FLOWER PLAQUE
SPARKLE pays homage to the traditional Chinese flower plaque (“faa-pai”), stylishly revitalizing this Intangible Cultural Heritage with contemporary graphic design aesthetic in the traditional Chinese festive colors of bold red-yellow-green, to create a funky and playful pattern that radiates with joy and festivity, and is at once retro and trendy.
Listed as a HK Intangible Cultural Heritage, the auspicious Chinese flower plaque is a traditional Chinese folk handicraft made of bamboo scaffolding, paper, fabric and plastic in red and fluorescent colors, depicting Chinese dragons, phoenixes, flowers, and blessings written in Chinese calligraphy, and built as a sign of prosperity, luck and happiness to celebrate festivals, weddings and store openings. Popular in the 1950’s-1980’s, in the age before cell phones and internet, flower plaques could be commonly seen on the streets of HK, announcing jubilant events to passersby; in the past 30 years, flower plaques have faded from the city scene, and only found in walled villages and temples. At present, there are only a few “see-foo” (master craftsmen) left who still possess the skill and the passion for this time-honored handicraft.
