Hong Kong
Denise is from Paiwan 台湾排灣族, an aboriginal tribe of Taiwan. Her interest on handwoven fabrics starts from her collection on minority costume. She is not only a collector by has also become a craft designer.
These bags are made from her private collection of handwoven fabric, the construction of the bag is inspired by the traditional tailoring of the minority tribe.
Something Old Something New, a joint venture with Soil.
DIA130xH30mm, China
This was at the one time the most common bowl in the Guang Dong and Min Nan area, a bowl that is used in homes, street hawkers and local eateries, now a days they have been replaced by the durable plastic ware Each bowl is hand printed with rooster, plantain and a flower. There are a reasons of how the rooster made it to be the decoration for this popular bowl.
For the Chinese, the rooster is a protector of evil (see post Clay Rooster Whistle), it has also contained the 5 Chinese virtues (Knowledge = comb, Strength = footing distance, Bravery = fighting its enemy, Benevolence = calling others to feed, Credit = crowing every morning). And finally, in the old days meat is a scarcity for common people, dishes are often decorated with chicken or fish to spice up the meal.
This item selected by Furze for the Something Old Something New exhibition and is available at both Mountain Folkcraft and Soil.
Hong Kong
Using the fabric from Mountain Folkcraft, artist Cotton Car has created lovely purse and tote bags for the Something Old Something New exhibition with Soil.
A Pleasure in Metal Frame Purse
“besides stripes and round shapes
I enjoy working with metal frames as well
so tempting to attach it to other purses
like extra compartment, yet decorative at the same time”
Cotton Car primary source of inspiration comes from daily life, or everything around her.
To find out more about Cotton Car visit her blog @ http://cottoncar.blogspot.hk/
DIA 150xH50mm, China
This item selected by Furze for the Something Old Something New exhibition and is available at both Mountain Folkcraft and Soil.
This is a folk version of the double happiness bowl; on the refined version the bowl is decorated with the word 囍 (double happiness) and a winding stem pattern that is popular in the Qing dynasty. While the design is passed down from an official kiln to a commoner’s kiln, the design is abstracted over generation of craftsman. This is likely to be due to that the craftsman are mostly illiterate and the design was taught to the young apprentice almost as a symbol from their master who has learnt it the same way. Nevertheless, this abstracted bowl is known to them also as the double happiness bowl, equivalent to the original item. The painter Wu Kuan Chung made this observation about the under glaze decoration of commoner’s kiln; some ideas which was inspired by daily life, they can being transformed into another type of art form by subtraction, multiplication or other means as long as it is still tied to the origin of living.
Can you spot the work 囍 and the scrolling foliage pattern?
Here are some hints;
the first 2 are folk version of a less simplified bowl and the last being a more refined version. (I somehow preferred the abstracted version)
Answer: the pattern that looks like # is the word 囍 and the three circle is part of the scrolling foliage pattern.
Mountain Folkcraft 