“The Trendiest Artisans” is an incubation and exhibition platform created by Great World Guinness to showcase outstanding young Chinese artisans. It focuses on innovative youth who inherit China’s excellent traditional culture with creativity and craftsmanship, aiming to document “China’s Best” to narrate the story of “creative transformation and innovative development of China’s outstanding traditional culture.”
Today, an increasing number of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) skills are presented through the “ICH + Innovation” model. The promotion and development of ICH require inheritors to continuously innovate and adapt, finding connections between heritage and modern life, aligning with consumer aesthetics, and meeting market demands. This drives the lifestyle integration, industrialization, and fashionization of ICH, enabling people to discover, appreciate, and perceive the charm of intangible cultural heritage. Today, Great World Guinness continues to revisit the innovative ICH records of “The Trendiest Artisans,” brushing off the dust of history to explore ICH handicraft techniques and experience the beauty of contemporary intangible cultural heritage. 1. Chen Lei: The Inheritor with the Most Golden Rubbing Works – Inheritor of “Chinese Rubbing Techniques” ICH – Founder of Golden Rubbing Technique Rubbing, also known as stone and bronze rubbing, was an ancient “3D printing” technique in ancient China, using ink and rice paper to reproduce patterns, inscriptions, and text from artifacts like steles and bronze ware. Chen Lei, an inheritor of “Chinese Rubbing Techniques,” innovated by experimenting with historical records and refining materials and methods, creating the “Golden Rubbing” technique. This method three-dimensionally presents the full shape and texture of objects, achieving a “naked-eye 3D” effect, earning him the Great World Guinness record for “creating the most Golden Rubbing works.” • Swipe left or right to view more. 2. Wan Luoyang: The Dough Sculptor with the Most Classical Sculpture-Style Works – Intermediate Industrial Artist Wan Luoyang, a post-80s dough sculptor, has been engaged in traditional sculpture and art design for nearly 20 years. In 2017, he formally embarked on dough sculpture creation, independently producing nearly 100 large-scale works themed on traditional culture and thousands of smaller pieces featuring figures, flowers, and birds. His works have been selected for various exhibitions and received widespread acclaim. Despite this, he remains unsatisfied with traditional dough sculpture’s rigid forms, continuously innovating and exploring. By integrating traditional Chinese dough sculpting techniques with classical sculpture styles, he meticulously created 23 sets totaling 100 pieces of classical sculpture-style dough works, including “The Great Journey” and “The School of Athens,” earning the Great World Guinness record for “producing the most classical sculpture-style dough sculpture works. “ 3. Ma Hui: The Ceramic Repair Artisan with the Most Immersive Cultural Relic Restoration Experience Events – Founder of Nanshan Xu – Inheritor of “Ceramic Repair Techniques” ICH Ma Hui, an inheritor of “Ceramic Repair Techniques” and the fourth-generation successor of the Ma family’s ceramic repair tradition, learned the craft from his grandfather in his youth. As an adult, he traveled extensively to study under renowned ceramic repair masters and visit porcelain kilns, continuously absorbing knowledge and refining his skills.In 2010, the Nanshan Xu Jushan Cultural and Art Center was finally established, aiming to share, disseminate, and teach the endangered art of porcelain riveting, allowing more young people to learn about this craft.
From May 2018 to December 2023, Ma Hui conducted 390 immersive cultural relic restoration experience events in art galleries, museums, and art centers in Shanghai, Suzhou, and other cities, involving over 30,000 participants. He was awarded the Guinness World Record for ‘the most immersive cultural relic restoration experience events held by a porcelain riveting artisan.’ Yang Ning, an inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage ‘Shanghai-style Hydrangea Craft,’ combines grand, inclusive, exquisite, and colorful Shanghai-style elements with traditional techniques. She has boldly improved hydrangeas to suit modern aesthetics, focusing on materials, patterns, colors, and size, bringing this traditional art into modern artistic life. In the 2024 Year of the Dragon, Yang Ning created a Chinese dragon sculpture composed of 100 Shanghai-style hydrangeas, merging trendy designs with intangible cultural heritage skills. This work earned the Guinness World Record for ‘the largest dragon sculpture made of Shanghai-style hydrangeas.’ Tan Shusui, an inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage ‘Paper-cutting Craft’ and a young paper-cutting artist, has long explored the dissemination of Chinese art aesthetics. He integrates traditional Chinese paper-cutting with contemporary art design, dedicating himself to researching and developing sustainable contemporary avant-garde art and Chinese intangible cultural heritage crafts, fashionably reshaping China’s intangible cultural heritage. From 2016 to 2024 after graduating from university, Tan Shusui collaborated with numerous renowned fashion brands and corporations such as LOUIS VUITTON, FENDI, Fresh, Lens Crafters, and Chow Tai Fook, earning the Guinness World Record for ‘the paper-cutting artist with the most collaborations with fashion brands.’ ‘Xu Xing Straw Weaving’ is a traditional craft from Jiading District, Shanghai, recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage. Gan Lijuan, a practitioner of ‘Straw Weaving (Xu Xing Straw Weaving),’ has innovated beyond traditional themes by combining Jiading’s local intangible cultural heritage with its cultural preservation architecture. She woven the iconic Fahua Pagoda of Jiading using yellow straw, measuring 185 cm in height, 120 cm in length, and 75 cm in width, earning the Guinness World Record for ‘the tallest straw weaving (Xu Xing Straw Weaving) work.’Intangible cultural heritage techniques are a vital component of China’s outstanding traditional culture. Protecting, inheriting, and utilizing these intangible cultural heritage practices hold significant importance for continuing historical context and building a strong socialist culture. Through artisans’ innovative practice of ‘changing form while preserving spirit,’ the development prospects of intangible cultural heritage in the contemporary era are powerfully demonstrated, while also helping to actively disseminate China’s unique cultural resources worldwide.
The Great World Guinness ‘Trendsetting Artisans’ initiative embodies original aspiration through craftsmanship, promotes innovation with meticulous dedication, and creates exquisite works with masterful skill. By recording numerous ‘China’s Best’ achievements, it effectively narrates China’s stories, making Chinese creations, culture, and elements important carriers for young people’s pursuit of fashion and cultural identity.