Haipai Craft Workshop

What You'll Experience

Haipai — literally 'Shanghai style' — is a cultural aesthetic born from the collision of Chinese tradition and Western influence in the early 20th century: a little Parisian, a little Cantonese, entirely Shanghainese. The haipai craft workshop in a French Concession studio keeps three traditional techniques alive: paper-cutting (jian zhi), clay figurine-making (mian ren), and incense coil production — each a centuries-old practice that found a distinctly Shanghai form when the city's artisans began incorporating European motifs and Japanese minimalism into their work. Your workshop guide is a young artisan who trained at a state-sponsored apprenticeship in Yunnan before opening her own studio — part of a generation committed to keeping these crafts economically viable rather than merely preserved in glass cases. You leave with something you made: a cut-paper portrait, a painted figurine, or a coiled incense holder, depending on your choice.

Highlights

• Learn one of three haipai crafts: paper-cutting, clay figurine-making, or incense coiling
• Understand how Shanghai's hybrid culture transformed each traditional technique
• Work alongside a professional artisan trained in both traditional and contemporary approaches
• Take home your finished piece — a souvenir with genuinely traceable craft behind it
• Explore the studio's collection of historical examples and the evolution of each art form

What's Included

• All materials and tools
• Artisan instruction throughout
• Companion for translation and context
• One completed piece to take home
• Tea and conversation with the artisan

Meeting Point & Area

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