N Haidu all-media reporter Li Qi Ma Junjie
Intern He Xuehan Text/Photo
"The rattan weaving process seems simple, but the production process is extremely cumbersome, and it takes a series of processes such as rattan selection, degreasing, peeling, passing through the sword door, and over-wide knife to be sent to the hands of the weaver master, and a total of 18 processes of large and small sizes can be made to complete a rattan package, and the whole process takes at least half a month." Zhang Qingming, a 48-year-old representative inheritor of mountain grape vine weaving and production skills, introduced to reporters.
Recently, Fuzhou Yongtai's mountain grape vine weaving technology was selected into the list of the seventh batch of provincial intangible cultural heritage representative projects in Fujian Province. On the 9th, the reporter walked into the grape intangible culture exhibition hall in Yongtai County to explore the charm of mountain grape vine weaving.
Continuous research to overcome technical difficulties
In the northwest of Yongtai, in the area of Danyun Chi'an, it is known as "three ridges and five pits, and the pit has rattan art". Zhang Qingming recalled that when he was a child, almost every household would use local materials, using bamboo grass, grapevine weaving knife sets, baskets and other daily necessities, and he also learned bamboo weaving and mountain grape vine weaving techniques with his father.
In 2006, the company founded by Zhang Qingming initially focused on making bamboo shell environmentally friendly tableware for export. In the process of dealing with foreign customers, he found that rattan weaving bags have a very broad market in Japan, Italy, France and other countries, which reminded him of Yongtai's long-established weaving handicrafts, and he was determined to develop and design his own rattan weaving products.
Mountain vines waiting to be processed
The process of transforming a small wild mountain vine into a high-grade hand-knit bag is not so easy. Zhang Qingming revealed that in fact, wild mountain vines as raw materials for bags, Japan has a relatively mature technology. "In our traditional technology, in the past, only old rattan that was soaked in enough water during the rainy season could take out qualified rattan, which greatly increased the cost of making rattan bags." So at the beginning of the business, Zhang Qingming devoted himself to technological breakthroughs, and after repeated experiments, he finally conquered the bottleneck of taking vines, and he could take vines all year round, and also met the requirements of environmental protection. And such technological breakthroughs are not in the minority, from taking vines, weaving to molding processing, under the continuous research of Zhang Qingming, now he has applied for more than 100 patents, and the products are also exported to Japan and Europe.
Rough hands, weaving out "luxury goods"
On March 9, in the studio upstairs of the exhibition hall, more than 50 weavers were concentrating on weaving rattan bags. Because weaving requires delicate and complex movements, the masters are mostly women. The rattan flew up and down in their hands, and it took at least 1 or 2 days to complete the weaving of a rattan bag. Each master's hand has a thick layer of calluses forming a "glove", and it is in such rough hands that exquisite rattan woven bags are born.
A pair of dexterous hands, let the rattan fly through, the longitude and latitude are not bad
Many masters have calluses on their hands
Zhang Qingming told reporters that it may only take 2 or 3 months for workers to learn a single compilation method, but it will take at least 2 or 3 years to compile a single compilation method, and many of them who are proficient in a variety of compilation methods are teachers for more than 10 years. "Such rattan bags are luxury goods in Japan and Europe, and the price of exports has reached thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan in the past."
In the compilation technique, the three-dimensional palindrome text was innovated
In the exhibition room, the cabinets are filled with rattan bags, with different styles and colors. "Although the raw materials are all mountain vines used, the vines that grow in the mountain pass, grow on the water's edge, and grow on the ridges all have different colors, which gives each vine a different color." In order to inject new life into traditional skills, Zhang Qingming has also continuously innovated weaving techniques, and now there are hundreds of weaving techniques.
A leather fenced handbag that retains the original holes in the rattan
On the display case, a "leather fence knitted handbag" attracted the attention of reporters, and the bag body used the original holes of rattan as a decoration, so that the entire rattan woven bag exuded a primitive texture beauty. Zhang Qingming told reporters that in order to innovate the style of rattan weaving, he also tried to hire Italian and French designers, "Later found that because they did not understand rattan weaving, the designed style could not maximize the characteristics of rattan, so now we are designed by ourselves." ”
Spread intangible cultural heritage and cultivate fresh blood
Nowadays, Zhang Qingming has tried to open a rattan weaving experience center and promote weaving classes in primary and secondary schools, so that more people can recognize and feel the charm of rattan weaving. "Rattan weaving not only exercises children's hands-on skills, but also exercises their concentration and aesthetics." Zhang Qingming also hopes to take this opportunity to let more young people join the ranks of rattan weaving, "Teacher Fu has rich experience and skillful techniques, but creativity is relatively weak." Only when new blood joins our ranks can we give the rattan weaving package new vitality. ”
While teaching weaving techniques, Zhang Qingming will also explain the meaning and connotation of intangible cultural heritage to children as much as possible, "In the impression of many people, rattan weaving bags are just 'vegetable baskets' for buying vegetables, and they do not understand their value and the cultural significance contained in them." I want children to realize from an early age that our traditional crafts are of high value. ”
In addition, Zhang Qingming wants to try to graft other intangible heritage traditional techniques into the production of rattan weaving bags in the future. "Our traditional culture is very powerful and attractive, and we can tap this treasure house for innovation, believing that we can blossom more beautiful 'flowers'."
EDIT: Yu Yue