Wang Qiang, a native of Yixing, Jiangsu Province, who grew up in the "pot pile", followed his father, who loved purple sand pots, and tasted many authentic works of purple sand masters from the Ming and Qing dynasties to the contemporary era. Although the father has been guiding consciously or unconsciously, he did not expect that his son's first pot was so good, and he did not expect that his son had an iron heart to drill on this road.
From secondary school to Tsinghua University, Wang Qiang's understanding of purple sand has also improved from solid learning skills to experiencing its rich and profound traditional connotations.
Ever since he was 17 years old learning to make pots, he has known that he must be responsible for this choice. At the age of 22, when his father, who was the teacher of enlightenment, died, he knew even more that he had no other choice, that is, purple sand, which was the unique ceramic product in all the world in his hometown, and he wanted to develop with it in the future.
In recent years, he has experienced that an instrument is more important than the spirit transmitted from it. Therefore, whenever a friend invites him to share on the Douyin e-commerce platform, he is always happy. In his Douyin e-commerce window, in addition to the exquisite purple sand works and repeat customers who constantly praise, there are also zhiyin who can read purple sand and understand Wang Qiang.
"It's a very positive thing. Our responsibility is to lead this industry in the right direction, let more young people contact this industry, and form a correct understanding. ”
His father let him live in the "pot pile" since he was a child.
In December 2021, Wang Qiang's friend Cai Xiang registered the Douyin account "Jiwuhua", and the work was heavy on content. "Using content to drive the works of creators," Cai Xiang introduced. Wang Qiang is the arts and crafts artist he invited in the purple sand, not only in the Douyin e-commerce window there are works sold on behalf of Wang Qiang and his students, but also in some dialogue video works can also see Wang Qiang's figure.
"At that time, there were too many old pots in the family. The place to live is small, a total of more than 20 square meters, but also put two beds, and then under the feet are all old pots, walking must be very careful. In a conversation, Wang Qiang mentioned that he grew up in a "pot pile".
Wang Qiang's family has been dealing with ceramics since his grandfather's generation, and his father's generation is obsessed with purple sand, and he has many precious pots in storage. Among them, there are many works by Shi Dabin, Chen Mingyuan, Chen Shouzhen, Chen Mansheng, Shao Daheng, Gu Jingzhou and other Ming and Qing dynasty to contemporary purple sand masters. With the naked eye, my father could quickly judge the authenticity of the purple sand and the year of production, as well as which author belonged to the bottom and which seal of the author.
But Wang Qiang didn't understand it at that time, just followed his father. From time to time, my father would take some of the most classic instruments and ask him, "Which do you think is more beautiful?" Wang Qiang replied intuitively: it is more rounded, it is brighter, and there is a delicate small sculpture on it. In fact, what he saw was the top authentic works in the purple sand line. With the influence of such days and nights, Wang Qiang's appreciation of purple sand has also improved day by day. He realized later that this kind of edification was a gift for him.
His hometown is in Yixing, and his father is a famous artist in the purple sand circle, Wang Qiang can not only follow it, but also learn how to do it. As the pot appreciated it, he couldn't help but want to solve the mystery through actual combat. "Let's say you eat a particularly delicious dish, you probably know what it's made of, but when you do it yourself, you can't make any flavor." So you're going to want to explore it. ”
At the age of 17, Wang Qiang graduated from junior high school. It was also in this year that he made his first pot.
"My father and the people around him all appreciated me after seeing this pot. This jumped out of everyone's concept, and I didn't expect the first pot to be so good. But Wang Qiang didn't think he had done a good job at that time, and now that he looks back, he realizes that he did a really good job." Wang Qiang believes that this stems from his appreciation of traditional old things such as purple sand and his vision cultivated by the family environment.
"What I'm going to teach you is not how to make a pot, but how to think"
At the age of 17, Wang Qiang, who has high hands-on ability, consulted his teacher while pondering on his own, constantly seeking breakthroughs in technique. "There's hard it to get stuck in me for a long time, just a week at the most."
Later, Wang Qiang went all the way from secondary school and junior college to undergraduate, and later went to Tsinghua University to attend a refresher course. He found that what he could learn could not bring him more development in the future. He needed to learn more basic aesthetics such as line and design, and to improve his understanding of art history.
In 2004, at the age of 23, Wang Qiang met a new teacher who taught him how to make pots. The teacher said to him on the first day, "What I want to teach you is not how to make a pot, but how to think." "The teacher has made Wang Qiang have a qualitative improvement in his pot making skills, and it is also under the influence of this teacher that he will improve all the way."
"I didn't understand it, I was still exploring the technique, and he brought me into thinking." The importance of this kind of thinking, Wang Qiang made a simple analogy: for a certain shape of the purple sand pot, the initial understanding is probably that it is very classic; but where does this shape come from? Why is it called that? Why choose this look and what is it trying to express? ...... This kind of retrospective in-depth thinking has deepened Wang Qiang's understanding of tradition, and also allowed him to better understand the changes in contemporary design and the direction in which he should develop later.
It was also at about the same time that his father, the enlightenment teacher, died.
After his father's death, Wang Qiang worked harder, and for the next three years, he worked almost 16 hours a day. "The idea at that time was that if others work hard for one year, then I would have to offset others for two years a year." At that time, sitting on the mud bench every day was too long, and Wang Qiang's cervical vertebrae, lumbar vertebrae, shoulder blades and other places were all rooted in the disease.
"At that time, there was no better choice in front of me, and in my own opinion, the future development of purple sand will be better, it is unique in the world."
In 2015, Wang Qiang studied Pu'er tea with Mr. He Zuoru and learned from him about the tea ceremony. "Purple sand must be for tea."
At this time, Wang Qiang was no longer the teenager who dropped out of school for the purple sand pot. The cultural connotation contained in the purple sand pot is worth spending a lifetime to learn and excavate.
Wang Qiang and Cai Xiang, two friends, one dedicated to continuing to explore the cultural code of the purple sand pot, to create more exquisite works, one focused on the operation of Douyin e-commerce, a new world slowly opened in front of them.
Douyin e-commerce resource support, bringing the market also brings Zhiyin
In the Douyin e-commerce window of "Jiwuhua", the exquisite purple sand works have attracted many netizens. The interaction with enthusiastic netizens requires Wang Qiang and Cai Xiang to spend time and energy, but they enjoy it. Whenever some netizens posted praise pictures and texts, they replied as much as possible, with playful and cute memes, and interacted with netizens.
Their shop has many repeat customers, and there is no shortage of confidants who love purple sand.
Some netizens left a message when they posted praise: "No residence, the heart to be repaired at this moment, quite emotional!" They replied, "Glad you understood it!" ”
Some netizens left a message: "Teacher Wang Qiang's excited expression and state when he talked about his exploration of the source of the stone scoop really couldn't hide his love for purple sand. This is also the effect that Wang Qiang and Cai Xiang want to achieve by doing "Jiwuhua", which is more important than selling goods, so that the audience can understand the creator and let the latter "go out of the circle". Coupled with the active promotion of the Douyin e-commerce platform, account traffic has increased significantly, and they can create content more firmly.
"There are a lot of people imitating us now, and I feel very proud." Wang Qiang laughed.
The past five years have been a breakthrough period in Wang Qiang's creation. "I feel like I'm really in a state of purple sand creation with a mission. The ultimate core spirit of all works of art should be to reflect our Chinese culture and inherit it, so that users or collectors can once again calm down and feel the connotation. Before that, I may be more focused on personal preferences. ”
Wang Qiang believes that the Douyin e-commerce platform is a trend in the future, and he is also happy to express his team's understanding of purple sand through the platform, "I hope that more people who watch short videos can have more choices in understanding purple sand." ”
For example, in a conversation between Wang Qiang and Cai Xiang, the two of them talked about the idea that "playing with the pot" should be slower: "Slower means that the speed of purchase can be slower, but cognition can be improved faster." Because the works are the true expressions of the creators, and when we taste these works, the creators are still making progress. In fact, it is a process of common development. ”
Around non-genetic inheritance and protection, Douyin E-commerce has launched a number of platform activities such as "See Craft Plan" to provide resource support for craftsmen and help them develop on e-commerce platforms.
On April 20th, coinciding with the Guyu Festival, Douyin E-commerce invited Wang Qiang, a senior arts and crafts artist, to share the purple sand production skills through the Douyin @ Jiwuhua live broadcast.
Cai Xiang also experienced on the operation of Douyin, "We have been content-based at the beginning, relying on platform activity traffic and support measures, creators and their works can therefore get greater exposure." ”
Xiaoxiang Morning News reporter Wu Chen Xingzi