Gold Packaging Design · 2021
Chinese Mooncake Packaging
- A' Design Award 2021 Gold Winner in Packaging Design
- Awarded April 15, 2021
- CLIENT: Litete Brand Design
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 34,776
- Verification code 4DDFABE107 · Verify this award
About Chinese Mooncake Packaging
Chinese Mooncake is a gift box designed for mooncakes offered during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The outer box follows the form of a traditional Chinese food box. An embroidery-style illustration shows an aerial view of a banquet of the Tang Dynasty, including wooden architecture and dancers. Each part of the illustration is separated by die-cutting and then joined again, so the packaging gains depth and layers. The inner box presents dance movements from Rainbow Skirt and Feather Coat, combined with classical Chinese colors such as royal purple and bamboo green.
Langcer Lee's Chinese Mooncake Packaging represents a remarkable achievement in contemporary packaging design that elevates functional product presentation into the realm of collectible dimensional art, drawing upon centuries-old traditions of paper craftsmanship and scroll painting aesthetics while employing innovative layered construction techniques. The design positions itself within the distinguished lineage of theatrical shadow box presentations and traditional paper-cut artistry, transforming the act of gift-giving into an immersive visual narrative experience that honors cultural heritage while demonstrating sophisticated modern design sensibilities. The technical accomplishment evident in the seven-layer dimensional construction creates genuine spatial depth through precisely calibrated paper engineering, with each plane contributing to an atmospheric progression from the cinnabar-framed viewing portal through elaborately detailed architectural elements to the luminous nocturnal backdrop. The chromatic program demonstrates exceptional sensitivity, balancing the auspicious warmth of red and gold tones associated with celebration and prosperity against cooler blue draperies and the contemplative indigo of evening sky, while strategically positioned warm highlights from rendered lanterns create focal emphasis and suggest intimate festive illumination. The iconographic content depicts a ceremonial gathering within palatial architecture, with figures arranged in hierarchical composition around a central noble presence, attended by servants engaged in ceremonial activities that evoke traditions of reunion and shared celebration beneath the symbolic full moon. The design succeeds in transforming packaging from mere protective function into meaningful cultural artifact, inviting extended contemplation of both technical virtuosity and thematic significance. One might consider how such dimensional presentation reimagines the relationship between container and contained, suggesting that the vessel itself carries cultural meaning equal to its precious contents.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The gift box is based on an aerial layout and embroidery drawing that represents a Tang Dynasty banquet. It also highlights this dynasty's magnificent wooden architecture and reproduces Yang Guifei's graceful dance movements. The inner box was designed based on dance movements from Rainbow Skirt and Feather Coat. This was combined with classical Chinese colors such as royal purple and bamboo green to reflect the Tang Dynasty's grandeur, the Chinese classics'elegance, and wishes for a happy life.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Outer box size:340mmx220mmx55mm
Inner box size:85mmx85mmx38mm - Tags
- Moon cake packaging, Chinese traditional culture, Tang Dynasty, classical, Mid-Autumn Festival
- Production Technology
- The gift box is based on an aerial layout and embroidery drawing that represents a Tang Dynasty banquet. Each part of the illustration is separated by die-cutting, and the final packaging is more layered.
- Design Challenge
- The difficulty of this design is that there are few records about the neon clothes and feather dance, and it is more difficult to restore the architecture, costumes, makeup, musical instruments, and dance poses. Even so, we checked many documents, which greatly restored the scene at that time.
- Project Duration
- The project started in Tianjin in July 2020, completed in Tianjin in August 2020, and exhibited in Tianjin in September 2020.
- Operation Flow
- The outer box as a whole is a traditional Chinese food box style, using a three-dimensional paper sculpture to separate the characters and scenes through die cutting, and then collage them into a complete illustration, which increases the sense of hierarchy and space of the packaging. The inner box combines the opening with the packaging illustration. The entire tongue part adopts the style of traditional Chinese typography, forming a natural division. When the consumer opens the box, a complete illustration pops up in front of them.
- Research
- The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festival celebrated in China. It gained widespread popularity in the Tang Dynasty and became a nationwide holiday. According to legend, the Tang Emperor Xuan Zong dreamt he had traveled to the Palace of the Moon, where he saw celestial women, clothed in feathers and rosy clouds dancing in the sky. After the Emperor awoke, his favourite concubine Yang Guifei, renowned as one of the four most beautiful women in Chinese history, choreographed and performed the famous dance, 'Rainbow Skirt and Feathered Coat,'according to the Emperor's recollection.
- Inspiration
- In order to reproduce the magnificent scenery of the Tang Dynasty palace, this design was created after consultig many historical documents, viewing images of murals at Dunhuang, and visiting ancient buildings from the Tang Dynasty to use these aspects as the basis for creating a design to restore the Tang Dynasty's historical prosperity.
- Image Credits
- Image #No1 : Photographer Jiang Tao,The Moon in the Tang Dynasty,2020.
Image #No2 : Photographer Jiang Tao,The Moon in the Tang Dynasty,2020.
Image #No3 : Photographer Jiang Tao,The Moon in the Tang Dynasty,2020.
Image #No4 : Photographer Jiang Tao,The Moon in the Tang Dynasty,2020.
Image #No5 : Photographer Jiang Tao,The Moon in the Tang Dynasty,2020. - Patents
- Copyrights belong to Langcer Lee, 2020.