Zhuxian Town Wood-block prints
Overview
This project selects several representative New Year Prints with auspicious meanings, extracts their artistic characteristics of them into modern design, and creates character branding with the characteristics of Zhu Xian town woodblock New Year prints. With the branding's strong communication characteristics, I want to raise people's awareness of Zhuxian town woodblock prints, attract more people's attention, and protect the inheritance of the excellent traditional culture of non-heritage.
My contribution
Brand Selection Background Research Visual Design Character Branding Design Application Exhibition
The team
Kelly Sun
Year
April, 2022
Background
New Year wood-block prints in Zhuxian Town is not only one of the traditional handiworks of the Ethnic Han, but also the beginning of Chinese wood-block prints, which originated from the Tang Dynasty and prospered during the Song Dynasty, becoming wide-spread in Kaifeng, Henan Province, Zhuxian Town and the surrounding areas.
Zhuxian Town New Year wood-block prints are very particular about the colors used. Raw materials such as minerals and plants are manually ground into special pigments with a very pure color. The designs of the woodcut paintings are abundant with bright colors and vivid characters, though the lines are simple and the styles are pristine and exaggerated and themes are often inspired by a wide range of vivid figures in popular folk tales, myths, legends and dramas. In 2006, it was added to China' s official list for national intangible cultural heritage.
Kaifeng has excavated and sorted out over two hundred and twenty old woodblocks, reprinted over three hundred old paintings, and has done a lot of extra work to protect the traditional New Year wood-block prints. However, at present most of the old artists are at a senior age, and their skills are in danger of extinction, with the traditional pigment grinding method using minerals and plants known to few people. Without timely protection, Zhuxian Town New Year wood-block prints are likely to become extinct.
Design Iteration
Design Application
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