Known in Japan

After one year of study, Li succeeded in extracting 43 new sorts of raw lacquer pigments, all non-toxic and odorless. Meanwhile, the study and communication in Japan also gave Li a chance to make himself known to his Japanese peers. Due to this connection, many Japanese individuals and companies buy lacquerware from Li’s workshop, including Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, which has been a regular customer of Li’s company for the past 17 years.

When talking about his decision to set up a factory to take in laid-off workers and artists, Li said, “It was the best way to preserve the technique at the time. Workers and artists only had extra energy and time to do art and to train apprentices when they felt that their livelihood was secure.” In the past more than 30 years, Li himself has trained more than 100 apprentices.

Li has also invited artists Gao Konghao and Li Changguang to provide advanced instruction for the lacquering, polishing and burnishing processes. After reading a mass of documents and files, Li combined the two masters’ skills as well as his uncle Li Zhenrong’s “clear lacquer grinding” process to create a new technique - “golden worm” craft. The craft requires casting some rice hulls to the product after lacquering, removing the hulls after half an hour, then polishing and burnishing the article. Such lacquerware has a shining surface with subtle and delicate markings.

In 2012, Li’s son Li Qiang graduated from university and got a job at a bank. Two years later, Li Qiang quit the dream job and started learning how to make lacquerware with his father. He said he was moved by his father’s persistence in preserving the traditional art.

With his professional knowledge in e-business, Li Qiang set up an online store in 2014 to sell lacquerware produced by his father’s factory all over China.