Zhang Xiaochuan’s accessory “Lockey.”
A new exhibition at Park View Gallery in the Sea World Culture and Arts Center is reinterpreting an ancient woodworking craft through its display of a variety of wooden mortise and tenon joints as well as sleek modern designs inspired by the near-forgotten craft.
Mortise and tenon joints have been constructed for thousands of years by carpenters around the world for the purpose of interlocking pieces of wood. Without the use of screws or adhesive, the basic structure of mortise and tenon joints is simple but strong. Although there are many complicated variations, the mortise and tenon comprise two basic components: the mortise hole and the tenon tongue. This structure doesn’t rely on the strength of the individual, but the combination and support of each piece.
The exhibition’s title, “Sun Mao” (榫卯), is the Chinese name for mortise and tenon. Combining the beauty of the form and the science of structure, sun mao has been a basic part of Chinese houses, tools, bridges, windows and furniture for thousands of years. Since the joint itself has many complicated variations, an array of traditional wood and bamboo sun mao joints are displayed to demonstrate the ingenuity of the craft.
Co-organized by Design Society in Shenzhen and From Yuhang Rong Design Library in Hangzhou, the exhibition aims to explore the possibility of applying the traditional handicraft to modern design. In it, more than 20 designers from around the world reinterpreted sun mao in their chic modern designs.
Swiss designer Sebastian Marbacher’s “Log Chair,” a flat plank inserted into a trunk, shows the beauty of simplicity. “Inspired by the works of Chinese artist Fu Zhongwang, I tried to reduce complexity and see the joint not from a technical perspective but from a sculptural one. The result is two pieces of wood using the mortise and tenon joint. Every step from the raw log to the oiled plank was full of surprises,” he said.
Yuan Yuan’s LED light “Unlock” and Zhang Xiaochuan’s accessory “Lockey” are inspired by traditional Chinese interlocking puzzle, the Lu Ban Lock. Yuan’s acrylic and metal light is completely connected by sun mao structures.
Both of the designers believe that the fun of using the light or the accessory lies not only in appreciating the beauty of the products, but also in the process of assembling all the parts.
The exhibition also showcases Fu Zhongwang’s contemporary sculptures inspired by sun mao structures. Fu, a sculptor, a carpentry lover and former director of Hubei Museum of Art, has been integrating sun mao structures into contemporary sculptures since the 1980s. He not only regards sun mao as an art but also reflects upon various relationships in the world through his contemporary sculptures.
The exhibition is curated by designer Zhang Lei, who founded From Yuhang Rong Design Library in 2015 together with Christoph John and Jovana Zhang. A nonprofit organization, the library is the first traditional handicraft material library in China. Its core mission is to deconstruct traditional Chinese handicrafts into materials and processes, provide research results to the designers and artists around the world, and encourage them to collaborate with traditional handicraft workshops to promote traditional cultural heritage as well as contemporary design.
From 2012 to 2017, the team’s Rong Design Exhibition invited 72 designers to deconstruct five traditional materials — bamboo, silk, mud, copper and paper — and their related crafts to rethink and explore contemporary design with the materials. In 2018, the library finished its research on representative handicraft materials in 31 provinces and municipalities in China. For the next five years, the Rong Design Exhibition is focusing on five crafts: sun mao, dyeing, weaving, casting and knotting.
“We intended to search the root of Chinese design, so we began with traditional crafts. We invited 23 designers to research sun mao for two years and now we can say that sun mao can be different from what it used to be,” said Zhang Lei.
Dates: Until Nov. 10
Hours: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. (Mon.-Fri.), 10 a.m.-9 p.m. (Sat.-Sun.)
Venue: Park View Gallery, Sea World Culture and Arts Center, 1187 Wanghai Road, Nanshan District (南山区望海路1187号海上世界文化艺术中心一楼园景展馆)
Metro: Line 2 to Sea World Station (海上世界站), Exit A