Taitung rattan furniture maker Guo Zheng-yi has been crafting fine wares for 50 years, and recently his granddaughter put up an announcement on Facebook to help keep his traditional art form alive.
Guo has made thousands of chairs and tables, all of them durable and beautiful. Some have lasted 40 years without breaking. But despite Guo’s accomplishments, there was no one to take his knowledge into the next generation.
Guo, 67, began his apprenticeship in Kaohsiung at the age of 15. When he was 19, he struck off on his own, moving to Taitung to set up shop. He said in those early years, only common people would have rattan furniture, but since it is actually cooler to sit on than upholstered sofas, today everyone likes it.
When he first started out, there were countless shops making rattan furniture around the country. But after the 1960s, the master craftsmen went to Indonesia to teach people there how to make the articles. As Indonesian exports grew, pressure came to bear on prices, and Taiwan’s rattan industry was much reduced in scale.
The frame for a chair must be bent forcefully into shape, and the slats that make up the structure must also be put into place in a certain way, and tightly fixed in place. Guo said proudly that his chairs have seats that have lasted 20 or 30 years without so much as sagging in the middle. “That’s real craftsmanship,” he said.
Guo uses harder materials that are neither dyed nor bleached. The products he makes are quality through and through, unlike furniture store items that will start to flake or peel soon after purchase. Guo’s items sell at prices that are double or even triple those for mass-produced ones, but there are always people ready to buy.
Since rattan requires great strength to work, Guo’s health has been affected over the years. Material is also becoming harder and harder to come by. In recent years, Guo is semiretired, but he is always thinking about his craft.
His granddaughter, Zheng Yi-xin, saw how hard her grandfather was working, and decided to put up a Facebook page about his products, so she could share what he did with others. She said this kind of traditional craft is quickly disappearing from Taiwan, and she hopes that more people will come to appreciate rattan art, so that the tradition will be kept alive.
(This article originally appeared Aug. 16 in The Liberty Times.)