Procured from Kunming timber yards, shaped by Yunnan hands
The cedar comes from Kunming’s Xishan timber market — planks cut from 40-year-old Cunninghamia lanceolata, felled under forestry bureau licensing. Unlike the flashy zitan or hongmu, Yunnan cedar is a practical choice for pu’er storage: its natural oils repel insects and slowly exchange moisture with the air, mimicking the microclimate of a Jinggu aging room. The order was held back until monsoon peak passed, then the lumber was air-dried for eighteen months in a shaded warehouse at 1,900 m elevation, letting the wood’s internal tension settle.
The joinery design came from a local carpenter who builds monastery chá pán tables. He insisted on through-tenons without glue — only bamboo pegs and two iron nails per shelf, aligning with the ceremony principle that materials should return to earth. Each tray slides out for cleaning, with a 2 mm gap to prevent cake wrappers from touching walls. The first prototype was tested with a row of 2015 Jingmai sheng cakes; after six months, the wrap paper still smelled of dry forest floor, no must.
This 12-cake shelf is the result of that trial. Every unit carries the carpenter’s chop mark and a procurement tag. It’s not just furniture, but a stable partner for your aging collection.