Crafting a present from the past
How to meld fading traditional handicraft techniques with modern technology and needs is a running theme for this year’s Creative Expo
Ｂy Han Cheung / Staff reporter
Traditional hand puppet carver Lai Yung-ting (賴泳廷) is “competing” with a 3D printer this week in a sleek exhibition hall in downtown Taipei. Lai honed his craft from the age of 17 under the iconic master Lee Tien-lu (李天祿), and there’s no comparing the two even though the machine works precisely and tirelessly.
“This setup lets viewers experience first-hand the challenges that traditional crafts face in the real world,” the placard reads. Lai’s workshop is part of the Craft Land exhibition in the culture section of this year’s Creative Expo Taiwan, which runs until Sunday at several locations in Taipei.
<strong>April 19 to April 25</strong>
Taipei’s Dalongdong Baoan Temple (大龍峒保安宮) was in a sorry state following the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) retreat to Taiwan in 1949. About 200 refugees and military dependents had taken over the 119-year-old structure and set up camp in makeshift dwellings.
When writer Wu Chao-lun (吳朝綸) moved to Dalongdong in 1950, he saw “little incense burning; it was extremely crowded … and there was barely any space to sit. They washed their clothes with dirty water and hung them up still dripping. This is not only blasphemous, but unsanitary.”
To save the temple, locals put together a restoration