Reviving Culture through Design: The Qin Brick and Han Tiles Tea Gift Box

Zoom Design's Yuko Deng and Shayuan He Transform Tea Packaging into a Cultural Experience

The Qin Brick and Han Tiles gift box is a combination of raw and cooked Pu er brick tea, each wrapped in cotton papers decorated with totems of national features and historic culture. The raw tea, Qin Brick, is wrapped by a dragon pattern totem, symbolizing the unity of Chinese territory realized during the Qin Dynasty. The cooked tea, Han Tile, is wrapped in a graphic of ancient Chinese tea craftsmanship, reflecting the Han Dynasty's love for tea. This innovative packaging design draws inspiration from the lead bricks of the Qin Dynasty and the eaves tiles of the Han Dynasty, integrating the concept of "the older it is, the more fragrant it is" into the box.

Both the bag and envelope of the gift box adopt the techniques of embossing and gold stamping, creating a layered texture. The gold stamping graphic of chariots galloping across battlefields reinvigorates the package, increasing its nobility as a gift. The gift box adopts pure black packaging with a gold stamping process, and the sharp contrast between black and gold enhances the mysterious atmosphere and the sense of value and dignity of the product.

The design team faced the challenge of giving the tea products a distinctive shape and a matched cultural air. They started from the long history of Chinese tea ceremony and linked it to the Qin and Han dynasties to create this tea gift box of national features. The result is a gift box that not only houses tea but also tells a story, providing a rich cultural experience for the user.

The design also promotes sustainability. The envelope is designed with tearable paper, whose outline derives from the Great Wall of the Qin and Han. When it is torn, a gold stamping graphic of the battlefield will be vividly in sight. This design not only enhances its artistic value but also prompts users to discard the outer packaging, boosting the recycling of materials.

The Qin Brick and Han Tiles gift box is a testament to the power of design in reviving and promoting culture. It is a striking example of how design can transform a simple tea gift box into a cultural experience, telling a story of history, culture, and sustainability. This design, which won the Silver A' Packaging Design Award in 2022, is a testament to the creativity and innovation of Yuko Deng and Shayuan He of Zoom Design.