How the City Flower and Jade Jade Jade Match Each Other? The Birth of Medals at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games: Picking "Guizi" from the Branch Hangzhou | Osmanthus | Branch
In the golden autumn of October, Hangzhou is filled with the fragrance of osmanthus, attracting visitors.
For athletes participating in the 4th Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, this wisp of osmanthus not only moistens their noses and lingers in their hearts, but will also be engraved in the history of Asian Para Games in a unique way——
On July 14th, at the 100 day countdown theme event of the 4th Hangzhou Asian Paralympic Games held at the Fuyang Water Sports Center, the medals of the Hangzhou Asian Paralympic Games were officially released. The name of the medal is "Guizi", derived from the famous line describing Hangzhou, "Searching for Guizi in the Mountain Temple", which embodies the artistic conception of Jiangnan and romantic colors.
"Guizi" was created by Dr. Zhou Bo, Associate Professor of the School of Industrial Design at the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts. After thorough communication with the Hangzhou Asian Disabled Persons' Organizing Committee, the design team completed the creation after two years of repeated revisions and argumentation. What kind of good wishes will this medal, which combines Liangzhu Jade and Hangzhou City Flower, bring to the athletes?
Hangzhou City Flower and Liangzhu Jade Wall
Why did they both win medals at the Asian Paralympic Games?
At the first glance of "Guizi", one will be attracted by its scattered patterns of osmanthus flowers.
The medal combines the Liangzhu Jade Wall and the Hangzhou City Flower - Osmanthus, showcasing the diversity and integration of Asian values and culture through the use of Cangbi as a gift to the sky and Huangcong as a gift to the earth. With the rich temperament of Osmanthus, it expresses the warm expectations of the host city, and the "Guizi" symbolizes the athletes' pursuit of beauty and positive progress.
The front of the medal is composed of osmanthus flowers and the emblem of the Hangzhou Asian Paralympic Games; The back is decorated with the Liangzhu God Man beast face pattern, surrounded by Braille with the Asian Paralympic Committee logo as the center, which has high recognition. The Braille interpretation is: Hangzhou 4th Asian Paralympic Games gold medal.
Why choose these two images?
Zhou Bo introduced that the Liangzhu culture has a history of about 5000 years and is a highly representative world cultural heritage site in Hangzhou. Jade bi is the most solemn ceremonial vessel in ancient China, symbolizing beautiful wishes and noble qualities. It symbolizes the combination of pearls and represents the humanistic spirit of Chinese civilization, which is harmony, coexistence, unity and cooperation. It also symbolizes reunion and beauty, and represents the integration and exchange of Asian communities with a shared future and diverse cultures.
"Guizi, also known as osmanthus, has the distinction of gold, osmanthus, silver, and osmanthus, which coincides with gold and silver medals." Zhou Bo said that osmanthus is a popular city flower among the people of Hangzhou, which is in line with the fragrance of Hangzhou's osmanthus during the Asian Para Games; At the same time, the Osmanthus element was also used on the torch "Guiguan" of the Hangzhou Asian Para Games, which is a continuation of the aesthetics of the Asian Games.
In the golden autumn of October, with the fragrance of osmanthus, we gather in Hangzhou, where the entire city is filled with fragrance due to its blooming. I think osmanthus is the best expression of imagery. In his view, the dancing and agile osmanthus flowers are scattered around the emblem of the Asian Paralympic Games. Each scattered osmanthus seed is like a medal obtained by disabled athletes who bravely move forward and challenge themselves. It also represents the sportsmanship of athletes who are optimistic, proactive, challenge themselves, strive for self-improvement, and bloom with life, reflecting the Asian Paralympic slogan of "heart to heart, dream to shine".
From branches to medals
The design team has been working on subtraction
The osmanthus on the "Guizi" is not so easily picked from the branch to the medal.
"Osmanthus generally gives the impression of being static and growing on branches, but the osmanthus we read from ancient poetry is often dynamic, such as the words' falling ',' floating ', and' falling ', indicating that in the artistic conception of ancient poetry, osmanthus broke through conventional imagery, which gave our design team great inspiration." Zhou Bo said.
Opening the design team's manuscript, it can be seen that at the beginning of the design, the plan on the medal was "static", clustered together. After several versions of modifications, it gradually began to use floating landscape design, like a fresh and pleasant bouquet falling from the branches, of different sizes, naturally falling off.
Zhou Bo said that there are over twenty design drafts revised around the core elements. Among them, multiple rounds of design research were conducted on the size, density, and floating height of osmanthus flowers. And simulation printing of medals was also carried out, and after debugging at different heights, the "Guizi" shape that everyone now sees was finally determined.
"We have taken many photos and compared the orientation and height of osmanthus with real-life osmanthus flowers. Art originates from life, and we try to come from reality instead of relying solely on imagination, and then integrate aesthetics and aesthetics into it." Zhou Bo said.
Looking back at the design process of the past three years, Zhou Bo and the design team seem to be doing subtraction.
"At the beginning, there was a lot of content to give medals. In addition to osmanthus, we also wanted to embed images such as jade cong and butterfly, as well as incorporate the fragrance of osmanthus into the medals. However, due to various reasons, they were gradually cancelled, and eventually tended to have concise and lively narrative elements. It was precisely the" self abandonment "and" separation "in each draft that created the medal image of" Guizi "with a distinct and prominent theme and a simple and atmospheric temperament.".
From "Hushan" to "Guizi"
How to Inherit the Aesthetics of Medals
There are still 100 days left until the Hangzhou Asian Para Games, and the medal "Guizi" is already being intensively produced.
The medals will be produced using techniques such as mold making, cake making, and embossing. The ribbon will be hand sewn on both sides using brocade jacquard technology, supplemented by environmentally friendly printing technology.
Among them, we have seen the Asian Games aesthetics that are in line with the Hangzhou Asian Games medal "Hushan".
For example, on the ribbon of "Guizi", a bridge shaped buckle is also used, divided into upper and lower halves. The upper part is frosted metal, and the lower part is mirrored metal, symbolizing half as a bridge and half as a reflection, highlighting the Jiangnan characteristics of water and bridge towns. The connection method of the buckle adopts the ear structure of the buckle shaft, which fixes the ribbon inside the medal and is designed as a hidden structure, making the entire appearance more concise and atmospheric.
The ribbon itself is made of real silk fabric. In order to reflect the uniqueness of the Asian Games ribbon, the ribbon manufacturer has specially developed a new jacquard fabric called "Asian Games Brocade", which uses 100% 6A grade mulberry silk raw material and adopts weaving jacquard technology and environmentally friendly printing technology. It is precision sewn on both sides by hand.
"We are very proud to participate in important events of the Asian Paralympic Games and make contributions to Hangzhou. We hope that when athletes win medals and hang them on their chests, they can perceive the regional cultural characteristics of Hangzhou from the image of the medals and ribbons, and experience the spirit of self-improvement and tenacious struggle contained in the shining light of each osmanthus flower." Zhou Bo said.
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