[Artisan Name] is a lacquer artist in Fuzhou, where lacquerware has been refined for over 200 years. Her workshop smells of raw lacquer — an acquired scent that she no longer notices.
A single piece takes forty days. Twenty coats of lacquer, each one dried for one to two days, then polished with increasingly fine abrasives. The final polish uses powder so fine it feels like silk.
'Lacquer is the most patient craft,' she says. 'You cannot rush it. You cannot skip a step. If the humidity is wrong, the lacquer wrinkles and you start over. It teaches you to slow down.'
Her pieces are minimalist — tea caddies, trays, small boxes. The lacquer surface has a depth that resembles polished stone. It is durable enough to last centuries — there are Fuzhou lacquer pieces in museums that are 300 years old and still look new.
'I am making objects that will outlive me,' she says. 'That is the point. A good lacquer piece should be used daily for fifty years, and then passed on.'