Carving out a fruitful career

Suzhou fruit pit art has absorbed the artistic essence of stone, jade, wood, bamboo and micro carving, Zhu says.

"On the premise of maintaining the shape of the fruit pit, the carvings stand out for their precision, fineness, strangeness and cleverness, presenting unique local characteristics," she says.

"As a young artisan, I'd like to create my own world in the small space provided by the fruit pits."

Born and bred in Guangfu, a small town near Taihu Lake, Zhu was exposed to traditional art forms from an early age.

Her hometown boasts a long tradition of fruit pit, jade, Buddha and sandalwood carvings.

"I have relatives who engage in those arts," she says.

Zhu developed a predisposition toward handiwork and has learned to play musical instruments, including the guzheng (Chinese zither), a plucked stringed instrument.

She made her way to Nanjing University of the Arts in 2012, focusing on art and design.

It was during one summer vacation that the college student stumbled upon the challenge and charm of fruit pit carving.

At that time, she visited Xu Zhongying, a national fruit pit carving inheritor, with the intention of re-creating some of her own paintings on the fruit pits－she thought, at the time, that fruit pit carving was not that hard.