Born into a family of carpenters, Wang Zhao-Nan quit his day job and followed his family’s footsteps making traditional delicate wooden furniture with the influence of his Father, who always said, ‘Having expertise in a field is always better for the future.’

By Hilda Leung
Adviser Mr Clint Ettinger, Ms Sandra Lowe
Pages editor Kelvin Ng
Photographer Hilda Leung

Being a carpenter for 33 years, Wang once was an apprentice to his father at the age of 17 and trained for more than three years in Quanzhou style. It is interesting that wood working in Quanzhou small pieces of dainty wood. Also, carpenters in Quanzhou make good use of Tang and Song Dynasty’s wood, which in high quality, and can last more than 100 years.

He has won numerous awards, such as the 1st, 5th, and 6th National Arts Award and the traditional craft prize. Moreover, he has published many fascinating art works. Not only has he been called the “1st Da Dun Arts and Crafts Masters,” he was also invited to be a tertiary institutions speaker.

As a novice, he needed to observe the teachers working process to improve. ‘’Son at home, student at work. Make the best of your role as a student,’’ said Wang’s father during training.

First year training mostly involves physical work such as grinding and carrying wood boards under the sun, which developed patience. Also, students strive to improve their independent thinking and observation skills. Later, the stages of the apprenticeship means elevated expectations, and novices need to work independently and untangle problems by themselves.

“In these two years, you will encounter the biggest challenges and failures. There is only one chance and you can make no mistakes. Carpenters strive for absolute accuracy, even the slightest errors are unacceptable,’’ said Wang. If Wang made mistake, his father will knock his forehead to make sure he is listening and paying attention to his job. Wang thought that was a terrible experience.

Undergoing three years and four months’ of tough training and countless effort, mature skill has built inside Wang. Carpenters spend most of the time training skills, however, Wang is a well-educated one and reads a lot. He has high expectations for himself. And his curiosity broadens his horizon and mind, allowing him to advance, “books are inspiring,”

Chosen to be the only carpenter tossing the wooden divination tool, a ritual praying for omens from gods, Wang recently made a chair for the local sea Goddess, Sijie Matsu. It was a challenging moment as not even a slip can be made. Size, position, and dimensions must be precise, otherwise, it would be considered as disrespectful to the Gods.

In Europe, people will pay a visit to furniture repair studio, which surprised Wang that traditional carpenters are being respected, while situation in Taiwan disappointing him. Therefore, he decided to gather skills between 1990s in order to enhance the traditional furniture technology.

After that, Wang published his first book about Taiwan traditional wood-making skills, he believes conscientiously taking every opportunity is a huge step to success. Wang is also working as a part-time assistant professor of Taiwan Da-Yeh University to promote traditional culture to teenagers. He hopes to give teenagers a deeper understanding in the knowledge of tools and the materials through teaching them the classification of wood, history and measurement methods. This not only helps them to improve their skills but also the views and concept of the tradition.

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