Ancient skill, new designs

OVER 400 fashion products melding traditional skills with modern design were on display at Shanghai Design Week over the weekend, showcasing how traditional heritage can be kept alive in contemporary society.

The exhibits were designed by handicraft masters, mostly from remote mountainous regions and designers from around the world. The centerpiece of the Shanghai Exhibition Center showed how ancient skills can be used to craft modern products.

Blue cloth, for instance, dating back over 1,000 years, was made into scarves and used to decorate sofas.

The woven silk of the Bouyei ethnic minority from southwest Guizhou Province became fashionable handbags.

These works come from a Ministry of Culture training program which sends those with traditional skills to study in university for a month.

Since program began in 2015, 128 universities and colleges have participated in classes for 15,000 heritage handicraft masters in disciplines such as bamboo carving, silver jewelry making, mud sculpture and ceramics.

Shanghai University academy of fine art, has trained over 600 masters and developed hundreds of products in three years with the help of professors and design students.

“Cultural heritage is alive and well, but must evolve with new techniques in the international era,” said Zhang Lili, associate professor in charge of the classes.