A Shen (left) and Uncle Quan (right), the people in charge of Cafe Je T’aime, met in Weishi. The former works hard to unite the community, while the latter insists on traditional craftsmanship. The two help each other to make more people know them. (Photo: Su Wenjie)
Walking into Cafe Je T’aime located in Tai Po Art Center, a faint woody fragrance lingers around. This is all because the coffee tables, dining tables, and even the inconspicuous corners of the store are decorated with either southern pine, Taiwanese acacia, or African wood. Made of rosewood. Each piece of wood art is a product of “Chi Kee”, the last woodworking factory in Hong Kong. These timbers were originally important witnesses to the changes in Hong Kong, but they have become accumulated timber that is not valued by others. Today it is reborn, all because of the second-generation entrepreneur Mr. Quan’s persistence and respect for wood.
Hope neighbors understand wood crafts
It happened to be raining on the day of the visit. When Uncle Quan hurried over with an umbrella, he admired the exquisite decoration of the coffee shop and quickly said to the person in charge, Chen, “Thank you so much for displaying my works so beautifully. Waiting for so many people.” See, it makes the wood more valuable.” Ah Shen also held Uncle Quan’s hand and thanked Uncle Quan for trusting him and displaying his works that he valued more than his life in the store: “That’s when I learned about my ambition. Remembering to demolish it, I asked Uncle Quan to suggest that some of his large-scale works could be placed in this Cafe in Tai Po. Once more neighbors know the value of accumulated wood.”
Timber that bears witness to history
In the past, Uncle Quan had to clean up the accumulated wood collected from various places every day: electric fir trees from CLP, pier sleepers from Wan Chai, road sleepers from Siu Ho Wan Station, and even Nanfang wood that had been abandoned due to the Sino-US trade war. loose. When each piece of wood arrives, Uncle Quan must first carefully clean the surface and then shape it into different shapes according to the state of the tree. “Actually, you can already see the history of Hong Kong by looking at the accumulated wood, because wood must be used for development.” Uncle Quan pointed at the blackened part of the wood and said, “There may have been iron nails or broken pieces in the past, and the black color means rust. “Maybe the trees were trimmed because of the war.” There is also a long table made of thousand-year-old wood in the store. Uncle Quan calls it “Birds Returning to their Nests” and it is his favorite work. “This table is very sharp. It is made of dock sleepers, railway sleepers and ship wood, and American rosewood is used to make the mortise and tenon joints. Many wood yiga are useless, but they are really hard and clean, so use one more I’ll have it for a hundred years!” He even said with a smile that Ah Chen was lucky and this stage could be used as a display.
Gratitude to nature
Watching Uncle Quan tell the story of these woods is like talking about old friends, and I feel that his love for them has not been extinguished by cold policies. “We humans can only survive because of trees. If you throw them away after using them, it will be a waste. We should cherish and make good use of the gifts God gave us.” Uncle Quan, who is 75 years old this year, still returns to the tree every day. The new site disposed of accumulated wood because he believed it must live up to his original promise. He said slowly: “I hope to make things that people think are useless become valuable. This is my biggest motivation.” After moving four times, Uncle Quan is still optimistic: “Fortunately, more people are paying attention. In our sunset industry, there must be light after darkness.” He said with a smile that being a human being naturally involves hardships and joys, but life is an endless stream, and what he desires most at the moment is to have successors.
Partners who make each other successful
When asked if Uncle Quan had ever thought about retiring, he joked that many of his friends are no longer around and he may “die at any time”, but he still has to do his best day by day. He said modestly: “Actually, life is a cycle. I’m not that good. I do it all for survival. It’s a matter of killing two birds with one stone.” But looking at Uncle Quan’s dark skin covered with wood grains, he Knowing that there was more to pay behind his understatement, when the reporter laughed and said that it was Uncle Quan who gave these timbers a chance to be reborn, he just smiled and said, “We make each other successful.”
The original article was published on AM730
2023-11-10 08:25:47
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