Chung Wei-wen works in the foothills above Taipei, where he crafts his silver accessories and teapots. Highly skilled and seeing strong demand for his artifacts, he tries to reach into the minds of his clients when they ask him to make a teapot, approaching it with a humanistic philosophy that pits itself against today's materialism.
Preferring to be known as a silversmith and craftsman rather than an artist, Chung was in Hong Kong last month for the annual jewellery show, but did not view the exhibits. 'I do not want my designs to be infiltrated by other's ideas,' he says. 'I want to keep my mind clear to develop in my own way.
'I went to the show because I need to purchase good stones and silver necklaces, in original materials. Not to buy very expensive stones but true stones, in beautiful colours, particularly moonstones. They have a certain purity in their whites that somehow brings about peace of mind.'
He says he is seeking to achieve balance in his teapots. 'The spout, for instance, is separately made but brought into the final design, and that's not the difficult thing. The difficult part is holding the entire shape, the design, as everything is handmade.'
Chung says he applies flow science and engineering to his teapot designs, to allow the water to flow smoothly. The spout is made in such a way that when the tea flows out and is replaced by air, it will not 'gulp' when the pot is eased back.
He adds a symbol - Chinese for good luck - as a wish for everything to go smoothly for his clients. The handle is designed so that is does not absorb the heat from the water.