Crafting a new narrative

Author He Siqian spent three years interviewing and sketching dozens of craftsmen and their areas of specialization for her book Meet Craftsmen in Beijing.[Photo provided to China Daily]

One day in 2014, the woman who's versed in Western design philosophies encountered traditional-pen repairman Zhang Guangyi. He had practiced his trade for six decades.

"He was polishing a pen tip when I entered (the shop)," she recalls.

"I stood there for a long time, but he didn't even notice me. He really loves his job. He didn't do it just to make money."

She meticulously illustrated his tools and inscriptions on his walls, one of which read: "The spirit of the pen."

The 88-year-old runs perhaps Beijing's last such shop, since digital devices have eclipsed traditional writing utensils.

"I wondered if there were other craftsmen like him in Beijing and if we can do something for them," she says.

She spent most of her spare time in the following three years sketching and interviewing. She and a team of four students met each folk practitioner about five or six times.