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  • This is the Furniture Manufacturing Eco Museum in Tainan

  • and it has over 60 years of history.

  • This place was built by spare factories here

  • and it exhibits a lot of different classic pieces of furniture,

  • and also the ingredients of how the furniture is made.

  • What's really fascinating about this place is that

  • these pieces of furniture do not require any nails.

  • They use this special technique called mortise and tenon,

  • where you have two different parts of furniture,

  • if they are in the right size and shape,

  • they assemble together perfectly.

  • That is really cool.

  • And their furniture is sold all over the world and known internationally.

  • Let's go discover more.

  • Hello!

  • Hello!

  • Can you take me on a tour around the factory here today?

  • It's my honor.

  • As Mr. Wang was telling me earlier,

  • there are four different parts of this factory.

  • We start from that corner back there and move to this corner here,

  • where you assemble and take care of all the details.

  • So right now he is gonna show me how it is all done.

  • This technique is called the mortise and tenon technique,

  • which you assemble the pieces of wood,

  • for example here you have one knob out and one hole inside,

  • for example here you have one knob out and one hole inside,

  • so they can actually just stick right in and assemble.

  • So you see here there are no nails used,

  • Everything is piecing together.

  • This actually requires careful calculation

  • because you need the holes to be exact so that when they fit,

  • it's not going to fall apart easily.

  • When you close it,

  • you actually cannot take the lid off no matter what,

  • but when you turn it at an angle,

  • the lid comes off. It's a really smart design.

  • Mr. Wang is telling that the smell of wood here

  • actually makes you younger.

  • There are a variety of boxes here,

  • you can customize it however you like,

  • like we saw earlier how the lid is a lock also.

  • And you can have different patterns inside the box,

  • for example here this one has unique silver designs.

  • These are some different ways that they use

  • to assemble the pieces of furniture together.

  • This is more for curves

  • so you see the pieces assembled together,

  • you can take them off, and then put them back.

  • Here, this one holds them all together.

  • What we saw earlier assembling at the factory,

  • this is the finished product for that.

  • Actually all the furniture you see right here in this exhibition hall

  • is for sale,

  • so you can also come here to buy it

  • or you can get it custom made.

  • This is how furniture changed from the past to present.

  • From the beginning, is the Ming Dynasty.

  • So here we see the evolution of furniture in Taiwan,

  • we start from the Ming Dynasty when furniture was simpler back then

  • and then the Japanese colonization, post war,

  • and now we slowly get to modern time.

  • It's really interesting to see

  • how furniture in a typical Taiwanese household

  • would look like and evolve.

  • This work was made by the leader of Ruban Craft Academy, Mr. Huang.

  • These chairs here are all award-winning chairs.

  • The first chair we saw earlier, it is made from vines.

  • What's special about it is that it is bent like a half circle,

  • like a U-shape of the alphabet.

  • Usually bamboos don't bend like that

  • so it takes a lot of creative thinking

  • to defy physics and its original structure.

  • This one right here is also made from bamboo.

  • What's special about it is the arc here,

  • it's kind of like a staircase.

  • Also here, this is very flexible.

  • This is the classroom used to teach woodwork.

  • This is the first class in Taiwan

  • where the technique of mortise and tenon is taught,

  • so there are no nails in this class, just shapes and assembling.

  • What's special about this course is that

  • it's an 18-week course so it's very intensive.

  • Unfortunately I don't have enough time for this course,

  • but thankfully there is another option for me,

  • the DIY fun classroom downstairs.

  • Let's head to that.

  • Besides the exhibition here at the museum,

  • there is also a DIY area

  • where you can make your own things out of wood.

  • Today I am going to make chopsticks.

  • So my right hand is pushing down

  • while my left hand is pushing forward.

  • It's kind of just like sharpening a pencil.

  • I think I just finished one chopstick.

  • But it takes two to be a pair,

  • now I need to work on my second chopstick.

  • After touring through the museum,

  • you can really see how they

  • used the 60 years of experience

  • that they have to build what is now

  • and to plan on an innovative future.

  • It was very interesting to learn about all about the furniture

  • and learn that they only pursue the best for their customers.

  • Through their creativity, innovations,

  • hardworking ethics and professionalism,

  • you can really tell that Rende is the town for enterprises.

  • Come here when you have time

  • and immerse yourself in this business atmosphere.

  • And maybe you will find the secret to their success.

This is the Furniture Manufacturing Eco Museum in Tainan

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