In the small town of White Deer, there is a small shop called "Moss Language", which has a daily life about moss, plants, paintings, handicrafts, lacquerware, groceries and mountain life, and every work in the shop seems to tell the story of the owner...
Moss
01 "Buy" yourself for a year
The owner of The Moss is zeng tao, a native of Pengzhou, born in 1982, who stayed in Chengdu for thirteen years as a graphic designer after graduating from university. At the beginning of 2017, Zeng Tao and his friends went to Yunnan to play, and more than a month of travel made Zeng Tao's heart have a lot of feelings. The landscapes and quaint villages of Yunnan have given him countless inspirations, where people rely on mountains to eat mountains and live a very simple life, which makes him feel that the margins of all things can vary from place to place and from time to time, so why should they circle themselves in a certain field or region?
Zeng Tao realized that there are still many things in life that may need to be practiced by himself, and perhaps the worldly concepts have solidified themselves, so that he thinks that staying in the city has the opportunity to develop. Faced with the tall buildings and hurried pace of life in the city, Zeng Tao felt that it was time to start choosing a life of his own again.
White deer
In this way, Zeng Tao returned to his hometown of Pengzhou and opened a new way of life in Bailu Town. At first, Zeng Tao just wanted to live a life he wanted to live with his own abilities and conditions, "buy" himself for a year without being humble and uncontentious, and let the world change for years, and in the process, he found the road he wanted to take in the second half of his life.
In this year, Zeng Tao measured the mountains and fields of the White Deer with his footsteps, observed the flowers and grasses here, and emptied himself in the mountains where no one was; dug up various plants to try to cultivate; picked up the pen again and began to draw on paper, which made Zeng Tao, who had done graphic design for more than ten years, feel that the process of materializing a thing was full of fun; taught himself brush characters from scratch, and practiced himself in tens of thousands of words in two years; recorded the four seasons in the mountains with images, from wildflowers in spring to fallen leaves in autumn, from summer rain to winter snowflakes. Zeng Tao used this way to talk to nature. Although a year's time is not long, it is enough for Zeng Tao to discover some different possibilities in himself.
Zeng Tao's calligraphy and painting works
02 A small shop of 12 m2
In 2018, after a year of free life, Zeng Tao pan went down to the shop downstairs of the White Deer Town residence, took on all the work, and switched back and forth in the roles of carpenter, painter, electrician, and porter, running back and forth in the mountains of the city, and spent a month to revitalize the small shop.
Remodel the storefront
The name of the shop is "Moss Language", because Zeng Tao found that he was actually quite similar to them after knowing moss, as long as there is a little water and sunlight can grow very well, the environmental requirements are not high, but the vitality is very strong, do not argue, and are comfortable. He hoped that in the high-speed development of society, he could occasionally slow down, lower his body to listen to the soft whispers of moss, and enjoy a moment of tranquility.
Eco bottle
The process of opening a shop is also the process of Zeng Tao's attempt and exploration, making moss and different plants into ecological bottles is his first attempt, at that time in order to find the most suitable raw materials, Zeng Tao brought dry food, "drilled" into the mountain forest, went to the wet rocks, full of thorns in the bushes, just to find a white deer unique "white hair moss". In addition to fiddling with moss, wood and bamboo that are close to nature have also become the object of his experiments, and woodworking gadgets and traditional small toys have been made into the store's specialty products. However, none of these handicrafts made him feel the urge to do it for a lifetime, until Zeng Tao came across lacquerware more than two years ago.
Various gadgets made in the early days of Zeng Tao
03 Why lacquerware
Lacquerware making technology in China has a history of thousands of years, when Zeng Tao began to truly understand lacquerware making, he decided that this is what he will continue to do in the future, and the various experiences of living in the mountains made Zeng Tao extremely convinced that all the previous attempts and learnings were preparations for making lacquerware.
Complete production process board for wood tire lacquerware
Zeng Tao's lacquerware is made of raw lacquer, also known as "big lacquer", which is a pure natural liquid paint cut from a lacquer tree. And the drying of the lacquer requires temperature, humidity and time, and the climate state in the White Deer Mountain is suitable. Zeng Tao said: "Make paint slowly, time is not enough, if the temperature and humidity are not right, the lacquer is not dry, the paint layer is very thin, the polishing is fast and you have to wear it, and if it is broken, you have to start again." ”
Various lacquering tools made by Zeng Tao
Zeng Tao also hesitated before starting to make lacquerware, on the one hand, he had no clue where to start learning in a new field, and on the other hand, he heard that "lacquer prickly heat" was terrible. In the first half of the year, Tao frantically consulted book materials and network information, and cobbled together the problem of how to start, but still did not escape allergies, because the lacquer is extracted from the original solution from the sumac tree, and has not undergone a desensitization process, so it has a strong irritation to the skin of the human body. Zeng Tao had a rash because of allergies, because of love, so this bit of suffering was nothing to him. In May 2019, Zeng Tao completed his first work, which was bought by netizens shortly after it was published on his online store, which gave Zeng Tao great encouragement and motivation for him to continue to do it.
Some lacquerware in the shop
The production process of traditional lacquerware is complicated, from less than a dozen to hundreds of processes, the production cycle ranges from ten days to two or three months or even one or two years, Zeng Tao often forgets the time when making, and when it is looked up, the sky is already dark, but Zeng Tao is happy in it, he regards this process as a practice, a process of tempering the mind, because all the processes and time consumed before a thing is formed into a tool, only when it is really completed and handed over to the hands of the guests does it become meaningful.
Some lacquerware works
4 years have passed, "Moss" is still open in Bailu Town, this year Zeng Tao launched the "Pottery Lacquer" online store, he also harvested love and found a partner in life. Zeng Tao is now enjoying the convenience brought by rural revitalization, but also enjoying the slow life of natural mountain wilderness. For his lacquer craft, Zeng Tao said that he has just started, he is not in a hurry for more than half of his life, "a lacquer life, not rushed and not busy" is Zeng Tao's pursuit of the second half of his life.
Video: Zheng Lu Zeng Tao Liu Xin
Editor: Liu Xin
Editor-in-charge: Wen Ziyi
Editor: Feng Yanli
Producer: Pengzhou Rong Media Center
Pengzhou Rong Media Center reporting telephone: 028 68611355
★ Please indicate the source of the reprint, copyright protection is inseparable from your and my participation!
Please share
Ask for favorites
Click
Please watch