1993 Tan Chuanhua founded CARPENTER TAN as a tiny woodworking shop in the Chinese province Chongqing. Despite his disability, Mr. Tan lost his right arm in a fishing accident, the company grew rapidly and today operates 1250 franchise stores in China including flagship stores abroad. With great artistic skill, CARPENTER TAN manufactures an impressive range of traditional and modern wood combs. For Chinese people, wood combs have a high prestige value, as they are part of their cultural identity and a symbol for their close relationship to nature. CARPENTER TAN is one of the few Chinese owned premium brands in the luxury segment with a keen sense of social responsibility. 40 % of its workforce are people with handicaps and the company claim: “Honesty, Hard Work, Happiness“ is an integral part of its everyday business life.

The cooperation between DESIGN PLANET and CARPENTER TAN began in 2005. Since then, many combs and small artistic wooden objects like vases, trays and jewelry boxes were created. Many trips to China helped to establish a relationship of mutual trust and respect. A good example for this successful joint venture is the recently designed jewelry collection in wood and silver. The design is deeply inspired by the Chinese landscape and is a perfect showcase of the unique combination of Chinese craftsmanship and state-of-the-art processing techniques.

In order to create a consistent product experience CARPENTER TAN asked us to also take on the retail design for their flagship stores as well as the packaging design. This comprehensive cooperation demonstrates well the sustainability aspects of our work and how we generate an added value for our clients.