The craftsman does not stop using his hands to find the uneven surface, and then polishes it by hand.
The master carver carved it one by one, giving the texture of the feathers.
The carving master is working on the details of the carving, trying to make the carving more vivid.
Craftsmen use 300-500 mesh sandpaper for hand polishing.
Faithful filial piety stool.
The texture of the carved feathers comes alive.
Suixi Cantonese hardwood home has characteristic water ripples, curved water patterns and other ornaments, or carved with fish, shrimp, crab wood carving patterns.
Mai Can is carving.
From a distance, the straight line is vigorous and straight, the curve is graceful and elegant, under the interlocking of the tenon structure, rigid and soft, it is natural; up close, the mortise, the tenon, the pattern on the furniture are exquisitely carved, the poor work is extremely skillful, the wisdom and sweat of the craftsmen are poured into the beauty of the utensils, and the elephant is invisible.
Zhanjiang is located in the subtropics, rich in hardwood, wooden furniture production from more than 300 years ago in the late Ming Dynasty to the present, not only retains the exquisite soul of the traditional mortise and tenon structure, but also under the baptism of time, with local characteristics of the shape and carving decoration to renew. Back in the late Qing Dynasty, the saying "YinJia Nanzhu Insert Factory outside the city, Mai's Wood Workshop inside the city" was widely circulated, and it also described the grand situation of Suixi Cantonese hardwood furniture production at that time. In 2019, cantonese hardwood furniture making technology was successfully selected as a representative project of Zhanjiang Municipal Intangible Cultural Heritage.
One mortise and one tenon to show the skills
Drawing, placing lines, planing, making mortise and tenons, carving, polishing, assembling, retouching... The original wood is inseparable from the hardening and polishing of more than 30 links in 8 procedures to become cantonese hardwood furniture with deep ancient charm.
"As the saying goes, three points of material and seven points of art. Can disassemble the energy group, without nails and without glue, this is the mortise and tenon. Mai Can, the fifth-generation inheritor of Cantonese hardwood furniture making skills, said in a sonorous tone: "Convex is mortise, concave is concave, and mortise and mortise fit, so that the utensils can be seamlessly connected." "The mortise and mortise structure is also known as the soul of Cantonese hardwood furniture, and it can also clearly reflect the level of craftsmanship of craftsmen.
In the tenon structure, the tenon head is the most complex, the processing time is the longest, and the technical requirements are the highest. And because of the different shapes of the connecting components, the mortise and mortise structure derives a kaleidoscopic combination, so that Cantonese hardwood furniture has achieved a perfect unity of function and structure. "We have a nine-point tenon for every tenon. Because too loose is not strong enough, too tight is easy to swell. Ding Huadong, chairman of Zhanjiang East Redwood Industry Co., Ltd., said.
However, people often say "ten sandalwood and nine empty", and most of the mahogany raw materials will appear hollow. "In addition to the hollow, rotten places can not be used, curved places can not make long materials, narrow can not be made of board, white edges, white skin will also be discarded, the process of sawing wood will also produce a large number of wood bran and broken wood, these are losses." Ding Huadong showed reporters a piece of log the size of a book with white leather, saying that only about 20% of it could be made into furniture.
The carving area is both wide and deep, and the inlay technique can be used freely - Cantonese furniture inherits the traditional furniture making skills of the mainland, while also absorbing Western furniture culture, and forming a strong Lingnan artistic characteristics. Suixi Cantonese-style hardwood furniture has a special water ripple, curved water pattern and other ornaments, or carved with fish, shrimp, crab wood carving patterns, rich marine culture atmosphere. Full of loads, the artistic style, cultural context and aesthetic taste of the craftsmen of the Leizhou Peninsula are from generation to generation.
Craftsmanship creates eternal virtue
Folk crafts, clay sculptures, folk paintings, book carvings, exhibitions of inherited works, rural revitalization, handwriting cultural creation, Suixi Intangible Cultural Heritage... At the beginning of the new year, the "2022 Zhanjiang Folk Craft Excellent Works Exhibition" was launched in Suixi Chaoshun Redwood Cultural Intangible Cultural Heritage Park, with more than 200 works with unique local characteristics in more than 30 kinds of eight categories, which was the first comprehensive and comprehensive large-scale special exhibition of Zhanjiang folk crafts, and also presented a rich New Year "literary and art feast" for the citizens.
"If you want to pass on the skills of Cantonese hardwood furniture, you must find a way to enter everyone's vision and get closer to the lives of young people." As the founder of Chaoshun Mahogany Furniture Factory and born in a carpenter family, Mai Can is the intangible inheritor of the "Guangzuo Hardwood Making Technique", which was established in 1992 and has now developed into a comprehensive large-scale mahogany furniture enterprise integrating research and development, design, production and sales.
Establishment of furniture factories, registration of trademarks, opening of furniture stores, establishment of wood art collection museum... Through excavation and declaration of wood furniture making skills included in the county-level and municipal intangible cultural heritage project list, Mai Can unremittingly promotes the inheritance, protection and development of Cantonese hardwood furniture.
Three carpenters, two painters, thirty thousand yuan loans... In 1993, Ding Huadong went south to Guangdong from his hometown in Zhejiang Province, and in a rental house of less than 100 square meters in Beimen Village, Suixi County, he began his own road of mahogany furniture entrepreneurship, and also became a witness to the development process of Suixi Cantonese hardwood furniture production technology.
Today, Zhanjiang East Redwood Industry Co., Ltd., located in Lingbei Industrial Park, Suixi County, covers an area of 23,000 square meters, with more than 10,000 square meters of modern factories and exhibition halls. Ding Huadong also has a new thinking: "In the past two years, we can see new Chinese style, new national style, and new national tide everywhere, and people have felt the high return of Chinese culture. So, can it be incorporated into the art of making hardwood furniture? ”
The "rich stool" recorded in the "Ming-style Furniture Appreciation" gave inspiration to it. "Mr. Wang Shixiang's collection of untied waist straight feet straight foot straight square stool, now in the Shanghai Museum, conveys and promotes Chinese culture and the virtues of loyalty and filial piety. I think this is in line with the heavy connotation of hardwood furniture making skills. Ding Huadong introduced to reporters the "faithful filial piety stool" engraved with "loyalty is the foundation of one's life, filial piety can change destiny": "Skills create virtue, which is the best enlightenment given to us by history and life." ”
Text: Nanfang Daily reporter Chen Siliang
Photography: Chen Wen