The story behind the logo.
When trying to come up with a business name and image, I found it very difficult to create a name that would truly represent my mission. How can word represent what I do with my own hands, body and soul? My work is me, I thought, and my purpose is to always try my very best, at all times, to bring harmony, beauty and balance in everything I do, including healing. Therefore, my mission is my promise to always strive do my best - in who I am and what I do. My best to listen, treat and bring relief to every patient I see in my practice.
That became my moto, my bright promise.
Interestingly enough, my name ‘’Gilbert’’ comes from 2 words in the Germanic tradition : ‘’gisil’’ for pledge and ‘’berth’ for bright. Simply put, gilbert means bright promise.
Since my work and studies are based on Traditional Chinese Medicine, it’s only fitting that I would find a way to interpret my mission in this context. Enters M. Liankui Zhang, a skillful artist, calligrapher, painter and translator in Montréal’s Chinatown. I was curious to turn my name into a traditional Chinese seal, like the ones used to sign art. Since a direct translation was not possible (my name obviously means absolutely nothing in Chinese) and I was not satisfied with simply having it phonetically translated, we agreed it had to be done through meaning. M. Zhang introduced me to the idiom ‘’a promise is worth 1000 ounces of gold’’ - the promise of honesty. We thought it was fitting with Gilbert meaning bright promise, so M. Zhang carved the expression onto a piece of marble in traditional Chinese block letters. If you book a needle-less treatment with me, you’ll see that I use traditional red paste to ‘’sign & seal’’ the receipt.
I’ve always been fascinated by traditional art forms and I’m grateful to M. Zhang to have helped me bring some Traditional Chinese art to my acupuncture practice, name and logo.
Galerie de Chine (514) 878-2116
94 A, De la Gauchetière Ouest, 2e étage
Montréal, Québec, H2Z 1C1
‘’A promise is worth 1000 ounces of gold’’ comes from the story of a general named Ji Bu who was known for being courageous and honest. Legend has it that whenever Ji Bu made a promise, the would spare no efforts to fulfill it. Such a virtue of honesty earned him a good reputation, and a saying widely spread : it is better to have a promise from Ji bu than to get hundreds of ounces of gold.
The saying is distilled to the idiom. It was later on used to describe a person as honest as the general.
Honesty has always been a traditional virtue in China. Despite the passage of time, honesty has been passed down as a mainstream value and embodied in countless tales throughout China’s history.
