Building a bridge from past to present— brick tile by brick tile
Bricks do not usually appeal to the popular imagination. Utilitarian by nature they are essential yet uninteresting elements of any building, but perhaps that is a purely western perspective. Brick carving is actually one of the major forms of architectural decoration in traditional Chinese buildings. It originally appeared as an imitation of stone carving, but during the Sui and Tang dynasties, brick carving was elevated in importance and gradually evolved into an independent art form.
There are two predominant methods of creating brick decoration: pre-kiln carving and post-kiln carving. San He Tile Kiln employs pre-kiln carving, whereby the clay is first carved into shape then left to air dry in the shade prior to being fired in the kiln. The most common carving techniques are flat carving, relief carving, open carving and round carving. The coasters are examples of relief carving; the trivets are examples of open carving.
Although San He today excels at delicate brick tile carving and the kiln complex itself has been designated a historic site, its origins were in the rather unglamorous and humble brick tile business. Founded in 1918, it was one of several brick tile factories in that area of southern Taiwan. Brick tile manufacture was a thriving industry as the majority of buildings, especially rural homes, were still constructed with red bricks and brick tile roofing. However, as Taiwan industrialized, tastes in building style started to shift toward concrete and steel structures and, accordingly, demand for brick tiles started to decline. The final blow was dealt in 1977 when powerful Typhoon Siloma destroyed vast numbers of old brick tile homes while concrete structures withstood the storm.
By 1988 all the other brick tile kilns had shuttered and San He was the last surviving tile business left. The Lee family, who owns and manages San He, struggled to keep the kiln open and endured mainly by producing brick tiles for the maintenance of any remaining old homes and for use in restoration projects of historic temples, such as the important Confucius Temple in Tainan. The committee behind the Confucius restoration project have made it a priority to employ only traditional methods and, fortunately, San He has maintained the majority of their traditional wood fired kilns.
Confucius Temple in Tainan
The traditional method of brick tile production is time consuming as it requires a substantially greater amount of time for a wood fired kiln to reach the ideal firing temperatures of more than 1,000°C. Once the ideal temperature is reached, the firing process takes 1-½ to 2 months in the small kiln and 3-½ months in the large kiln. And then it often takes another month for the kiln to cool down to the requisite 40-50°C before the kiln doors can be opened and the brick tiles harvested.
Rare restoration projects alone could no longer sustain San He so the current proprietor, a 4th generation member of the Lee family, decided to diversify and expand their offerings by applying their expertise to creating functional home decor inspired by elements of traditional Chinese architecture. The coasters that are offered are influenced by the reliefs found at the ends of traditional roof tiling and the trivets are inspired by the individual tiles that form the grid of a classic “flower window.” Additionally, San He also functions as a cultural center that educates the public about the history of brick tile construction in Taiwan as well as the art of brick tile carving. It was all part of the mission established by Mr. Lee, who left a career in banking to assume management of the kiln, to keep craft alive while celebrating cultural heritage. From the roof of a traditional Taiwanese building to your dining table, the creations of San He tell a fabula formosa that threads together the past and the present.
Remember to get your own piece of brick history by going to our Shop!
Sources:
Notes from interview with Ms. Lin at San He Tile Kiln on March 3, 2020
https://ir.lib.nchu.edu.tw/bitstream/11455/87487/1/87465-29.pdf
https://www.nhu.edu.tw/~society/e-j/109/A31.pdf
https://www.witpress.com/Secure/elibrary/papers/STR05/STR05004FU.pdf
http://nrch.culture.tw/twpedia.aspx?id=7297
http://blog.udn.com/kocj/5548919
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/life/breakingnews/3056164
