Mr Kong is not just a senior employee at imondi; he is our most recognized carpenter and has been with imondi since 1999. Growing up in the small town of Xia Hei in the province of Gansu, Mr. Kong is the root to our creations. He is the mastermind behind every piece of wood we craft, all thanks to his admiration for nature.
If is possible to sit down and have a 5 minute chat with Mr. Kong, it would be at his desk inside the workshop. Sitting on the edge, you would get a glance of his lacquer finish wooden desk against the back of the room. On top, you would see a silver cup with pencils of all lengths, a notebook tied up with a gentle strip of yarn, and a 92-year-old hammer. He first words would be- “life is too short to question one’s natural skills.”
For Mr. Kong, carpentry has always been a natural skill, he proudly claims. At an early age, he used his mother’s scissors to carve fun shapes out of small tree branches. Although his father was not a carpenter, he was Mr. Kong’s inspiration to make extremely creative furniture. His masterpiece, as he calls it, was a drawer cabinet he and his father made for his mom at 16 years of age. It was then when Mr. Kong met face to face with his first piece of genuine walnut wood.
When it comes to skill, dedication and creativity, Mr. Kong continuously inspires us all. He says, “The wood is like an empty canvas. You can make of it what ever you want, but you cannot change it for what it is.”
He referred to the fact that it’s important to appreciate wood by leaving it in a natural state. Some people think that wood is more of a tool than a living thing, which is a belief Mr. Kong disagrees with.
He goes as far as saying “ The wood can be stubborn! But, if you treat it with respect, the wood will allow you to make of it whatever your vision allows. It has been almost a decade that Robin and Mr. Kong are like family.
© 2016 IMONDI FLOORING
