ShiKai Tseng, 'Bronze China Project'
Award-winning designer ShiKai Tseng graduated from the Royal College of Art, London after studying a masters in product design. Since leaving education he has exhibited internationally and established his own creative practice. He joins us at MOKSPACE next week where he will showcase his beautiful Bronze China. We caught up with ShiKai to learn more about his work.
ARTS THREAD: Talk us through the work you will be showing at Mokspace
ShiKai Tseng: Bronze China is a project I created in collaboration with Chinese craftsmen in Henan, China. YanJian is a small village in the Henan Province. More than 30% of people living there there are involved in the same business – copying and selling ancient bronze pieces. Their homes become workshops – they built traditional kilns and hired their families and friends. These people build many amazing replicas using limited resources and tools. Nowadays, more than 1100 people are in this bronze replica business.
The Bronze China project aims to introduce the concepts of originality, creativity and honest and fair trading to Henan. In another words, to cooperate with the local craftsmen to create new objects which could fit in our current society, with new form and new meaning. I stayed in this village for 3 weeks, immersing myself in their design process – soil sculpting, wax carving, mold making, lost wax casting and welding.
AT: Where do you get your inspiration from?
ST: Anything can inspire me, but I am especially drawn to unique materials and processes.
AT: What are your plans for the future?
ST: There are many traditional art and design processes in China that are not surviving well in modern society. I would like the opportunity to bring these processes back into the mainstream so they are no longer just seen in museums.
East Meets West: Art & Design Now! runs from 24 April – 6 May at Mokspace.
