Where does the mahogany standard come from?
The concept of mahogany appeared when precious wood such as mahogany and yellow gorgeous was scarce. In ancient times, rosewood was specific, that is, now we have the classification of rosewood. However, the later development proved the strength of China's folk reputation. With the popularity of hardwood furniture in Ming and Qing dynasties, mahogany gradually became a general term.
When people refer to mahogany furniture, they refer to high-grade hardwood furniture in China since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Whether you are rosewood or Huang Huali, you are mahogany furniture. This provides a simple solution for folk language communication-"Look, whoever has money uses mahogany furniture", but it has laid a hidden danger for today's market.
After the reform and opening-up, especially in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with the economic development and the emergence of the new affluent class, it became a demand to buy or collect mahogany furniture, and the domestic mahogany furniture market began to rise.
Due to the historical fault, the concept of mahogany is also vague for primary consumers and collectors who meet mahogany furniture again. The most basic understanding is that redwood is valuable, which can be preserved and appreciated, and can be used as a collection, that's all. This understanding is enough for gold consumption, because gold is gold and there is no other finger. As long as you know the content of gold plating and pure gold, you can hardly buy it wrong in a regular shopping mall.
However, in the field of mahogany, primary buyers are suddenly confused. How can furniture with different material characteristics be called mahogany? Upon inquiry, redwood is actually a general term. It is unacceptable to say that someone else bought mahogany with a common name, but it is also unacceptable to buy mahogany with a common name. Why? Because the value gap between different kinds of mahogany is too big.
It should be said that the value of mahogany furniture is only an inaccurate description of the people. In the market economy, once there is an inaccurate and vague understanding, it is followed by fishing in troubled waters-selling under the banner of mahogany. Anyway, your understanding is that mahogany is valuable. Anyway, mahogany is just a general term. Anyway, I said mahogany is not a lie. ...
On the road of our market economy construction, this situation will not last long. Standardizing the market and not letting people cheat by fishing in troubled waters —— It is in this understanding that 1998, entrusted by the state, the Chinese Academy of Forestry began to draft the national standard for mahogany. The main person in charge of this project is Yang Jiaju, an expert from the Chinese Academy of Forestry, who is called "the first person in China mahogany standard".
"It is difficult to put forward a widely recognized standard. Since then, I have been under great pressure. " Yang Jiaju said this in an interview with this magazine.
Where is the difficulty in formulating mahogany standards?
It should be said that this is a huge project with too many difficulties. First of all, since we want to establish a standard, we must solve the problem of defining redwood-what is redwood and what kind of wood is redwood? This cannot be a general statement, it must be made clear.
But China has a long history of making mahogany furniture, and there are many kinds of wood used. Whether it is "made in Guangzhou", "made in Soviet Union" or "made in Beijing", the materials and techniques used in different places are different. If you look at today's standards, you can see that there are only eight categories of rosewood, which is a kind of mahogany. That is to say, rosewood under mahogany is also called rosewood. In ancient times, the names of materials were used by craftsmen, and it was enough to understand each other almost-how many people could use such materials? However, today, in an unprecedented open world, the concept of goods is facing an infinite number of people, and such a group of people should treat these concepts with legal standards. What an arduous task it is to return to the attributes of physics and science and become a standard!
What's more, in Yang Jiaju's view, the mahogany standard is not entirely a problem of solving clear classification with physical attributes, but also a problem of cultural inheritance. As an important part of China's traditional culture, the mahogany standard should respect and continue the tradition of China mahogany and accurately reflect it. Therefore, the standard should be as big as the category of mahogany recognized in ancient times. Wood that we didn't know in ancient times can't be added to this category at will.
In 2000, the national standard of redwood was officially released, which clearly stipulated for the first time that the species of redwood in China were 5 genera, 8 categories and 33 tree species. Before the introduction of this standard, some places have shown impatience with this standard. Standardized commercial operation certainly needs standardized things to support, and this national standard is still being implemented, and the classification of 33 tree species belonging to 5 genera and 8 categories is also well known to the industry.
"One Temple and Three Monks"
It seems that the arduous work of mahogany national standard is endless, and its normative role in mahogany market is even more commendable. However, since the day when the standard was born, the debate about this standard has never stopped.
The first is traditional collectors. Many collectors are not interested in this standard. Many collectors don't think it's necessary-I understand if you don't tell me. The more you talk, the more confused I am.
Ma Weidou, a well-known collector, publicly stated that collectors were already very clear about traditional mahogany materials, and they also had traditional names. For example, the fragrant wood in the national standard is traditionally called Huang Huali. When it comes to Huang Huali, we all know that when it comes to mahogany and fragrant wood, everyone is confused and the standards are in trouble.
Huang Dayun, director of the Furniture Committee of Guangdong Collectors Association and a mahogany collector, also believes that the change of mahogany standards has little to do with mahogany collection and does not affect the interests of real collectors. For real mahogany collectors, there are actually not many kinds of redwoods worth collecting, at least not as many as the national standards for redwoods.
Some experts in traditional furniture also put forward their own opinions on classification and other issues.
It should be said that in the eyes of traditional furniture experts, a standard has long been formed. Everyone agrees with this standard and understands it, but there is no standardized text. Because the goals and objectives of the national standard are different from those of collectors, although these collectors are not very interested in the national standard, they also play with each other and do not interfere with each other.
However, another standard that emerged next made all parties not want to live in peace. The appearance of this standard has detonated the deeper problems in the field of high-end furniture today.
On September 2008 1, the standard of Dark Precious Hardwood Furniture formulated by China Light Industry was officially implemented.1kloc-0/Tree species, including 33 tree species in the national standard of mahogany, were classified as "Dark Precious Hardwood".
From 33 to 10 1, the range of this tree species is more than three times that of this concept.
In terms of relationship, the standard of dark and precious hardwood furniture in 2008 belongs to the industry standard, and the national standard of mahogany in 2000 belongs to the national standard. It stands to reason that the industry standard should be based on the national standard, which is also reflected in the text of "Dark and Precious Hardwood Furniture Standard". However, the original intention of the light industry to formulate standards is obviously seriously different from the national standard. "Dark precious hardwood" is a new concept.
In fact, "dark precious hardwood" is a concept of "new redwood", so it is not simply extended to 10 1 species, but the concept of "new redwood" in the future may be at least10/species announced at present. Many people directly refer to this standard as the "new mahogany standard", so that the Chinese Academy of Forestry has to declare on its website that the 2000 national mahogany standard has never changed and is still being implemented.
Zhu Changling, vice chairman of China Furniture Association and director of China Furniture Technical Standards Committee, who participated in the formulation of the Standard for Dark and Precious Hardwood Furniture, explained that there should be another standard besides the national standard: "With the deepening of foreign economic cooperation and the development of China furniture industry, more and more materials can be obtained and used, and a considerable part of them are imported. The quality of these Woods is uneven. Some good wood is not recognized as better, but inferior and shoddy. The industry standard is standardized production. This is the background of the introduction of the "Dark and Precious Hardwood Standard". "
In Zhu Changling's view, the standard of dark and precious hardwood is used to guide the production and sales of furniture, which is completely different from the national standard of mahogany, which focuses on explaining the concept of mahogany. Although the national standard of mahogany has largely replaced the guiding significance of industry standards, it is not appropriate for forestry departments to formulate standards to guide the production of furniture industry, and now it even limits the development of furniture industry.
For the same reason, the Furniture Association is brewing a new national standard, and the background of this "new national standard" is the "Standard for Dark Precious Hardwood". Intriguingly, the Furniture Association originally considered using the concept of "dark precious hardwood" when applying for the new national standard, thus freeing itself from the concept of mahogany. However, at present, the Furniture Association is aware of the different weights between the concept of "dark precious hardwood" and the concept of mahogany, so in application, mahogany is still used instead of "dark precious hardwood".
Zhu Changling did not disclose the definition of redwood in the "new national standard" in detail, but "the number of tree species has increased" is certain.
Bai Yang, chairman of Beijing Yuanhengli Classical Hardwood Furniture Co., Ltd., is a supporter of the standards of the Light Industry Federation. He said: "When our company was founded, hardwood was used instead of mahogany. This is because it was expected that there were fewer analogies of mahogany at that time, and several traditional materials were not sustainable."
He believes that in terms of the scarcity of raw material resources, the national standard of mahogany is no longer suitable for the market, and it is necessary to increase the number of tree species in the mahogany standard.
One is a collector, the other is China Forestry Research Institute, and the other is Light Industry Association and Furniture Association. Some people say it's like three monks in the same temple, all doing the same thing, but each doing his own thing and saying his own words.
Zhang Yi, an expert in furniture management and marketing, put forward his own point of view: "Many times the so-called standard is actually the voice of an interest group, and they naturally give priority to the interests of the group."
In his view, it is inevitable for the furniture industry to increase the number of mahogany, and it is understandable to pursue profits. Interest-driven is also a major driving force for social development. However, it is a problem that needs to be discussed and considered how to formulate standards involving multi-party rights and interests and who will formulate them.
"Dalbergia Lushi Incident"
The national standard of mahogany defines mahogany from the perspective of wood anatomy, that is, it puts forward specific standards from moisture content, heartwood and other aspects. The definition of science is the basis for it to become a standard. In addition, the national standard of mahogany has been endowed with historical and cultural meanings. This has set a huge obstacle to the introduction of new wood.
Should the newly discovered tree species be included in the category of redwood? Yang Jiaju's answer is "no", and the furniture industry is making "yes" efforts. As for collectors, they just look on coldly.
Then, is the national standard of mahogany really monolithic, without taking into account the development and changes of the times? The answer is, basically the same, but it opens the only hole.
Yang Jiaju was deeply impressed by this opening, which was the only exception of the "Lushi Black Dalbergia Incident" that entered the national standard of mahogany in that year.
At the moment when the national standard for mahogany was formulated, Lushi black Dalbergia was developed and operated by state-owned enterprises at that time and promoted as mahogany. In order to promote this kind of wood, the enterprise held large-scale exhibitions in the Forbidden City and Shanghai Museum, and signed more than a dozen product ordering contracts.
However, according to the research of standard setters such as Yang Jiaju, Dalbergia Lushi is not rosewood, and it has not been widely used in history. To this end, Yang Jiaju found the Ministry of Forestry of Madagascar, and the other party showed proof that Malaysia does not produce rosewood, and Lushi ebony is not rosewood.
This result is a bolt from the blue for enterprises. At that time, the publicity and promotion scope of Dalbergia odorifera was already very large, which produced considerable social linkage. If it is announced at this time that it is not rosewood, its impact will be extremely complicated. Forced by the situation, and on the basis of testing its material performance is really good, the national standard finally classified it as black rosewood and joined the ranks of mahogany. But even so, it has caused millions of yuan in losses to state-owned enterprises.
"This is the first and only exception." Yang Jiaju said, "There are still voices and pressures for the expansion of the national standard, but if one is added, there will be a second one, so the national standard I formulated will not be added. The national standard of mahogany is a summary of precious wood in history, a historical choice and a responsibility for history. "
The "Lushi Black Dalbergia Incident" is not a problem that China people are used to understanding as "there is a car in front and a road behind". On the contrary, he is Yang Jiaju's confession, and the standards should be strictly sealed. Then, how should the mahogany national standard bear the historical responsibility, and should the standard be open or closed?
At least Zhu Changling's answer is: keep pace with the times and open standards. He believes that the formulation of any standard should have two points: one is scientific, and the other is advanced. Standards should not be retrogressive, but sustainable.
As for collectors, Huang Dayun's views may be more representative.
He pointed out that, in fact, the standards are mainly aimed at external professionals and collectors. Because more consumers and primary collectors are too superstitious about the word "mahogany", it is easy to be used by these two words. Therefore, it is inevitable to be deceived. In fact, the change of mahogany standards rarely affects the judgment of real collectors, but it affects people who don't know much about mahogany. Therefore, to remind primary collectors to choose contemporary mahogany for collection, we must first understand the category of mahogany.
As for the newly-added tree species, it is different from the traditional mahogany which has been in China for more than 600 years, and it has only been about 20 years. Because it has not been verified by history, the characteristics of these tree species have not been fully understood. Whether new tree species can preserve their value and become collectibles needs further verification. It is generally believed that the rosewood worthy of collection is mainly used since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which has been verified by history, has room for preservation and appreciation, and can be passed down from generation to generation, such as Huang Huali and rosewood. Ancient mahogany furniture has high collection value because of its historical and cultural significance of materials, crafts and accessories. In contemporary mahogany furniture, those things that are produced in a large number by semi-mechanized methods and have weak technology and culture often lack a collection foundation.
Huang Dayun said: "The craftsmanship, scarcity and preservation of mahogany furniture are the most important signs, and they are also the characteristics that make it a collection. Once these qualities are lost, they have to be removed from the collection sequence. The mahogany standard may provide a reference for the collection and purchase of mahogany, but it is definitely not a decisive factor. "