Uncovering Liuli in This Mortal World (6)

"Glass is transparent. I feel I can see through it, right into the heart. I remember one particular piece a fish in water. The sculptor even had some bubbles in the glass which made the fish look alive," says Yang.

In 1987, seven people from the movie industry including Chang and Yang established Liuligongfang as Asia's first crystal glass workshop.

The hardship was far beyond what they expected.

Initially, they planned to only work on design and get glass factories to produce the product, because some of Liuligongfang's founders were movie setting and props designers. Yang herself is talented in painting.

But soon they found it was impossible to find the right partner to manufacture quality products.

So they invested in a dilapidated factory and learned from scratch the techniques and craftsmanship called pate-de-verre. The process involves casting a wax sculpture in plaster, melting out that wax and adding glass ingredients to the leftover negative space.

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