Shangfang Large Seal Script Building Block

Press Kit

Unique Properties

Shangfang Large Seal Script is an educational building block set inspired by the ancient Chinese classic enlightened reading material The Book of Family Names which can be dated back to 1000 years ago, a toy joined by mortise and tenon. This technique has been handed down and developed for more than 7000 years till now. Immersing in the fun of building bricks, players are guided to admire the immense historical heritage and unique culture of China over the past thousand years.

Dimensions & Packaging

308mm*308mm*133mm

Tags

Building blocks, puzzle, text, culture, splicing

Production Technology

The product is fabricated from customized gold masterbatch featuring good color uniformity, tiny color difference in batches and no contamination, which is more consistent with the needs of sustainable design. The ABS molded material is superior in overall properties, impact strength and good chemical stability. Once made, it is recyclable and reusable with good sustainability.

Design Challenge

Referring to a collection of information about over 500 family names in The Book of Family Names, and the available historical data of Shangfang Large Seal Script, the characters of the desired family names were resigned and the font structures were reclassified. The combined use of mortise and tenon technique led to a creative design and development of a new piece and insert structure and made production viable. Frankly this is a very complicated and heavy loaded engineering work.

Project Duration

The project kicked off in January 2023 in Beijing. It is expected to wrap up in October 2023 and release to market in June 2024.

Operation Flow

Different types and sizes of foundation blocks and connectors are required depending on the strokes and positions. The arrangement of joints disposed along different directions on five sides of a foundation block allows players to build bricks according to the desired shapes.

Research

The Book of Family Names denotes the typical culture of China’s family names with an immense role in the hand-down of family names and the understanding of characters for thousands of years; Shangfang Large Seal Script is a kind of ancient Chinese seal script with prime time appearing in the Tang and Song dynasties, a script known for its gorgeous strokes and orderly layout; mortise and tenon is a traditional structural joining technique applied in ancient Chinese architecture.

Inspiration

Toys offer the best way for children to stimulate interest, develop creativity and interaction, and equip themselves with knowledge and skills through practical experience. Toys immensely infused with traditional Chinese culture would help children visually understand and memorize traditional cultural knowledge. Traditional Chinese culture can also help children gain pride and identity, foster keen interest and respect for Chinese culture, and enhance their artistic culture.

Colors of Shangfang Large Seal Script Building Block