Exhibition Profile

Decorative lantern, also known as “Cai Deng” in Chinese, was originally passed down from the royal court to the grass roots. During Emperor Yang of Sui’s (569-618) reign, the general public was, for the first time in history, allowed to go out at night to view lantern displays. As lantern varieties thrived, artisans also came up with more sophisticated lantern-making skills to meet up with the popular demand.

The lantern art is expressive of both structural design and decorative features. The crafts tradition, long rooted in the popular culture, has gradually shifted away from pragmatic and decorative use in the past. Now, lantern art accentuates more on the level of display value and artistic expressiveness.

With rapid development in technology, incandescent light bulbs are now mostly replaced by versatile LED lighting products. The LED lighting solution comes in handy with a variety of shapes, automatic color changing features and innovative designs to choose from. That is the timing when Artisan Lin Yu-Chu fills in and continues to embellish her creative lantern-making skills with the basics of SOPs to create more visually appealing works to be in tune with the latest trend.

Artisan Lin Yu-Chu has been deeply amazed by the decorative lantern art and has strived to break new ground and foster innovation along the way. She puts on her shoulder the mission of passing down the lantern crafts to future generation. One of her innovation is to replace traditional bamboo structure to that made of paper wrapped wire. By doing that, she not only breaks the bottleneck when it comes to lantern making but also inspires many students to follow suit. Her meticulous study bears fruit for publications of two books. One is the Creative Lanterns DIY, and the other is The Beauty of Folk Art on Creative Lanterns, popular among lantern-making amateurs.

More than thirty years of relentless hard work dedicated to the field, Artisan Lin Yu-Chu first launched the Chinese Artistic Lantern Association in 1999. In 2008, she has carried on with the task of World Taiwanese Lantern Association. Artisan Lin Yu-Chu’s world of decorative lanterns is full of surprises and aesthetic value. She gives new meanings to traditional lantern making. With her creative lantern making skill, she bridges the gap causing by differences of times and blends her work into common household, so that anyone can appreciate the beauty of decorative lantern. Moreover, Lin has made great efforts to promote creative lantern making crafts around the world. People in Taiwan, Japan, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand all bear witness and feast their eyes on the sumptuous and glittering display of her creative crafts.

Exhibition: Glittering Light Feast: Exposition on Decorative Lanterns Creation by Lin Yu-Chu

Exhibition Duration: 2020.09.25(Fri)-11.15(Sun)

Opening Hours: Tuesday to Sunday and national holiday, from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm

Venue: 3F, Taipei Branch, National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute. (No.41, Nanhai Rd., Zhongzheng Dist., Taipei City)