Between Sky and Heaven: the Shang Xia Chair

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A product of long hours of artisanal work, the Shang Xia chair symbolizes the past, present, and future all at the same time. To accomplish this, each of the pieces made of red sandalwood (zitan), a noble wood reputed for its strength, is wisely worked by a master artisan, then assembled according to the artisanal process of assembling mortise and tenon joints, and finally polished. Out of this fastidious process comes a contemporary creation imbued with history and savoir-faire. The rareness and preciousness of the materials used in that era to create imperial furniture added to each stage of creation, from drying to sculpting and polishing in between, make each chair a unique piece resulting from the savoir-faire of devoted artisans, in continuity with an art inherited from distant ancestors. For the creation of one of these objets d’art, the hands of the artisan as well as his patience are put to the test; somewhere between tradition and modernity, the process is backed up by a legacy of over 5,000 years, a characteristic strongly anchored in the culture of this brand that is affiliated with the Hermès group.

The object’s simple yet expressive design is based in Chinese design traditions and strongly dependent on the transmission of not only savoir-faire, but also the aesthetic characteristics of a lifestyle that is today forgotten. Beyond the curves, the treating of the wood, and the finishing that all take several months to complete, it’s a veritable philosophy that comes out of these chairs that belong to the “Dan Tian Di” collection. The teachings of centuries of Chinese culture can all be found here in harmony with the object and the space it occupies. These chairs, veritable works of art with pure lines, are nothing less than the very essence of a culture that conveys both grace and harmony in one of the purest perpetuations of Asian tradition.

The mission that Shang Xia gave themselves through their creative director, Qiong Er Jiang, is to pursue and perpetuate the artisanal saovir-faire of the Middle Kingdom, the rediscovery of the Chinese way of life, an art with richly traditional patrimony. The Shang Xia chair is the fruit of this research. Its aesthetic that is every bit as sober as elegant is imbued with history of and memories, a veritable marker of the brand’s philosophy, itself inspired by a Chinese proverb that states: “Inheriting the past builds the future.” Through an exceptional object, a veritable generational link is created that impresses just as much by its creation as by all the values and heritage that it represents.

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