Q.1Where did your inspirations come from?

A.1Tr. Nian Zhou Chen has loved to drink tea since 20 years old, now he is 70 years old. He used to just drink tea, but 12 years ago, he started to notice that there’s a lot of japanese teapots in Taiwan, but there’s not exclusive teapots for Taiwan. Then, one of Tr. Nian Zhou Chen’s friend asked him to participate in the teapot exhibition, and he agreed. When he started making the teapot, he found out that it's not as easy as it seems, so he delayed the exhibition for 1 year so he could study the teapot. Tr. Nian Zhou Chen borrows his friend's silver teapot to study, he uses 2 years to finish studying it. He says “Making teapot isn’t just an inspiration, it’s a determination and responsibilities because the exhibition is still waiting for me. 2 years later when I finally finish my first teapot, I’m so happy and I even sleep with it.”

 

 

 

 

Q.2 Do you have any goals or ideas for the future of Legend of teapot?

A.2 Tr. Nian Zhou Chen doesn’t want to purposely think of a goal; all he wants to do is to be more and more rigorous and demanding. This is because he will always have different ideas, for example, the teapot he made this year will definitely be different from the one he made before. 2020 is a hard year, Tr. Nian Zhou Chen wants to make a commemorative teapot, so he made one named “The Phoenix”. He demands the teapot to have a good “image”. In the Chinese utensils, a teapot will be really precious when there’s a dragon’s head or animal’s head on it, so he made “The Phoenix”. The spout must look like a phoenix in a special shape to meet the standards of fluid mechanics, and then to pursue aesthetics. Tr. Nian Zhou Chen said that he asks for others’ suggestions and opinions while making teapots.

 

 

 

 

Q.3  What is the hardest part or process you encounter during the teapot-making industry?

A.3 Everything is difficult. For instance, the water has to flow fluently through the teapot, the backflow when the water is cut off, the design and the material usage, consideration of leverage principle, and ergonomics. In conclusion, none of the processes is easy, because teapot-making requires full effort.

 

 

 

 

Q.4  Did you learn all the techniques of making teapots by yourself?

 A.4  Yes, because Taiwan doesn’t have good techniques, and Japanese won’t teach us their techniques. The previous teapots were not made for tea drinking; they were made for trousseau. Teapots made for trousseau look like actual teapots far away, but it is not functionable when looking closely.

 

 

 

 

Q.5  How is the tea from Tr. Nian Zhou Chen’s teapot different from other tea?

A.5  No matter what kind of drink, tea, coffee, or alcohol, the most important is water. As long as the water is good (passes through gold and silver utensils), the drink will have a good taste and good smell.

 

 

 

 

Q.6  What kind of tea is the most suitable for Tr. Nian Zhou Chen’s teapot?

A.6  No peculiar smell would be left behind in gold or silver utensils, so the smell will be right as long as the teapot has been washed. Every kind of tea has good taste.

 

 

 

 

Q.7  How does Tr. Nian Zhou Chen’s teapot influences other tea cultures?

A.7  I cannot talk about how my teapots influence other countries’ culture, I am not that great. We Taiwanese people’s care for making pots does not seem to be something that China can make, and Japanese pots are not suitable for us.

 

 

 

 

Q.8  Why do you like to use Taiwan’s culture and attractions as the motif of your teapots?

A.8  Mr. Nian Zhou Chen is a Taiwanese, he must give out something that represents Taiwan, his home. There are no other countries except for Taiwan, China, Japan, and Korea that can possibly make teapot because of the history of their country. So using Taiwan’s culture and attractions such as Yehliu coral reef to represent Taiwanese culture.

 

 

 

 

Q.9  Why is it so important to have the water "go through gold and silver" when pouring tea?

A.9  The “sixteen soup” mentioned to make a pot, water piercing gold and silver is a crucial concept. The concept started in ancient China, the concept says ”water piercing gold and silver which changed the structure of water molecules to "not let go of the fragrance of tea". So the tea made from Nian Zhou Chen's teapot has a sweet fragrance.

 

 

 

 

Q.10  How long does it take to make a teapot? (from material preparation to production process)

A.10  Tr. Nian Zhou Chen said that he and his team can make ten teapots a month (simultaneously). There is a fixed procedure, every step should be done for the last person to summarize it. Sending new ideas takes the longest time because every detail should be considered at the beginning.

 

 

 

 

Q.11  What special equipment will be used while you are making teapots?

A.11  Welding doesn’t require other equipment. Tools are just assistants

 

 

 

 

Q.12  People in their young ages are usually unfamiliar to teapots. In what way would you like to promote it to younger ethnic groups?

A.12  Tr. Nian Zhou Chen said he can only hope younger people will grow up sooner. Almost no one pays attention to tea culture, and not everyone thinks that “tea culture is great'', so we should all put down our arrogance before we drink tea. As a conclusion, it is really hard to popularize tea culture!

 

 

 

 

Q.13  You said to keep this art skill at home and denied all requests for technical authorization or transfer, how would you pass it on then?

A.13  It is really hard to pass on. There is a faculty called “Intellectual Property Protection” in National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, and the head of the department gave an examination question to the people in the department. The question is “Should Tr. Nian Zhou Chen’s teapot is patented?”, and the result is''no”. Teapots have spiritual aspects, so it is difficult to pass on it. Currently, every master around Tr. Nian Zhou Chen is good at one particular subject, and doesn't have good command on other subjects. Marketing is even more challenging, “Legend of Teapot” has been established for ten years, yet no one wants to buy their teapots. Looking at it from a glance, none of Tr. Nian Zhou Chen’s work partners can pass it on. “Ceramics are precious because they are easy to break”, and “our teapots are precious because they are not easy to imitate, so we don’t talk about passing it on, said Tr. Nian Zhou Chen.