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Turning ancient porcelain chips into art

chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: November 13, 2019

Ancient porcelain chips might be treated as rubbish by most of us but an old man from Taicang turns them into exquisite art pieces.

He insists on carving red wood for two hours every day and inserting the ancient chips into the wood.

The 70-year-old man, called Yang Yulou, is a retired worker.

Some of the ancient porcelain chips Yang has collected. [Photo/WeChat account: taicangdaily]

"I was asked to carve a profile of President Mao Zedong when I worked in a repair shop," Yang said. "From then on, I took a fancy to carving and collection."

Because of his meager salary, he began to collect some ancient porcelain chips and coins and wood carving tools.

A pair of beautiful eardrops made from the chips inspired Yang to integrate chips into his carvings.

Yang's carving tools. [Photo/WeChat account: taicangdaily]

However, it was only after his retirement that Yang started concentrating on carving and he has been inserting porcelain chips into red wood for only three years.

A three-square-meter bicycle shed is his studio, crowded with a working table and his numerous creations.

His first in-laid redwood article was a bowl made with chips from a blue and white bowl of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).

Some of the works Yang has finished over the past three years. [Photo/WeChat account: taicangdaily]

"My experience in carpentry helped me to complete the work," Yang explained. "Firstly I made a circular template using ordinary wood and then carved out the pattern of the blue and white porcelain bowl from red wood."

"I put the carved red wood together with the porcelain chips, and the joint bowl was finished," he said.

Over the past few years Yang has made more than 50 such articles and the words "stay far from the noise and return to tranquility" inscribed on a board in his studio precisely portrait his life pursuit.

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