Muyun new residence
The next morning, the custom-made storage shelf from the furniture store arrived. Zhiwei directed the workers to place it in a corner of the bedroom. Xiaoyu had already carefully arranged the items that hadn't yet been displayed in the box, and the glass ornament was solemnly placed in the most conspicuous position on the top shelf, right in the center.
Zhiwei gazed at the shimmering glass, then suddenly remembered something and said to Xiaoyu, who was wiping the shelf, "If we have the chance next time, we should ask Mr. Li which workshop made this glass. If it's in Beijing, I'd like to go and see it too."
Xiaoyu smiled and agreed.
After resting in the afternoon, Zhiwei was about to go to 798 Art Zone. Xiaoyu asked, "Should I go with Miss Chen?"
Zhiwei said, "No need, I can go by myself. If there's nothing to do at home, just rest. There's still a long way to go."
Xiaoyu said, "Then I'll still familiarize myself with the surrounding area. I only had time to go to the market this morning, and I haven't explored any other places yet."
Zhiwei arrived at Huang Zijun's studio. The space, converted from an old factory, had extremely high ceilings, cement brick floors, and the air was filled with the fresh scent of wood chips, exuding a refined atmosphere.
Huang Zijun greeted her warmly as she approached, still wearing an apron. The studio wasn't very big; there were a few pieces of Chinese-style furniture on display, along with various kinds of wood. One room contained many tools and a lathe.
"Miss Shen is indeed a person of her word. Welcome, welcome."
"This is where my assistant and I work. We do research and restoration of antique furniture, and we also design prototypes for new furniture. After the design is finalized here, it will be handed over to the factory for production."
Therefore, his studio does not usually receive guests, so it does not need a bustling storefront. It is located in a relatively secluded corner, which is probably quieter and the rent is cheaper.
"Oh right, this is the noodle cabinet I mentioned the other day." He led Zhiwei to a spot on the side of the studio.
Two cabinets stood side by side over there, and Zhiwei approached for a closer look. They were indeed simple and elegant, bearing the marks of time. The paint on the panels was uneven, with some areas worn away, but it was precisely this imperfection that evoked a sense of history, making one wonder what it had endured, where its owner had gone, and what joys and sorrows it had witnessed.
"This cabinet is in pretty good condition. It's just that the hardware is a bit rusty, the wood is a little loose, there are some scratches on the paint, and the paint is badly damaged in some places, so it needs some minor repairs. The rest is mainly cleaning and maintenance."
"Should we paint it? The smell will be off then."
“Ms. Shen is right. We won’t change its original appearance too much. It depends on what exactly is damaged. Some places are damaged and rotten due to moisture. In these cases, we will clean away the rotten parts, patch them with fish glue mixed with wood of the same material, and then sand them smooth. If the damaged area is relatively small, we will directly patch it with fish glue mixed with fine wood shavings of the same material, and then sand it smooth so that the damaged area is not visible.”
“Like here,” he said to Zhiwei, pointing to a spot. “Although the lacquer has been chipped off, the wood underneath hasn’t been damaged. Depending on the type of wood, you can apply a layer of lacquer or tung oil to repel moisture. After cleaning it all up, you can heat a layer of beeswax over the entire surface, and it will be as good as new and can be preserved for many years.”
One of the cabinets had been repaired, and it was indeed much tidier than the cabinet next to it. Zhiwei saw a girl in the studio using a toothpick to carefully remove the dust from the corners, and occasionally using a bristle brush to dust it off.
"It really took a lot of effort. Has anyone placed an order for these cabinets yet?"
"No, although this cabinet is a bit old, it's not made of top-quality wood. The wood is called Pterocarpus macrocarpus, which is commonly known as Burmese rosewood. People who really want to collect antiques don't care about it, and customers who want to buy mahogany furniture prefer newer pieces made of better wood. I just happened to come across this piece of furniture. I hadn't made this type of piece before, so I used it to repair it as a lesson."
Zhiwei liked it very much because of its elegant color, delicate wood grain, graceful shape, and lack of overly pretentious antique furniture style.
"If Mr. Huang is willing to part with it, I hope we can finalize the deal."
Huang Zijun had seen Zhiwei buy those two storage shelves before, and guessed that she might like this style, so it wasn't surprising. "It's rare that they appeal to Miss Shen. No problem. We can sign a contract first, pay the deposit, and then deliver them to you after they're repaired and Miss Shen is satisfied."
After signing the contract and paying the deposit, Zhiwei asked about the custom-made desk again. Huang Zijun led her to the desk, turned on his computer, and showed her several styles he recommended based on her description.
Zhiwei's requirements were simple: a large desk, without any drawers, and without any twists or curves. It had to be stable yet not bulky, with simple lines. The more it was like this, the more skill it required. With great difficulty, we borrowed the style of a Ming-style desk, removed a few of the bracket designs, and only kept the lines and shape, thus roughly finalizing the style she wanted.
As for the structure, Huang Zijun naturally conducted the inspection himself. As for the material, since Zhiwei preferred light colors, he didn't choose mahogany, but only white oak. Because Zhiwei liked the natural grain of the wood, he only used clear varnish, but following the traditional Chinese furniture making method, he used multi-grit sandpaper to polish it repeatedly, creating a smooth, baby-skin-like effect.
Huang Zijun took some wood and several parts that had been sanded through different processes from the side for Zhiwei to feel. Zhiwei really found it hard to believe that the previously raw wood could have such a warm and smooth feel after processing.
"The value of traditional rosewood furniture lies in the quality of the wood itself. Through repeated polishing, the texture of the wood can be best presented. It's a pity that many new antique-style furniture pieces are now covered in bright red lacquer so that you can't even touch the wood anymore. It's such a waste."
"This probably makes it easier for manufacturers to pass off inferior products as high-quality ones."
Because the table Zhiwei wanted was a rather unusual size, it wasn't mass-produced and had to be custom-made by the factory, which would take a long time to complete. Since Zhiwei wasn't in a rush, she simply ordered matching cabinets and shelves instead, since she was still lacking things at home. After all, they weren't antiques, and the wood wasn't particularly special, so the whole set wasn't even as expensive as the pair of cabinets.
After placing all the orders, she didn't rush to leave. She continued to watch them repair the cabinets, and at the end, she even looked at each of the different pieces of wood with great interest.
Seeing that she spent money without batting an eye and had time to while away half a day on a weekday, Huang Zijun said to her, "Miss Shen, if you are interested, you can come to our studio anytime. Next time, you can also try to make some handicrafts with the wood here. Anyway, this is a workshop, and we have all the tools and materials."
Zhiwei's eyes widened. "Really? That's great!"
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