In Taiwan, traditional industries are filled with small, family-run businesses that encounter many of the same problems. One is the problem of succession - of founders handing off the business to children who may not be inclined to the job. Another is keeping up with the times, since business run by families can develop the tendency to resist change. Today in our Sunday special report, we turn to an unlikely success story in Tainan. When two sisters took over their father''s metal-working factory, many expected their business to fold. Yet against all odds, they steered the business out of a dying industry, tapping into the high-end art market with a line of elegant tableware. Today, let''s take a look at how they made sheet metal fashionable.

In this factory, technicians are busy blanking, laser cutting, and milling using high-precision machines.

Two sisters are in charge of this metal factory.

Lin Wei-ti confidently walks through this metal factory, explaining what happens in each and every corner of the business. It’s a veritable castle built by her father, and Lin had an upbringing like a princess. When her father became ill and died four years ago, she and her sister felt unmoored and cast adrift.

Lin Wei-ti
Sheet metal company CEO
My father passed away in August, and by September I was already facing a big problem. In August, we were already hearing rumors that clients wouldn’t have confidence in a sheet metal factory run by a woman. By September, roughly half our customers abandoned us. Some of our employees started to wonder whether the company was stable. So, half of them left too.

Lin Wan-i
Sheet metal company assistant manager
There really were a lot of rumors and unfounded gossip. Some former employees even came back to see if we were still operating.

The two sisters knew that sheet metal fabrication was a sunset industry. They also faced resignations from employees and the loss of orders. These sisters had little hands-on experience with milling, welding and sheet metal. They were wracked with doubt as they faced the prospect of running their father’s business.

Lin Wei-ti
Sheet metal company CEO
Almost every evening after we got off work, we would drive to the beach in Anping District in Tainan. The two of us would order beer and after that, sit on the beach eating soy-braised snacks and drink beer. The two of us would cry and talk.

Lin Wei-ti, the older sister, had studied art and design in school. She began to think about how to turn cold steel into the art pieces that she understood so well. She thought about small steps she could take to overturn old ways of doing things.

A great deal of metal material is left over after steel cutting. This surplus became the starting point for Lin Wei-ti’s venture.

Cheng Wei-ting
Sheet metal company manager
Before, after we designed and finished each cut, we would throw out the leftover material. If we didn’t do any follow-up processing on that material, we would transport all of it to a scrap metal plant.

Eager to transform leftover material into works of art, Lin Wei-ti brought in a young team of designers and they put their minds to work.

Yang I-sheng
Sheet metal company designer
The inspiration for the design came around Mid-Autumn Festival. It was when we were cutting sheets, and there were a lot of small leftover pieces. As it was close to Mid-Autumn Festival, we began thinking they could be used as dessert plates.

When it came to turning scrap metal into a serving plate, the problem was that people were already so used to white porcelain crockery, leaving little room for metal plates to enter the market. So Lin Wei-ti took a different tack: She decided to target the high-end consumer.

Lin Wei-ti
Sheet metal company CEO
I insisted that the products be high quality. I hoped to reach customers at the very top of the social pyramid. For example, we targeted Michelin-starred restaurants. Their chefs are themselves very artistic, so they were able to appreciate our products very much. You have to identify the right customer base and put out the best product you can. That way you can lock in your own patch of turf and discover your own path.

Once the coordinates were set, the factory embarked on its journey of transformation. One corner of the facility was set aside as a design area.

Yang I-sheng
Sheet metal company designer
We tried out different thicknesses: 0.1 centimeters, 0.15, 0.2, and 0.18. We experimented to find the thickness that would give the sense of heft and quality. You can observe for yourself. The ripples here have a bit of edge to them. That’s to achieve the feeling we were after. So we tried lots of different approaches. From start to finish, it must have been about nine to

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