TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese taxidermist Huang Wen-chieh (黃雯杰) is the focus of a newly released short documentary in the “Soul of the Craftsman” series, produced by the General Association of Chinese Culture and distributed on major online platforms.

Huang earned a place in the series after becoming the first Taiwanese to win a blue ribbon in the masters category at the US World Taxidermy Championships. His award-winning entry depicted a female muntjac and her fawn in the wild.

He said a lifelong love of ecology and animals led him to teach himself taxidermy while studying life sciences, starting with birds and later importing pelts to refine his skills.

Huang said the craft demands patience, repetition, and a firm grasp of anatomy. His finished works are known for lifelike details down to muscle texture, wrinkles, and veins. “It’s a combination of science and craftsmanship,” he said.

He added that results depend heavily on pelt freshness, noting the complex steps of skinning, desalting, and tanning. After once facing hair loss at the final mounting stage, he began keeping detailed records of each specimen’s time and manner of death and length of cryopreservation.

To broaden his experience, Huang travels internationally to learn new techniques. “The animal sets the size and dimensions, but the pose is up to me,” he said, adding that each pelt “talks” to him. Working on an Alaskan brown bear, he said he could read scars from past attacks.

Huang said he hopes people live fully because “once you are dead, you are dead. There’s no next life.” His works appear in exhibitions and museums around Taiwan, and he aims to let each animal “reappear” with its original vitality.

This year’s “Soul of the Craftsman” series features a range of professions, from hunters of invasive green iguanas to the military’s K9 units, highlighting artisanal skills and offering fresh perspectives on life.