Failed violin project kindles Andrick Li's passion for making chopsticks

Andrick Li starts and ends his day by shaping chopsticks, and said the process was relaxing.

Photo: Ke-Xin Li / RNZ

Andrick Li never thought he would be making chopsticks in New Zealand.

Every year, he makes 2000 pairs of them using matai in his Auckland workshop, QWood Studio.

While the process was slow and manual, Li said it was all worth it for creating the perfect eating experience.

"As Chinese, we're so used to using chopsticks so we don't really think about how it's made, but when you actually try to make it, you'll realise that the most traditional designs has its own reasons."

To feel comfortable in hand, chopsticks need to be thin at one end and thick at the other, and the ridges must be smooth.

To grip food easily, the tip had to be round, but to make sure the chopsticks didn't roll all over the place when you lay them down, the upper end must be square.

While the sticks might be small, Li said making them was hard work.

The process involves more than 10 steps and most of it is manual work that cannot be replaced by machines.

"You know a chopstick is very thin, so the small machine cannot hold it stable," he said. "When the electric machine makes it shake, the surface [of the chopsticks] cannot be very smooth."

While most of the products in QWood Studio are made with rimu or totara, the chopsticks are matai.

Photo: Ke-Xin Li/RNZ

Making chopsticks wasn't Li's idea. He made souvenirs like wood-covered notebooks, fridge magnets and bookmarks, when a customer approached him, asking if he knew how to make chopsticks.

While Li could carve intricate figurines, he did not know how to make chopsticks, but he decided to give it a try.

The attempt ended up being a year spent on coming up with a process that could make perfect chopsticks efficiently.

While most of the process used standard saws, rigs and planers, Li had to create a few handmade tools to help him achieve the chopsticks' ideal shape.

The wood was important too.

In Li's workshop, totara and rimu were the most common native timber used to make souvenirs such as coasters and notebooks, but he chose matai for the chopsticks.

Andrick Li created many tools to help him shape the perfect chopsticks.

Photo: Ke-Xin Li / RNZ

"First, the chopstick should touch the food and matai is rich of oil, so it can resist against the water. If you wash it, it is also sustainable for washing, so it lasts a long time."

As a relatively dense wood, matai can withstand washing and it doesn't absorb flavours as softer woods do, making it a perfect choice for an eating utensil.

Despite all the effort, Li did not foresee how much demand there was for chopsticks as souvenirs.

"In fact, I was very surprised that handmade chopsticks can be sold in New Zealand, because you know, as Oriental people, we never buy one pair or two pairs of chopsticks, we will buy dozens."

The utensils are sold as souvenirs at about $20 per pair. While they are more expensive than regular chopsticks, the demand for them is always more than the 1000-2000 pairs that Li could make every year and he hopes to outsource some of the production.

Most of his day is spent making the other types of souvenirs, but Li has found chopsticks making fitting perfectly into his routine.

"Normally, when I wake up, the first thing is maybe make some chopsticks and thinking all this work, and sometimes at night, when everything is done and I have nothing to do, I just make some chopsticks to relax."

The most time-consuming step in chopsticks making was using two hand planers to shape the sticks, but Li said he enjoyed it - a rare step in the woodworking studio with low noise and little dust.

Andrick Li never thought one day he would be making chopsticks in New Zealand.

Photo: Ke-Xin Li / RNZ

Li did not train professionally as a woodworker and making souvenirs with native wood wasn't his original plan, when he moved his family to New Zealand in 2018.

Trained as an IT engineer, woodworking was his hobby growing up.

When he was in China working for corporate, the hobby was a refuge for him after long workdays.

"I tried to make a violin myself, but in China, people just live in the apartment. The only place I can do it is just on the balcony.

"Finally, I didn't make the violin, because you need to get too many tools, but after my first son was born, I used the [same] tools to make a chair for him."

He had a taste of running his own business in China, first attempts with custom furniture didn't go well.

Chopsticks must be shaped to the perfect angle.

Photo: Ke-Xin Li / RNZ

Then he had a taste of success manufacturing personalised engraved pencils, selling hundreds of thousands pencils a year.

In 2018, he moved his family to New Zealand to pursue a different lifestyle.

His plan was to find a job as an IT engineer, but graduation met with Covid-19 lockdowns and the job market was not in his favour.

"During the lockdown time, I had nothing to do," he said. "I found some timber from a chopped down tree in our backyard, so I try to use the timber to do some carving and make a wood notebook."

He soon received an order to make 400 of those notebook and the business kicked off from there.

Li is now happy with his success and hopes to outsource some of the manufacturing to meet demand.

If you're a keen woodworker and have a strong attention to detail, perhaps you would like to give chopsticks making a go.