I spent two months in the very modern factory city of Shangyu China http://www.shangyuceladon.com/en/profile.aspx searching for my romantic version of China. Housed in a hotel next to three large malls I took daily hikes through the city streets searching for silk, ceramics, and old world crafts people, anything that could satisfy my imagination. What I wanted was long gone replaced by synthetics, plastic, and Adidas. Street sweepers, gardeners, sweet sellers, and ad hoc food vendors became my window to the old world. Tasks that harkened back to a feudal society. I became focused on the ubiquitous Chinese gardeners hat and kept asking where I could find them. Certainly not at the mall! There wasn’t a hardware store to be found. Finally someone found me one. Obsessed with its form and material I had to make a mold of it. It felt like an object that should be prized and immortalized. In these crazy Covid 19 times it feels even more valuable as it is a symbol of people who work the earth and garden.