設計名家專文

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Yi-Shan Tsai-Giving the Warmth of My Hands – My Artisan’s Life
設計師介紹

I-SHAN13蔡依珊金工創作 負責人

Founder, I-Shan13

蔡依珊 Yi-Shan Tsai

YEARBOOK 2023

I am Yi-Shan Tsai, a metalsmith artist. I studied art at Hsinchu Girls’ High School, and studied Fine Arts at National Kaohsiung Normal University. After graduating, I worked as a teacher-in-training at a junior high school. But after seeing a Georg Jensen exhibition, I became inspired to learn metalwork. I therefore applied to the Graduate School of Jewelry and Metal Arts at the National Tainan University of the Arts. After getting my graduate degree, I joined Xuexue Institute as a resident artist. I established my brand I-Shan13 in 2010. I’ve been in the world of metal crafts for 18 years.


During my residency at Xue xue institute, I held my first new product launch in 2010. Here, a display of my work.


When I was in college, I studied pure arts creation, including painting, engraving, graphic representation, design, computer graphics, integrated design, composite media, and sculpture. When I got into metalwork, the first challenge I faced was having to work with metal – a completely unfamiliar material, and in a form that was more about handicrafts than what I had worked with before. I was straddling the line between craft and fine art, not knowing how to take the next step. For me, that was a huge test.

Learning to improve through competitions

During my studies, I often participated in competitions. From coloring and sketching competitions in my childhood, to sachet and lantern-making competitions later on, I competed in many arts-related competitions. As a child, I guess my parents and teachers felt I was very talented, because they signed me up to compete in many such events. But once I got into high school and college, these competitions became an opportunity for me to evaluate my work. I wanted to know if my work was good enough, and I wanted to expand my worldview. My artwork might get first place in my class, but if I compared my work with those from other schools, would my work still hold up? Would my work still stand out? If I entered an international competition, would I be competitive enough?

Competitions are a good place to practice, be creative, and design your work on a theme and within a time limit. It’s a bit similar to class work, I suppose; but when you’re in a competition, it feels more serious, because you have to create what you think is your most perfect work.

During my first year in grad school, I participated in the German TALENTE craft competition and was lucky enough to be selected. The work I submitted was based on a class exercise; the theme was “containers”. My teacher taught us the use of 3D software. Since I was unfamiliar with metal crafts, I had to learn to saw, file, weld, and other technologies from scratch. After that, I cut and turned one-dimensional paper into a shape in 3D space; converted the material to metal; then combined it to form a plate with a unique pattern.

When my work was selected, I felt greatly encouraged. I felt deeply how my past learning experience gave me the grounding I needed for future creations. In 2006, with my graduate department, I went to Germany for the first time to participate in the exhibition and saw works from all over the world.


First-year grad school work. The decorative plate series was selected for the 2006 German TALENTE competition.


During the learning process, participation in various competitions is a good opportunity to practice your craft. In addition to testing the level of your creativity, you can also broaden your horizons. Here are a few tips to make competitions a little smoother:

1. Find a professional photographer to shoot your work. This will elevate your work’s aesthetics and evaluations.

2. When filling out competition materials, make sure to use accurate English. If you need to translate your creative statement, get professional translation help.

3. The work that you’re entering should meet your standards, and express a complete creative concept. If you’re uncertain about what you’ve produced, ask a teacher or classmate for advice. Ask yourself 10 questions about your work and see if you can answer them completely.

Craft: A creative labor that combines technology with aesthetics

The meaning of “craft” – gongyi in Mandarin – is to produce art (yi) through work (gong).

Craft can be understood as a creative labor that combines technology, talent, skill, plastic arts, and aesthetics. It aims to make practical objects with artistic and aesthetic value – to reflect human emotions, reason, artistic and scientific spirit. In crafts, the hands play a very important role. They are our most important tools we use in creating; they represent the power and value of labor. Therefore, craft can be seen as a unique form of creation that combines technology and aesthetics. Trough the realization of different people's aesthetic values, it reflects both complexity and particularity.

In my second year of graduate school, I learned the chasing and repoussé techniques of metalworking. To practice this technique, I decided to create a face – a realistic once. But this was a challenge, because I had not become familiar with sculpting during college. I’d done busts before, but they were quite unsuccessful. I spent a lot of time doing repoussé and chasing the face; I used a mirror and plaster to sculpt my own face as a reference. This gave me a sense of how to simulate the curves, dents, and spaces of my face, through both visual and tactile senses. I finally completed an expressionless but realistic work of a face.

That whole semester, I completed two works, but it was only through constant, daily hammering.

So I want to ask a very simple question: How much time do you spend on your craftwork?


Work: A portion of In So-called Doubt; copper, glass, tracing paper, transparent film, 2007.


Work: A portion of Heart-Eater; silver, beads, coral, wax, tracing paper, 2008.


Learn by doing: Create your own style and characteristics

When I teach basic metalwork courses, my students often ask me: "What else can I learn after I’ve learned the basics?" They seem to think that only after learning all the techniques can they be regarded as good at metalwork. However, they are overlooking the most important aspect – the significance of doing. Learning by doing is very important.

I’ve given students an exercise in which I asked them to find a work and imitate it. They usually encounter a lot of problems. What they see is the image of a completed work, but they don’t see how it was constructed, nor what the picture keeps hidden. When they reach this point, the students need to go find the answers and understand the whole process. This is a great way to practice basic crafting.

The skills of our predecessors were exquisite; they took their skills to the extremes. In comparison, we’re just jacks of all trades. We have a long way to go to become masters; it will require continuous technical practice and labor.

This does not mean copying or imitating. Rather, it means learning through the process of imitation, and even generating new ideas. That way, we can evaluate what level our own hands can rise to.


Custom-created work: Dimia, the Forest Nymph; sterling silver, gemstones, pearls, 2015.

In an era full of challenges and uncertainties, we need to reexamine how to find value in people-oriented crafts. Learning and creation are no longer singular forms; they require us to constantly adjust and reflect. In the process of learning crafts, we not only need to learn the techniques, but also to understand the cultures and values behind them. When you can master one technique, you will be able to understand its essence more deeply and develop your style more fully. Since establishing my brand, what I have done most is polishing – a boring, repetitive act. However, I believe that if I take the work seriously, and invest time and energy, the results will eventually be seen in my work. I hope this article brings you some small amount of inspiration.

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