Chen’s husband is Chen Yi-hsi, the third-generation leader of the ­Chang Yi Yuan Glove Puppetry Troupe. Back in 1989, some fellow puppeteers asked Yi-hsi to begin building and repairing puppets. He recalls: “The main reason was that with the lifting of martial law, Taiwanese society experienced a ‘retro’ moment in which people began seeking out ‘old Taiwan.’ People wanted to go back to doing traditional, old-school glove puppetry.” But after the decades-long hiatus, very few masters of the style remained. The puppeteers eventually sought ­out Chang Yi Yuan, which had preserved the style, and led Chen Yi-hsi to take up the manufacture of traditional puppets.

Versatile Taiwanese chintz can be used to make a variety of everyday goods. The picture shows a deer-themed lampshade.

Chang Yi Yuan caught the eye of the general public when it opened a glove-puppet stand at an Eslite bookstore. Chen ­Tsung-ping pitched in as well, packaging the shop’s puppets in fashionable handbags she designed using so-called “grandma coverlet” chintz fabrics. “We had many many young girls coming to the shop asking to buy our chintz handbags.” She laughs at the memory because she’d created the bags to package the puppets, not for individual sale. She’d never imagined that consumers would be interested in the bags themselves.

The response piqued Chen’s curiosity: what were the origins of Taiwanese chintz fabrics, and how many designs were there? She first became familiar with the patterns used by her husband’s family for their puppet stages. “There’s always a skirt of fabric encircling the base of a puppet stage. They’re called ‘stage wraps,’ and when I really looked at them, I realized they had the same patterns as my grandmother’s coverlets.” Seeing coverlet fabrics used this way, she began to wonder what other non-traditional uses you could put them to. But there was also a potential problem: how many designs still existed?

In 2006, Chen began a field survey of Taiwanese chintz. She started in Tainan, talking to the owners of old fabric and blanket shops. “They were the only kinds of places where you could still buy Taiwanese chintz.”

Chen conducted her survey, which she paid for out of her own pocket, for more than four years. She purchased samples of some 708 designs along the way, building a comprehensive private collection of Taiwanese chintz. Many items in her collection are “out of print.” Once ubiquitous, these patterns will remain “lost” until someone decides to reproduce them.

Chen Tsung-ping began designing costumes for puppets after marrying into a Changhua family famous for its puppetry. Those designs led her into the world of fabrics. The photos show various puppets by Chang Yi Fang.

But the patterns aren’t exclusively floral. Chen notes that Japan’s influence led to Taiwanese chintzes based on Japanese ukiyo-e (“floating world”) paintings.

Chen ­Tsung-ping and her husband went on to open a small shop named ­Chang Yi Fang (“Chang­hua Arts Studio”) on Tai­pei’s Yong­kang Street. Their hard-to-spot shop sells printed fabrics and puppets, and is patronized by large numbers of Japanese tourists. In fact, Chen says, “­Chang Yi Fang’s clientele is 80% Japanese.” Reports on their shop on Japanese TV and in Japanese magazines have made it popular with Japanese travelers, who often wonder aloud at the little shop’s wealth of Japanese-style fabrics.

Chen says that Taiwanese floral prints have long exhibited a mix-and-match aesthetic. “The patterns incorporate elements from around the world, drawing on different periods and artistic styles.” So don’t be surprised if you see a Russian castle popping up in the middle of a floral pattern, or young deer wandering a verdant bamboo forest. “These prints show that Taiwan has long understood how to draw on international sources,” argues Chen.

There’s no way the designers and users of the Taiwanese chintz fabrics of 50 or 60 years ago could have imagined how well they would come to fit in at everything from formal banquets to casual parties in the present day. Chen warns against thinking of the fabrics as frumpy and old-fashioned, noting that the designs were fashionable when they were created. Modern “subversions” recontextualize the prints, removing them from their histories to make them fresh again. Chen believes there are still many more patterns to be created.

Chen Tsung-ping began designing costumes for puppets after marrying into a Changhua family famous for its puppetry. Those designs led her into the world of fabrics. The photos show various puppets by Chang Yi Fang.

The Chens have been making fewer puppets since shutting down their Eslite counter, and have shifted to producing high-end made-to-order items. Nowadays, ­Chang Yi Fang’s product line is built around items crafted from Taiwanese chintz, and includes everything from stationery and purses to household accessories. But Chen Yi-hsi still believes that glove puppets are among the most uniquely Taiwanese products on the market, whether for gifts or home décor. And since each of the handmade puppets is associated with particular legends and cultural allusions, they make great collectibles as well. Chen nonetheless worries that there are fewer and fewer artisans capable of making traditional puppets. “It may well end with my generation,” he says sadly.

On the other hand, chintz fabrics have hit the big time once again, making it likely that the art will be passed on. But Chen Tsung-ping still has concerns. She observes that for all that Taiwan’s creative and cultural industries have been making extensive use of the fabrics as a creative element, they’ve generally stuck to red peony types of patterns. “Taiwanese chintzes possess a diverse, organic life, and a wealth of different aesthetics,” says Chen, who worries that catering to the masses is narrowing their stylistic range. She hopes that designers will begin to branch out, drawing on the currents of culture, history and aesthetics to bring about a new flowering of Taiwanese chintz fabrics.

Old-style vacuum flasks are another eye-catching Chang Yi Fang product, and their handmade bags make great packaging for gifts.

Chang Yi Fang is filled with highly designed products. Chen says that 80% of her customers are Japanese and that Japanese TV programs have sent correspondents to Taiwan specially to interview her.

Old-style vacuum flasks are another eye-catching Chang Yi Fang product, and their handmade bags make great packaging for gifts.