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Handmade with natural eco-friendly elements. Pet portrait customization and Individual personalization. Each piece is a unique design in the world.
It begins with a dream that lasted 200 years.
The art of gourd carving originated in the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty and is an intangible cultural heritage of China. It has become an essential part of Chinese culture after more than 200 years of development and inheritance. From 200 years ago, during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, cucurbits were commonly planted in the Zhangqiu area of Shandong Province, and cucurbits became the main natural product of the area. At that time, caddisflies were raised everywhere in the north, and the gourd became the preferred material for making insect utensils because of its lightweight, warm nature and loose texture. Gourd carving also became the mainstream trend, giving birth to folk artisans who made their living by gourd carving. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Shandong Zhangqiu Wenzu people modified the carving tool. They endowed it with bird and flower motifs on the gourd insect apparatus, creating the first gourd carving technique system. After six generations, our skills have continued to this day. In the process, the gourd artists in Zhangqiu, Shandong Province, invented techniques such as the use of needles and knives, color carving, and carving and branding and carving, and developed and patented a turpentine ink for coloring, which will never fade.
We are a kingdom of gourds here.
The area is 7,000 square meters. There is a gourd plantation, a gourd museum, a gourd-making room, and a gourd skill training course. We are proficient in gourd carving of various patterns, such as custom pet portraits, custom pattern carving, and wholesale gourds.
We have been making gourds for hundreds of years, passed down from our old grandfather to our grandfather to our father because of love, so we do it with passion. We strive to bring out the best in gourd carving. We use turpentine ink and have applied for a patent for the invention; this ink will never fade.
We help people with disabilities and teach the art of gourd carving. We are the most extensive training center for the disabled in gourd carving.
Since 2007, we have taken in more than a thousand disabled apprentices to teach the art of gourd carving, and our trainees have won national non-heritage awards. We will continue to help people with disabilities find employment and encourage them to change their lives with their hands.
In 2007, before the Beijing Olympic Games, Youyi Ma and Xia Li carved the Olympic mascot “Fuwa gourd,” the attention of people with disabilities from the provinces to Jinan Zhangqiu trip to learn the art, which became the beginning of the disabled people as our apprentices. The first people with disabilities who come here to learn gourd art are apprentices with right-leg walking difficulties who can not be engaged in other work.
Patience and care are the most essential qualities of this gourd carving skill, and they are also the most significant traits in people with disabilities. We not only waive the tuition fee for people with disabilities who come to learn the art but also take care of their food and accommodation. Nowadays, many of our apprentices are engaged in the gourd carving business, and the works they create sell well. They have won various awards in China.
We will continue to serve the underprivileged and pass on the craft. We are also planning to spread the art of gourd carving through online teaching and active participation in exhibitions so that more people know about this traditional Chinese craft.
Youyi Ma, born in April 1978, is a native of Wenzu South Village, Wenzu Town, Zhangqiu, Jinan City. in May 1996, he started to engage in gourd cultivation and gourd crafts carvinging in Wenzu South Village. He is a carving artist, known as “Gourd King”, and the inheritor of Zhangqiu gourd carving.
Xia Li, Jinan Zhangqiu District carving gourd non-heritage skills inheritor. Li Xia and Ma Youyou are a couple of craftsmen, who started to engage in the industry of gourd carving in 2007.
female, 35 years old, Anhui Provincial Arts and Crafts Master, Provincial Inheritor, Zhangqiu Gourd Carving Sixth Generation Inheritor, Engaged in Gourd Carving Skills for 13 Years.
female, 38 years old, twin sisters, Zhangqiu gourd carving sixth-generation heirloom, engaged in gourd branding for 15 years.
31 years old, congenital spinal deformity, walking difficulties, learning gourd branding skills for 2 years
23 years old, born deaf and mute, graduated from college and studied gourd carving and branding skills for 4 years.