▲ Starlight Yao Wo Ye (Metal Craft) Sun Lei
Arts and crafts is an important carrier of national culture, a living cultural system that integrates production, life and artistic aesthetics, and contains simple and profound wisdom of life.
In the new era, people's living needs have been upgraded from "material and cultural needs" to "the needs of a better life", the new concept of consumption has become the mainstream, "exquisite" has become people's favorite words in recent years, and exquisite life reflects people's taste and feelings.
For arts and crafts with practical value and aesthetic significance, returning to and serving high-quality life has become a new proposition and new direction that adapts to the development of the current era and responds to social expectations.
▲ Chongming Yiyi (fiber technology) Yang Qiuhua
01
Discover traditional craftsmanship
A realistic path to high-quality development
High quality is a new concept in the development of arts and crafts. In the view of Pan Lusheng, vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and director of the Arts and Crafts Committee of the China Artists Association, high quality means high standard design, high-grade aesthetics, high-quality products and high-quality life. The reason why high-quality development is proposed is because the supply of arts and crafts suitable for the new consumption concept and the current quality of life of Chinese people is insufficient, which has become a short board that restricts the healthy development of China's arts and crafts industry.
Throughout the history of craft development, innovation is an inevitable trend in the development of arts and crafts, and it is also a bridge connecting traditional craft culture, craft life and craft formats. Focusing on traditional craft resources and carrying out creative design and research and development rooted in modern life is an important way to realize the creative transformation of traditional crafts. In this regard, Pan Lusheng believes that the high-quality development of traditional crafts is a systematic project. First of all, we should establish and improve the policy and management system for the high-quality development of traditional crafts, and focus on promoting the formation of a new pattern of systematic development and classified development of traditional crafts. Secondly, we should build a living inheritance system of traditional crafts, including master-apprentice inheritance, family inheritance, community inheritance, industry transmission, school education, social inheritance and other forms, and establish a traditional craft national education system that runs through the growth process. Third, it is necessary to follow the principle of creative transformation and innovative development, and give traditional crafts new era connotations and modern forms of expression in the practice of innovation transformation and design. Fourth, high-quality development means that traditional crafts have entered a period of sustained and stable development, and they cannot be too eager to make quick profits. It is necessary to optimize the development path of the traditional craft industry, continuously improve the quality of the process, and promote the integration of new technologies, new platforms and new formats of traditional processes. Fifth, the high-quality development of traditional crafts should be a balanced development between urban and rural areas and between regions, and the relationship between phased key planning and sustained stability and long-term achievements should be grasped, the practical problems of the development of local traditional crafts should be accurately positioned, and the local traditional crafts should be adapted to local conditions, and the high-quality development of traditional crafts in the region should be explored. Sixth, ecological civilization and social equity are the yardsticks for the high-quality and sustainable development of traditional crafts. The ecological concept of the unity of nature and man in traditional crafts, the cyclical ecological system, is in line with the concept of modern sustainable life. Craft empowerment enhances the self-development capacity of vulnerable groups and sustainable livelihoods. Fair trade is an important choice to protect the rights and interests of artists and the originality of works, increase the income of handicrafts, and help the branding of traditional crafts.
02
Three ideas of modern craftsmanship
"As the art of life, traditional crafts are even the people's lives themselves, only by returning to life can traditional crafts truly enter people's hearts, reflect the value of history and the times, and only by returning to life can we accurately locate the basis for the high-quality creation of arts and crafts." Pan Lusheng said that it is in this context that the "Second National Arts and Crafts Exhibition" landed at the National Museum of China in Beijing and the Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning in Shenzhen. Exhibitions in iconic venues in two special cities, the capital and the special economic zones at the forefront of reform, highlight the epochal significance of the innovative development of arts and crafts. As an academic brand activity jointly launched by the China Artists Association and the National Museum, the exhibition is not only a "folk craft exhibition" and a "arts and crafts industry exhibition", but also a "arts and crafts innovation exhibition" that encourages the whole people to participate in exploring the expression of contemporary art and the application of traditional crafts. The exhibition focuses on displaying new crafts, new techniques, new materials and new ideas of contemporary arts and crafts, highlighting the "ingenuity and ingenuity" of the craft, as well as the excellent creative achievements with traditional value and the spirit of the times, and highlighting the technical charm of "craftsman spirit", "aesthetic value" and "creative wisdom" in terms of exhibition appearance, academic content and connotation value.
▲ Master Silk Road (weaving and embroidery craft) Pan Lu was born
Whether it is the weaving and embroidery work "Master Silk Road" using the form of a long scroll to depict the traditional craftsmanship scene on the North-South Silk Road, the glass craft "Genesis" through the optical characteristics of glass materials, in the alternating light and color to complete the transformation of tangible and invisible, or the paper art work "Mother of the Inner Scroll" upgrades the traditional paper art from flat use to three-dimensional presentation, showing the empathy of modern women who bear the dual pressure of family and society... Obviously, the works of the "Second National Arts and Crafts Exhibition" belong to the category of modern crafts. Hang Jian, deputy director of the Art Theory Committee of the China Artists Association and director of the Art Museum Group of the China Academy of Art, used the "triple order" to expound three ideas of modern craft creation, one is to present the "classic" of traditional craftsmanship, which means to inherit the refinement and elegance of the traditional context; the other is to jump on the only way of "pure art" performance, which means that handicrafts should be more artistic and more inspiring to people with beauty; the third is to extend the meaning of handicrafts and pay attention to the expression of ideas and concepts. "In terms of skills, it is difficult to achieve technical progress in modern technology. Conceptually, due to the intervention of contemporary art, it is still in a process of development. I believe that only by combining with emotion is the eternal way of craftsmanship. From economics to culture, the aesthetics of craftsmanship, emotions have a meeting point. Whether it is the craftsmanship of the folk, the craft of the industry or the craftsmanship of the academy, emotion can integrate the creative problems of these three. ”
03
Find the driving force of innovation in the cultural genes
Under the influence of this concept, the focus of craft design must be more from material to cultural, from function to emotion. The advantage of process design lies precisely in the subjective performance and creative play of individuals, which can not only meet the cultural needs of people's production and life for daily necessities, but also quickly integrate into modern urban living space and exert the maximum efficiency of process design to serve the public. So, how to use the craft design language to transform the traditional craft culture elements?
Rong Design Library is China's first non-profit traditional handicraft material library derived from the principle of traditional handicraft deconstruction. Designer Zhang Lei and his team in the design of the oil-paper umbrella, the traditional oil-paper umbrella into materials and processes, and finally transformed into a new work - a paper chair called "floating". "From an oil-paper umbrella to a chair, this thing separates the carrier and technique of traditional craftsmanship. Whether we should protect the oil-paper umbrella now, or should we protect the production method of the oil-paper umbrella, is a matter of principle. Oil-paper umbrellas are no longer suitable for modern people's lifestyles, but the skills and materials of oil-paper umbrellas must be protected, because this is the basis of the design method left to us by our ancestors. In this way, rong design library hopes to connect traditional Chinese handicrafts with artists and designers into a deep cultural gene. This is the most basic model of the Fusion Design Library. It is a resource library that provides innovative impetus for contemporary design, starting with craftsmanship, and from this library a new way of life is created. This way of life is the most valuable thing for our future. Zhang Lei said.
Design innovations through the reorganization of manual skills have undoubtedly brought beneficial enlightenment to the industry. Fang Lili, honorary director and researcher of the Institute of Art of the China Academy of Arts, said: "The gene pool of culture contains the gene pool of skills, as long as the genes of culture are still there, the blood of culture can be continued, such as the literature and artifacts left by the Song people, as well as the ideas and concepts contained in those artifacts, we do not have to be the Chinese of the Song Dynasty, but we can explore the Chinese cultural genes of the Song Dynasty, and then reconstruct and reorganize, and build a new culture on this basis." The process of reconstructing tradition and history is first of all the process of conceptual construction, and different concepts will reconstruct different historical scenes and different cultural genetic maps. We need to use new ideas in this era to reinterpret the world, to reinterpret history, and even to reinterpret the relationship between craftsmanship and art. ”
▲ Wenjun bottle , Earth-like silk (ceramic craft) Bai Ming
04
"Use" the word "activation" practice first
When the traditional way of life is gradually moving away from us, arts and crafts still need to emphasize its essence of "use", because only by returning to the essence of "use" can we better meet the needs of high-quality life. "Use" is the first word, how to integrate traditional craft products into contemporary life, how to let the younger generation use? In the view of Li Keming, the inheritor of ru kiln, there is a premise of "use", so that the handicrafts can better survive.
Inspired by the shape of a Northern Song Dynasty jade pot spring bottle in the special exhibition of Ru kilns held at the Forbidden City in Beijing, Li Keming began a cross-border attempt at Ru kilns and wine. "The classic vessel of the Ru kiln is used to hold the wine, and after the bottle is drunk, it can be used again in flower arrangement." How does ruyao kiln and contemporary life build a relationship? With 'Ru' as the core, we establish Ru porcelain IP, try to cross-cultural core values and spiritual cores, try to break the binding of regional culture, and realize the expansion and superposition of channels and customer groups. The 'Ru Drunk' project has made three products, in addition, we have also cooperated with works called "Crab Crab Ru", "A Box of Ru Pigs", "Happy Eyebrows", and the tea set of "Moonlight Baby Rabbit" has added the application of light. In 2020, we made the interesting Ru porcelain "Rich Mouse", cleverly borrowing traditional festival elements and integrating cultural creativity. Li Keming said that whether it is cross-border or design redevelopment, it is to explore whether traditional crafts can be branded and developed in contemporary times. With modern design methods, the traditional Henan ceramics into today's daily life, and through the Internet platform to promote, won the favor of many consumers, Li Keming found an effective way of cultural creation. The impact of this practice of "activation" on current life is even greater than ever, which shows that traditional craftsmanship combined with current design has great potential in the future.
Wu Hong, director of the Fashion Design Art Committee of the China Artists Association and professor of the School of Fine Arts and Design of Shenzhen University, also pointed out that the cognition of traditional culture cannot only stay at the level of the dissemination of text symbols, but should find more effective ways to achieve immersive experience. The culture in the information society is no longer a regional and partial culture, but actually a culture shared by human beings. At present, we should establish a traditional Chinese craft culture system and use scientific and systematic methods to conduct research and education on traditional crafts.
Qi Zhe, president of the School of Arts and Crafts of the Guangzhou Academy of Arts and Crafts and director of the China Arts and Crafts Society, who has long been engaged in arts and crafts education, believes that the tactile and visual feelings of ceramics, lacquer art and silk fabrics can trigger people's very subtle sense of inner experience, which is precisely the essence and inner things that cannot be replaced by modern large-scale industrial production. The high quality of life I understand is a differentiated life, which is the main value of traditional crafts in a highly developed society with globalization and informatization. On the one hand, we face up to what is the mainstream of the current society through traditional craftsmanship; on the other hand, we also let ourselves deeply perceive the precious things hidden in our blood and deep in our skills. The emphasis on tradition makes us more aware of the strengths and weaknesses of modernization and industrialization, the relationship between useful and useless, and at the same time enhances the tension of our life dimension. The ultimate improvement in the quality of life comes from the self-confidence of our culture, and the self-confidence of culture comes from the fact that we can provide others and the world with content that belongs to us in China that is worthy of our pride and respected by the whole world, which is also the value and significance of traditional crafts and high-quality life that we discuss today.
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