Chien-Wei Chang

"To produce new work is like going through a psychological, spiritual journey".
This time I looked back to my cultural roots to seek inspiration. In particular I am fascinated with the rough, raw utensils which were used to collect crops in the harvests of aboriginal tribes in ancient Taiwanese society 3,500 years ago. I try to enhance the Eastern aesthetics by combining seductive silver with another ordinary yet earthy material: Bamboo.

In Eastern metaphysics, bamboo is a symbol of modesty – "because its body is empty so that it can contain substance and because it is hollow so that people can use it to make instruments to create beautiful music". Out of this motivation, I chose bamboo as a metaphorical material in my new ladles to echo the concept of "emptiness", a "void" from previous series of ladles.