftsmen."
"This time is different, the epidemic will be repeated, but the production of silver silk works cannot be stopped, and the team's salary must continue to be paid." For example, in the past, every summer was the peak tourist season, and the traffic of WenshuFang rebounded in July last year, and the business in the store recovered by about 60% during that time, but in August, there were local confirmed cases in Chengdu, and Wenshufang immediately became cold again.
Because the physical store basically has no business, Wang Xiaolu has the greatest pressure in 2020, feeling that the studio cannot operate, but he is not willing to let the studio disband, so he decided to find a way out online. In fact, as early as 2015, Wang Xiaolu opened a Taobao store, but her energy was limited, and she has been operating one after another in recent years. "Opening a Taobao store is not as easy as it seems, you have to take pictures, process pictures and make detail pages, for us, we have to try a little bit."
In any case, we must stick to the shop and wait for the early return of tourists
Wang Xiaolu feels that she is very lucky, in the past two years, the intangible cultural heritage has been liked by more and more young people, and the e-commerce platform has also provided various help for craftsmen like her, including traffic and promotion support and various activities. "The works in the store are starting to sell again, and our studio is running normally again."
During the epidemic period, Wang Xiaolu found every opportunity to promote the silver filigree process, in order to let more young people like, but also in order to be more suitable for e-commerce channels, Wang Xiaolu specially designed some affordable jewelry, but also combined with the inspiration and hot creations in life, such as giant pandas, Sanxingdui masks and terracotta warriors, etc. During the Tokyo Olympic Games, Wang Xiaolu's "Ma Long Winning Chart" made of silver filigree was also on Weibo hot search.
Silver filigree jewelry is more popular on the web.
But Wang Xiaolu also has troubles, she feels that she and her team are not professional in operations, publicity and video shooting, and as a "craftsman", she is more willing to focus her time and energy on design and production. Before, she also thought about douyin live broadcasting, but it took too much effort and eventually gave up. In the past two years, due to the impact of the epidemic, many offline activities and exhibitions have been cancelled, wang Xiaolu has put more energy into design and proofing, and personally followed up some processes, such as polishing, polishing and so on. Making silver filigree is not as easy as imagined, and in Chengdu, there are now no more than 30 masters who can make silver filigree, Wang Xiaolu said, a silver filigree jewelry from design, proofing to the master to manufacture 5-10 products, about a month.
In the e-commerce environment, the competitiveness of pure handmade products is relatively weak. "Sales have gone up, but our production speed can't keep up, and other merchants have copied our styles, mechanized mass production, fast and cheap, consumers can't see any difference." However, now Wang Xiaolu's mentality is more peaceful, "The sales of this handicraft should follow the fate, even if the guests do not buy, as long as they can pay attention to our online store, it is also good to visit." Wang Xiaolu said frankly, "I think the handicraft works of silver filigree still have to go to the scene to see it, in order to feel its charm." "Since the operation of the Taobao store, some customers have visited the Internet, when they come to Chengdu for tourism or business trips, they will go to the store to buy a silver silk flower ornament or silver wire painting, and some guests have visited the "Daoan Silver Filigree" in Wenshu Fang a few years ago, and then bought new jewelry online after returning home.
Sometimes, Wang Xiaolu chatted with the owners or non-hereditary inheritors of several other intangible cultural heritage craft shops in Wenshufang, and everyone said that although it was difficult, they should stick to the store no matter what, rather than choose to close the store. "After all, for intangible cultural heritage crafts, the shop is a more intuitive display place, and we hope that tourists will return as soon as possible."
Beijing News shell financial reporter Qu Xiaoyi
Edited by Li Zheng Proofreader Liu Jun
Photo Courtesy of the interviewee