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Ink paint jelly: Mixing culture and playfulness together
Ink-paint jelly (墨戲仙草 Mò xì xiān cǎo) is an art piece that plays with traditions of Taiwanese dining culture to make the national treasures appear in people’s everyday life.
Culture design
3D modeling
Patented product
Company
National Palace Museum Taiwan
Project year
2019
My role
Visual designer
Team member
Bei-En, Wang 王蓓恩

Project story
Add some playfulness in the culture!
Pure white fills in the gaps between the landscaped-like surface of the black jelly, bringing out spectacular grey tones using contrast. It shows us the meaning of a traditional proverb of ink painting - “leaving blank to fulfill poetiness”. The flowing clouds, lights, shades, mountains and waters on the popular local snack - xiān cǎo, walk into our life and shrink down the distance between common people and Taiwanese national treasures.
How to play with?
By shaping the container, xiān cǎo becomes an un-finished ink-painting. The consumers can slowly pour the creamer, completing the painting, which originally was added to give extra flavor. Not only does the creamer complete the painting but it also lets people enjoy the moment when ink-black meets pure white. The colors highlight each other, the creamer no longer plays a role as a supplement of the dessert but stands in the spotlight instead.

Gallery





Outcome & Impact
1st place of National palace souvenir design contest
This project has received Taiwan National Palace museum design award and the product is selling in the museum restaurant.
A patented product
This product was in production in 2019. Was widely sold in 7-11 and local supermarket in Taiwan.
Social media trend
Ink-Paint-Jelly drove a trend on Instagram when it first launch on the market.
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