Metalwork in China boasts a history of four to five thousand years
There’s so much for us to understand
So we both want to keep going
To do it well
Both of us majored in metalwork
And a few graduates continued to do related jobs
Hammering metal makes great noise
And the storage of tools and materials requires large space
It’s hard to find an ideal house in the downtown
I resigned from the academy in 2006
Then we moved into the mountain from the downtown
When friends saw our home on my social media
They asked: “Financial freedom achieved?”
Actually not
We’re artistic creators
So we enrich our house with our art creation
We bought little furniture
We prefer to make furniture and decoration by ourselves
Just like creating things
We enjoy the process
The mountain is high, and the forest is dense
We even met a wild boar while driving at midnight
Our home is close to the peak
As you open the gate, you will see a huge rock as the screen wall
Then you walk up to the garden along the path
The house was still roughcast when we just came here
But I liked its structure very much
The house was vacant for 2 years
Its design was fully discussed
And gradually made into drawings
My life is simple. Eating and working
I like working in places with a good view
Back to minimalism
The windows are made as big as possible
And since the sceneries outside are picturesque, the interior design can be made simple
We used ordinary materials and methods
But we invested much effort in things
Like hot water supply, floor heating and heat preservation
To achieve a nice ratio scale and an improved comfort level
We keep repeating an act while doing metalwork
And such simplicity easily brings me into concentration
I read art history and studied the features of utensils from different dynasties
I created works like Silver Pot with Dragon Patter, Incense Bowl with Lotus Pattern
And Lidded Bowl with Turtledove Pattern early
They represent my looking back to my hometown
Later I began to pay attention to the relationship between craft and human
In terms of the Utensil series, I didn’t make any design in advance
The shape and wrinkles of the pot were all accidentally formed during the process
It’s a no-me and random status
And it’s my reflection to crafts
My latest work Elevation Made by Hammering for 3 Million Times
It’s inspired by the zen of craft
I keep hammering a silver plate
Which is as thick as 2mm
To make the silver accumulated in the center
To form a bulge as high as 26mm
The work made by a simple craft
Speaks modern international language
I’ve been to lots of places to explore the DNA of China’s metalwork
Visiting great masters in Beijing
And Tibetan and Miao masters
I learned from them
The oriental culture is reviving
I think it will grow stronger and stronger
When the epidemic just broke out
People were so sensitive and fragile
Then I thought of making works of tinfoil
The metal forms a crease very easily
And the world then gave me a similar feeling
It snowed heavily here in the first winter after we moved in
The outside was covered in white, which looked amazing
At that moment
I felt connected to the house
And I created a silver tea utensil called Snow-covered Room
It’s difficult to carry on creating obscure art works
But we feel free in this house