"As the government fostered glass craftsmanship in Taiwan, especially with the events, forums and exhibitions mentioned above, there were many glass craftsmen who established personal studios such as “Western Studio Glass”. Furthermore, there was “Liou Li Gong Fung” and “Titto” with enterprising glass studios. This helped set up a new stage for the glass craftsmanship of Taiwan.
“Liou Li Gong Fung” is the glass studio established in 1987 by Mr. Wang Xia-Jun who learned glass art in the USA, Ms. Yang, Hwei-Shang and Mr. Chang, Yi. Their goals are to promote the concept and techniques of glass art creation. They want to use Liou Li (as the name of the company, they like to call the lead glass made by lost wax method with the characteristics of crystal as Liou Li) to create works with contemporary Chinese style. Since the technique was not popular at that time, they experienced a long period of exploration and failure. Finally they chose “lost wax casting” as the technique with which to produce glass craft. Lost wax casting technique can not only express the complex forms and details, but can also be used for mass production. Technically speaking, this method was already used in Shang and Zhou Dynasty (16th~256B.C.) for making bronze wares, and it was proved to be feasible. These artists chose not to use blowing techniques that were popular at the time, instead choosing the lost wax casting method to create works with a Chinese style.
According to the description of “Liou Li Gong Fung”, there was only one French studio with over one hundred years of history at that time master this secret technique that began in Egypt and was used through Art Nouveau period. These artists experienced numerous failures until 1991 when they started being successful using this technique. However, from the description of Japanese Yoshimizu Tsuneo, what Liou Li Gong Fung claimed the secret techniques processed only by French, may have already been used in Han Dynasty (206 B.C.- A.D. 220) proficiently. This can be proved by the excavation of a crystal ear cup from the tomb of King Liu, Sheng in the Man-Cheng county Hebei province. The fact points out the importance of technique transfer. Otherwise, everything needs to be relearned from the beginning.
Mr. Wang Xia-Jun established his glass studio in 1994, and established “Titto crystal museum” at 1999.9.9. This museum exhibits world glass art history, glass techniques, contemporary international glass master pieces, and classic works of Wang Xia-Jun lost wax casting glass.
The major types of lost wax casting products of Liou Li Gong Fung include paper weights, accessories, tableware, Buddha statues, containers, twelve animals, bricks, Chinese traditional cups and pots, fairy tales, natures, Lifestyles, etc.
In addition to these mass production factories for lost wax casting like Liou Li Gong Fung and Titto, there are numerous glass art companies such as “Duo Gin” and “Vetri Glass Art”, even personal studios, teachers and students, artist, etc. who are working in lost wax casting and R&D for glass craftsmanship."
Unknown. "Taiwanese Glass." Hsinchu Municipal Glass Museum. website accessed August 1, 2009. http://glassmuseum.cca.gov.tw/web-EN/unit02/modepage/2-16.html
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