Nantou: Days 11-13

September 11-13, 2024

9/11 – Tea bag workshop + bamboo workshop tour + bamboo store + woodshop + Star Hostel

9/12 – NTCRI tour + lunch at Liao Studio + bamboo workshop

9/13 – Early concept presentation + work time

On our 11th day in Taiwan, we left Tainan for Nantou via charter bus. Our first stop was the Yoshan Tea Museum and workshop. Despite being someone who loves drinking tea, I had never really thought about the making of it and how different qualities of tea are achieved. My favorite part of the tour was tasting the teas! I loved how detailed each step of the brewing process was from the weight of the tea leaves to temperature of the water.

Next, we drove to a bamboo workshop that specializes in bamboo cups, toothbrushes, and knitting needles. Out of this program’s itinerary, I was most excited to learn about bamboo craft and I was not disappointed! The different types of bamboo and how they are affected by temperature and humidity was something that I had never thought about before. As we walked around the workshop and saw the craftspeople working on cups, I was surprised to see that each cup was individually cut and sanded. After seeing so many of these cups in stores, I had thought that they were mass-produced. However, I realized that due to the differences in size and shape of this natural material, they have to produce them by hand. Visiting this workshop really grew my appreciation for how much detail work goes into making each one of their products!

The next day, we visited the National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute (NTCRI) which was the most exciting field trip for me yet! When browsing the Bamboo Traces Exhibition, I was truly in awe of how intricately and beautifully everything was woven. As I looked closely at each basket, I tried to imagine how it was woven together, but each time I had absolutely no idea how anyone could achieve this level of mastery. The second floor of the building was the Yii project exhibition—a project from which we took inspiration from for our project at SCU! Zong from SCU had introduced our group to a bamboo chair with a clever way of joining the seat of the chair to the legs. So, when we saw the chair in person, we immediately took photos to send to Zong! This was my favorite exhibition because of how detailed and thought-through every single piece was. Although some pieces appeared simple at first glance, the high level of craftsmanship and design thinking would reveal itself after examining it for a few more minutes. For example, There was a chair that was composed of bamboo bent into concentric pill shapes. At first, I didn’t think much of the chair. However, as I began to try to find the seam of the bamboo pieces, it took me a long time and I discovered how carefully each piece was crafted in order for the seam to be nearly invisible. 

Seam of the bamboo strip!

At the Craft Hub at NCTRI, I wandered into many of the different craftsman shops such as a metalworking shop and an indigo dying shop, and had some great conversations with the artisans and students! At a pottery studio, I accidentally walked in on a guqin class, and got to talk to a student who had been learning for about a year. She explained what the right and left hand have to do in order to play the instrument, and because the sheet music was unlike any I’d ever seen, she also showed me how to interpret it! This experience going into the workspaces of different artisans made me realize how much time and effort true mastery of a craft takes. Each craftsperson was so passionate about their work, I felt inspired to continue pursuing improvements in the hobbies that I am passionate about.

After our time at NCTRI, we visited another bamboo studio. Here, we learned how to weave a small flower vase! Although this was probably one of the simplest projects to weave, I was incredibly confused at the beginning of the workshop. There were so many moving pieces for just a small vase, I can’t even imagine how complex weaving a larger project would be! This truly grew my appreciation for bamboo craft, and made me even more in awe of the complex baskets we saw at NCTRI. I learned so much about the versatility of bamboo after seeing all of the different projects stored in the office. I was most surprised to learn about the chair with non-cut bamboo structure. The craftsman explained that he grew the bamboo in this shape specifically for this chair, which is something that I never thought could be possible! Overall, Our day on September 12th was the most inspiring and exciting for me! I learned so much about the versatility and complexity of bamboo craft, and can’t wait to do more research!