Liu Wen-huang Craft Home Introduction
"Keeping up with the times, bamboo craftsmanship is thriving. Liu Wen-huang, a bamboo artist from Zhushan Township, Nantou County, established Da He Bamboo Art Workshop, blending art with creative design to produce a series of bamboo items such as tea sets, business card holders, and picture frames. This makes bamboo craftsmanship a part of everyday life, with personalized bamboo chopsticks—engraved with names—as the most popular item, highly favored for personal use or as gifts. Liu Wen-huang, who graduated from National Cultural University’s Animal Science Department, developed a passion for bamboo art. Growing up in Zhushan Township, he became naturally skilled while working with bamboo. After self-developing bamboo briefcases and trays, he began his entrepreneurial journey. Despite losing money for the first twelve years, Liu remained dedicated, persistently investing in research and development to launch various practical, creative, and aesthetically pleasing bamboo artworks, earning numerous awards and establishing the Da He Bamboo Art Workshop brand. Unlike most bamboo manufacturers who focus on market demands, Liu adopted a reverse thinking approach, expanding the market through diversified product creativity, firmly believing that good products will always find a market. The workshop continually develops innovative and artisanal bamboo products, incorporating traditional Chinese mortise and tenon techniques to diversify bamboo use. Liu has won the National Taiwan Craft Research Institute's Best Daily Craft Award six times and has been included in the Craft House, gaining popularity among consumers and exporting to markets in Japan, Europe, and the United States. Liu's product designs are distinctive and entirely bamboo-made, ranging from chopsticks and business card holders to classic baskets and treasure chests. Recently, with a rising demand for eco-friendly chopsticks, the workshop launched portable bamboo chopsticks with a chopstick rest, packaged in an elegant cotton bag, selling for NT$320, with an additional NT$50 for name engraving, attracting many customers for both personal use and gifting. The classic basket is a complete tea set, designed for easy transport and showcasing thoughtful details, priced at NT$18,800; it has attracted Japanese visitors who traveled specifically to Zhushan to purchase a set. The bamboo tea box “Wu Fu Lin Men” contains five teacups and five aroma cups, along with a tea scoop, tea pot, and tea tray, all assembled without nails or rings, using only traditional mortise and tenon joints, exemplifying the beauty of Taiwanese craftsmanship. Another notable creation is the bamboo treasure box, which looks like a wooden box but has no visible switches, challenging users to think outside the box. Liu shared that a technician from Mercedes-Benz once visited his workshop, where he demonstrated a mystery box made using physical structures combined with gravity. Visitors were amazed to see how the bamboo art could be sealed tightly without a single screw. Currently, Da He Bamboo Art Workshop operates eight directly managed stores across Taiwan and has also set up counters in major hotels and department stores. Recently, Liu introduced bamboo photo frames in various sizes, also available for custom orders. By the end of 2006, the Da He Bamboo Art Museum, which spans 150 pings, is expected to be completed and opened. Liu Wen-huang has turned the highs and lows of Zhushan into limitless possibilities for bamboo art."
