By Alexander Dworkowitz
On any given day, the Crystal Window & Door Systems factory in College Point is bustling.
Hundreds of workers, most of them Asian and Hispanic immigrants, assemble windows and doors on the factory floor, which makes up the greater part of the 165,000-square-foot facility that opened in October. Thomas Chen, the president of the company, has expressed pride in the work ethic of his employees as well as his own.
On Friday, Chen opened up the newest segment of the factory.
But this space is not full of complicated machinery or frantic employees. Instead it is an art gallery.
Before a crowd of Crystal employees, businessmen, politicians, and art lovers, Chen unveiled an exhibit of more than 100 pieces of wooden doors and windows from China. Some of the works dated back to the Ming dynasty and were nearly 500 years old.
“We feel Chinese windows are the most complex in the world,” said Chen, referring to the intricate patterns in the windows.
As they listened to music playing softly in the background, the crowd examined the pieces. Acquired by Chen from 26 cities across China over the last several years, the windows and doors varied in design. Some were strictly geometrical floral patterns, while others contained intricately carved birds, dragons and fish. All of the windows and doors were wood interior pieces, dividing one room from another in Chinese homes.
“It’s perfect,” said Qin Zhou, curator of the exhibit, as he pointed to his favorite piece. “It’s so complete and perfect.”
Ying Jie Chu, an employee at Crystal who helped translate for Zhou, explained that some of the pieces contained hidden meanings. She pointed to a circular window in which a dragon and a phoenix sparred in the center. Chu said the dragon and phoenix, when turned upside down, revealed a Chinese character.
“When you turn it over, it means happiness,” she said.
In a speech, Chen told the crowd of the importance of the pieces.
“We feel obligated to bring the Chinese windows into North America,” he said.
Twenty years ago, however, Chen was far from owning a factory and an art gallery.
In 1982, Chen emigrated from Taiwan at the age of 27. Having little money, he began working as a truck driver in Manhattan’s garment district.
Chen later came to Flushing, where he and his wife became superintendents of an apartment building. With crime at high levels, the tenants of the building wanted window bars. Soon they began to ask Chen to replace windows.
In 1990, Chen, his wife and another business partner entered the window business. Chen opened up a factory on Maple Avenue off College Point Boulevard. Business grew quickly, and within a decade Chen’s replacement of window bars had become a $37 million business, one of the largest producers of replacement vinyl and aluminum windows in the country.
He moved the business to larger headquarters in College Point off the Whitestone Expressway last fall.
Chen said he acquired the historic windows and doors in order to learn about the older techniques of the craft, hoping to employ some of those techniques to the designs he uses in the factory.
“It’s my stupid idea!” he joked.
Chen’s personal collection, however, is just the first exhibit for the gallery.
Robert Nyman, an executive consultant for Crystal, said the 2,200-square-foot space eventually will be used to house exhibitions of work by art students from the Flushing area. Nyman said Crystal was planning to establish a foundation to award scholarships for Flushing artists.
The Crystal factory is located at 31-10 Whitestone Expressway. The gallery is open to the public on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Reach reporter Alexander Dworkowitz by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 141.
