Hand-crafting papier-mâché offerings for the deceased
an interview with Yama, designer of I-shin paper offerings — living in Tainan
Yama is a designer working for I-shin, a company that sells handcrafted papier-mâché offerings for the deceased. Joss paper and other paper offerings are traditionally burned in many rituals across East Asia and are common in festive and religious observances. Classic paper offerings are usually bulky, dull-looking houses, but in Yama’s department, she create products that are more lifelike and are sized to be held in one hand. The products feature sophisticated details and a modern design.
Why are you here, in Tainan?
I am born here!
Do you like it here?
Yes I do! I love it!
What would you suggest to people visiting Tainan that they should do here? Where should they visit?
Eating, rambling through the alleys and finding lots of wonderful things!
How did you become a papier-mâché offerings designer?
I’ve spent 8 years in Taipei for my studies and work and missed my hometown. When I first came back, my uncle introduced me to the owner of I-Shin, who was looking for people to help expand into a new line of sophisticated paper offering products. I I didn’t reply positively to the offer at that time as I was longing for a break. After almost a year, he contacted me again and I finally accepted the job.
Everything has to start from scratch, and this workshop was completely empty when I began. I had to order the computer, the work desk, the shelves, the closet storages and everything. I went to art shops for materials everyday after work and build this place bit by bit. As we grow by getting more cases, the room starts to overflow with design drafts, supplies, small tools and parts and becomes the working space as you see now.
Do you like the job?
I like it so much! It is like playing houses! There isn’t much restrictions from my boss, so I have lots of creative freedom. We get orders from funeral service providers, so we don’t get to meet our customers directly. Yet we still try to add personal touch to our creations, like once we had a client who is especially fond of the cartoon character Stitch, and we’ve tried our best to include it everywhere possible, like on the wallpaper, the slippers, the floor mat and so on.
There are even DVDs in the house!
The more details we get about the deceased, like knowing the age or getting some photographs, the more we will try to customize the product fort he client. This house is actually for a younger girl, and weh ad picked the movie titles according to her age.
Once, I built a miniature clothing boutique with my colleague Mama Tsai, and we put so much effort in creating the clothes, cloth hangers, shoes, bags and everything. We were very satisfied with it and we hoped our client will aprreiciate it. So far, we have had many positive feedbacks from customers.
Were their any difficulties in your work? What are they?
We pay a lot of attention to research background information. In addition to the ready-made designs we have in our catalogue, we take custom orders as well. Most of the time, when taking a custom request, I will be making something I have never made before. Therefore, I have spent a lot of time finding pictures from the Internet researching the shapes and sizes of different objects. Then I would make a prototype and confirm its construction before proceeding to production. So far, I have made models of vehicles, watches, fishing rods and etc, but I found golf clubs to be the most difficult. I never knew there were so many different types of clubs before taking the order, so much of the time was spent on researching the different curves on different types of clubs!
We try our best to make exact replicas or real objects.
Mama Tsai told me, “I once showed the picture of a gold watch we made to my son. It made him so happy, thinking it was a present I had for him. Then, on the next day, her sister shower per pictures of the house she bought, and he thought it was made with paper! That was so funny!”
What does the art of making papier-mâché offerings mean to you?
This is a culture rooted in tradition. The paper offerings not only fulfill the wishes of the deceased, but also complete the desires of the living. Most of the time, I had to make objects the clients were fond of, or things they desired but never had a chance to have. By completing their desires, we hope we have brought comfort to the living as well as those who passed away.
With regard to your work, what are the future plans?
Well, I would like to grow our business. Currently, our sphoisticated papier-mâché are better received in North Taiwan than in the South. Local law restrictions and the lack of space (to burn the enormous traditional paper houses as tall as an adult) are the main reasons. Old-fashioned paper offerings create a lot of pollutions when they are burned, as they are made with lots of styofoam and plastic. Our products are more enviromentally friendly since they are nothing but paper, except for the clear plastic we used on the windows. Nobody wants windows without glass, but I hope this problem will be solved in the future.
How would you describe yourself?
(Laughs for a while) I am someone who will do as I want and be persistent on it.
Chinese version: http://hwchensfotostudio.blogspot.com/2015/05/living-in-tainan-x-interview-011-yama.html
Text & photo: Huiwen Chen
Editing: Sanford Poon
