Chapter 479 Palace Art
In the past, ornaments made from colored translucent materials smelted from ores were generally called "glass" or "glazed".
The word "feeder" was first used in this industry in Beijing.
There are three main reasons for not using "glass" or "glazed".
First, to avoid the homophonic pronunciation of "displaced" and "poli".
The second is to distinguish it from the colored glaze used in architecture and modern transparent glass.
Third, in terms of production techniques, the feeders are generally small in size and are mainly used for indoor or desk furnishings, as well as accessories.
The workmanship is particularly delicate and belongs to the category of artificial jewelry and artificial gemstones.
Compared with architectural colored glass and industrial glass, the artistic taste is undoubtedly much higher.
So "material device" has become a simplified word for products processed from glass strips.
Later, it was followed and spread throughout the country, and even became synonymous with homemade glassware, and it became a business of handicrafts.
The history of the capital's cooking utensils can be traced back to the Yuan Dynasty, but it only flourished in the Qing Dynasty.
The main reason is that the Yufu system in the Qing Dynasty used a lot of materials.
And since the Kangxi Dynasty, Chinese people have had the habit of snuffing the nose and throat, and a large number of snuff bottles need to be made.
Both of these two items have greatly stimulated feeder production.
The imperial factory at that time was located in Haiwang Village, which is today's Liulichang. It was called "Yu Liuli" or "Palace Material" at that time.
In the Qianlong year, the most famous cooking utensils came from the hands of Director Hu from the imperial factory.
All the vases, snuff bottles, plates, and bowls made by his hands are marked with the inscription "Made in the Qianlong Year" and have always been respected by future generations.
Because people only know his surname "Hu", and the word "Hu" is split into the two characters "古" and "月", the products are called "Gu Yuexuan" products. Let’s put it this way, anyway, in the Qing Dynasty, the main types of materials in the capital were beads, nested snuff bottles, Gu Yuexuan, and various hairpin rings, rings, buttons, jewelry, etc. used by women. Other categories have not been covered yet. .
It was not until the end of the Qing Dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Guangxu, that various practical items for daily use such as flower stands, bottles, dishes, and lamps gradually appeared.
In 1930, after the Revolution of 1911, the capital finally had locally produced sticks.
Since then, the price of feeders has gradually dropped due to the elimination of the monopoly of "Guangzhou materials" and "Japanese materials" in terms of raw materials, and has become more and more affordable to the people.
As a result, not only the varieties of feed birds and feed animals appeared, but also feed flowers and feed fruits were developed.
People in the capital began to imitate the past practice of placing jewelry and jade bonsais in the palace, and also placed flower bonsais and fruits and vegetables in their homes to show their wealth and splendor.
This even caused a popular trend, and flowers and fruits became an indispensable dowry for wealthy families.
As for Ning Weimin's first experience with the beauty of cooking utensils, it was thanks to his master's blessing.
Because in the first few years, Kang Shude was returned by the street for compensation, including two well-preserved flower pots and a corn paperweight.
When Ning Weimin saw it, he couldn't help but marvel, these things were so crystal clear and lifelike.
Approximate to reality, but far more beautiful than reality.
The old man said that they were all bought at the Dongji Pearl Flower Shop in Dong'an Market in the past, and the total price was about twelve yuan.
Ning Weimin was even more surprised at how cost-effective this thing was.
You must know that such a feeder was not something that ordinary people could care about back then.
But don’t forget, at this price, hundreds of pots of material bonsai cannot be exchanged for one pot of jewelry and jade bonsai.
But the visual difference between the two is not that big.
Indeed, instead of making the shape of a small tree out of jade, gold, etc., it is covered with flowers made of jade, agate, pearls, etc., with green leaves carved from jasper, standing in an enamel basin. Palace jewelry jade bonsai.
Folk material bonsai undoubtedly looks much more plain.
It is far less colorful, jewel-like and dazzling.
But glass has very good gloss and permeability, and the flowers produced are as shiny and beautiful as ice.
So, material utensils can almost match the charm of gemstones, and they also have the aura of wealth and elegance, and belong to the artistic taste that can only be possessed by the pinnacle of civilization.
It was precisely because of this that Ning Weimin decided to use the big to defeat the small, and decided to get a batch of flowers and fruits to bring to the hall.
The plan is to rely on the exquisite skills of traditional arts and crafts and the magnificence of large-scale bonsais to surpass the jewelry and jade bonsais of Tingliguan and Beihai Fangshan.
His specific idea is to use bergamots, gourds, pomegranates, flat peaches, grapes and other auspicious symbols as themes based on the theme of flowers and fruits in arts and crafts, and each item must be decorated for the restaurant. A large bonsai as tall as a person.
No matter how bad it is, you can still get one of these five kinds of flower and fruit trees.
In addition, get some fruits in real proportions, such as melons, pears and peaches, and arrange them into a fruit basket.
Cucumbers, lentils, eggplants and cabbage are arranged into a vegetable basket.
Get some red dates, chestnuts, peanuts, melon seeds and the like for decoration.
Then put all these together on the reception table. How auspicious and rich it is.
Obviously, using these utensils to attract customers for restaurants is much more upscale than thirty years later, when restaurants used to show customers those PVC simulated dishes!
Not to mention that most people have never seen it, but the first sight will definitely give you an extremely shocking and surprising feeling.
Even he himself was inexplicably excited just thinking about it.
So for this reason, after visiting the Palace Lantern Factory, a few days later, Ning Weimin and Qiao Wanlin came together to the Jingcheng Material Factory on the edge of Longtan Lake.
It should be said that I have contacted several factories in the arts and crafts industry.
They are quite confident that their trip will successfully achieve their goal at the material factory.
If nothing else, the entire arts and crafts industry should be in a similar situation, and the Beijing Material Factory will probably inevitably be bullied by foreign trade.
Of course they will be treated warmly and their visit will be extremely welcome.
The only unstable factor is actually Ning Weimin's personal tendency to slap people in the face and make impulsive purchases.
So Qiao Wanlin vaccinated Ning Weimin in advance and repeatedly told him not to do this again.
Even if you really can’t control yourself, you still have to talk about the business first.
But I never expected that there are no absolutes in the world. The material factory is really a very special existence.
It is actually a prosperous and extremely nourishing enterprise in the entire arts and crafts industry.
As soon as the two of them arrived at the factory, they were shocked by the production scale of tens of thousands of square meters.
But they didn’t take them seriously at all, and neither the factory director nor the secretary showed up.
Only the head of the business section received them, and he was very embarrassed about their needs. He regarded them as trouble at first glance.
Then the plan that was originally a sure thing went wrong.
What does this mean?
Qingqing glass products are different from other arts and crafts products.
Because the materials are pure, it is a product that is very easy to combine with industrial production.
Don’t look at the price of the press factory in foreign trade, it is still unreasonable and oppressive.
The material factory has found a breakthrough in civilian products, such as the production of hairpins, hair beads, practical lamps, keychains, etc. Most of them can be sold domestically, and there is no hope for foreign trade. It has also made major breakthroughs in technological transformation.
Beginning in 1966, Jingcheng Feeder Factory began to trial molds in the production of feeders.
The combination of gas and molds was successfully developed in 1968. From then on, hand-made imitation jade animals and imitation jade figures could be produced in semi-mold form, and ordinary workers could also make products weighing five or six kilograms.
It can also imitate the colors of various natural jade such as jasper, black jade, white jade, sapphire, jade, malachite, red agate and so on.
At the same time, we are also making continuous progress in improving quality and reducing costs.
Like changing the copper holder of the hairpin to aluminum, it will be lightweight and rust-free.
Teeth are added to the back to prevent them from falling off easily when worn.
The leather thread for beading is changed to machine-made leather thread, which reduces the cost.
The beaded flowers and beaded phoenixes on the head and face have the processes of bead making, bead removal, bead selection, stringing and accumulation.
The original cost of each tube was two yuan and eighty cents, which was reduced to one yuan and ten cents.
We are even currently developing plexiglass that can imitate the color of amber...
All in all, Jingcheng Material Factory has achieved greater success in exploring the low-end route and producing practical products.
The original production model, which was purely based on craftsmanship and complicated processes, has been abandoned and transformed into an industrial factory with a certain scale of modern production.
Don’t say that they don’t expect foreign trade to make a living now. Even if they produce these low-end commodities, they can still make money by selling them through foreign trade.
It is precisely for this reason that the Jingcheng Material Factory is reaping the benefits of industrialization.
The whole focus is on how to increase production capacity and further reduce costs.
People are not interested at all in using traditional techniques and painstaking efforts to make large-scale, high-end bonsais.
So when Ning Weimin asked about the price and time for custom-made bonsai, the section chief simply shook his head and refused, saying directly that he couldn't take it.
The reason is that there are not many masters who can do this kind of work, and they still have to complete the political tasks and export tasks assigned by the above, so I can only apologize.
At best, you can take them to the canteen in the factory to have a look, just like visiting foreign guests, they can buy only what bonsai they catch.
As for the warehouse, there is no need to enter it at all.
Because there is no inventory in the library of the traditional high-end products that Ning Weimin needs, and they are all used to store products coming off the assembly line.
In the end, Ning Weimin and Qiao Wanlin could only buy a small amount of traditional-themed products at the Beijing Material Factory.
Including a container of cabbage, two or three containers of cucumbers and corn, several containers of oranges, peaches and apples.
There are also eight pots of flower bonsai no more than fifty centimeters high, that’s all.
To be honest, it’s beautiful. It’s not expensive, and it didn’t cost a thousand and a half in total.
But it's not enough to fill the gap between teeth.
What I didn’t expect was that when we parted at the end, we were quite unhappy with each other because of a trivial matter.
Actually, he did nothing, just because Qiao Wanlin suddenly remembered "Grape Chang" and asked by the way.
As a result, the head of the business department suddenly drooped.
Tell them directly that "Grape Chang" is a folk handicraft, which is a "show" and something to coax children.
Their factory is a real "palace material", developed from the palace craftsmanship of the past, and it is not the same thing at all.
And I would like to make a very solemn statement that "Grape Chang" has never had anything to do with their Beijing Foodware Factory.
To find "Grape Chang", they can only go to the street factory to find it.
Well, that’s called arrogance! The words inside and outside are enough to make people choke!
Ning Weimin and Qiao Wanlin were completely confused, so they were severely punished.
In the end, the chief section manager waved his arm and went to answer the "emergency call" without even sending them off.
Yes, let’s dry them out together.
When they got in the car and left the factory, Ning Weimin and Qiao Wanlin were still planning the matter.
Qiao Wanlin said angrily.
"Is it possible that this section chief has a grudge against 'Putao Chang'? They have dug up their ancestral graves? They even asked and got such a big reaction?"
Ning Weimin weighed it in his mind and felt the context.
"I think if this 'Grape Chang' is really famous, people will always go to the material factory to inquire about it. Maybe this owner is asked a lot. , I’m tired of it.”
“Also, listen to what he just said, why are they still playing tricks on the people? They really take themselves seriously, but why do they give up? What's wrong? Nowadays, the crappy stuff produced by their factory is so ugly that I can't even look at it."
"The bird is made into a chicken, the horse is made into a camel, and the flowers are not in the correct shape. How can we do it? Bullshit! How can we buy these things that are handmade by old artists and be so standard and beautiful?”
“So, would they feel uncomfortable if the goods produced by the people are better than those produced by them? Do you feel embarrassed if you feel uncomfortable? ”
Hey, let’s not talk about it. We are looking down upon each other. This is possible.
Qiao Wanlin nodded in agreement.
But he was a little worried, what should he do next?
Should we give up completely? Or go to the jade factory next door to see the jade bonsai?
If you can’t buy it cheaply, then exchange it for something more expensive...
Unexpectedly, Ning Weimin would not choose any of the options he gave, and the reason was very clear.
One, giving up just like that is not his style. And there is no better substitute.
Two, there is no need to go to the jade factory.
Because Master Ning Weimin, Kang Shude, was looking at the gate of that factory, the price had already been touched, and the difference was too big.
A jewelry and jade bonsai of the same size as the bonsai they got back today would have an ex-factory price of 10,000 yuan.
If you buy four or five, it will cost tens of thousands. Too luxurious!
So, the most reliable way is to find a way to find "Grape Chang".
Even if they only make grape utensils, that’s fine.
If the small street factory is in operation, the price will definitely be affordable.
In this way, Qiao Wanlin began to inquire about the whereabouts of "Grape Chang" through various channels.
Not to mention, the service bureau's channels are well-informed, and accurate information will be obtained quickly.
But the news was not good, it was far beyond their expectations.
The "Grape Chang" of Daqing has stopped working long ago, and this craft is also facing the situation of being lost.
(End of this chapter)