Recently, "a pier is difficult to find", the Beijing Winter Olympics mascot ice pier detonated a wave of purchases, in front of the Winter Olympic licensed commodity store, "ice pier powder" lined up in a long line. The topic of achieving "ice pier freedom" was discussed, and a wave of ice pier creativity was also set off on social media. Cao Xue, head of the design team of the Beijing Winter Olympics mascot "Ice Pier" and a professor at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, told the Yangtze Evening News reporter, "We must dig treasures into the past and find Chinese context, not simply paste the visual elements of the ancestors on the product." To respect Chinese culture, we must truly understand China. ”
Collection also depends on online shopping, drawing "hidden money"
The mascot of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the ice pier, combines the image of the panda with the super-energetic ice crystal shell, and the head shell shape is taken from the ice and snow sports helmet, decorated with a colorful halo, and the overall image resembles an astronaut. Its creation span is as long as 10 months, and it has also been revised for up to 7 months, revised at least 1,000 times, and there are tens of thousands of sketches, which are polished by the design team and experts of the Winter Olympic Organizing Committee. The "ice pier" with golden olive branches held by the athletes is also the creativity of Cao Xue's team, taken from the Pine Bamboo Plum of the Three Friends of the Han Dynasty, which is highly consistent with Chinese culture, the theme of the Winter Olympics, and the Olympic spirit.
Recently, media interviews have poured in, and Cao Xue has to answer many phone calls a day. He was also invited to record programs such as "Every Day Upward" and "Chinese Poetry Conference". He told reporters, "I was looking forward to the opening of the Winter Olympics, I was quiet, and I was ready to go back to Nanjing for a good New Year." Unexpectedly, this plan was quickly broken by the "ice pier" fire out of the circle.
"Do you have an ice pier on your hand?" This is the most frequent question asked by netizens and friends around cao xue recently. Cao Xue revealed that each member of the team originally had some ice piers of different sizes, which everyone would give to the elders, families and teachers. "Someone asked me if I wanted it, so I wrote it down and gave it to them if I had it." Cao Xue smiled and said, "At that time, everyone was still joking that after the opening of the Winter Olympics, there would be no one to ask, so let's hurry up." Who knows that the fire is like this now. Now the team sighs and regrets every day in the group, and too rashly shoots the previous ice pier. "You probably can't guess that the 14-member design team also has a rather "Versailles" group name, called "Engraving Your Own Name in the History of Guangmei.".
Asked whether Cao Xue had hidden "rare models" in his hands, he told reporters that in fact, the design team also paid for ice piers online, and there was no special channel for collection. "Probably by fate, my son won the hidden model 'Explore the Future', with a one in 120 chance." Cao Xue revealed, "Recently to Hunan Satellite TV to record "Every Day Upward", when I met children who posted it, I learned that 'my own son' still wears such clothes. Recently, I didn't dare to take it out, and it was a bit of a hate. ”
Ice piers driving the national tide? To really understand China
The popularity of the ice pier is closely related to its own design, the increase in heat of the Winter Olympics, the concentration of attention during the holidays, and the crazy cargo of "tap water" from all walks of life. Cao Xue also pays attention to the enthusiasm of international netizens for the ice pier. "When we designed the mascot for the Olympic Games, including the choice of panda elements, the first thing that came to mind was the issue of international dissemination." In his view, there are two levels about "telling the Story of China": on the one hand, the story itself, there must be a story behind the pattern, sculpture, and porcelain, but only the story is not enough, so it is necessary to use professional means and language to express it, and to achieve cuteness, temperature, bearing of the national image and other aspects. He believes that the reason why "ice piers" have become a phenomenon-level topic is that "completely breaking the boundaries between age groups, countries and different ethnic groups is worth our team's future research and thinking and induction, hoping to give China design education to think." ”
The ice pier has stimulated the strong creative desire of netizens, and some people have ridiculed that "the shape of the pier is like a very happy self after the New Year". Some people also say that the ice pier is the hope and crystal of growing up, in this regard, Cao Xue interpreted it this way, "indicating that the ice pier represents youth and the future." "Everything can be an ice pier" makes Cao Xue feel very interesting, "bringing everyone a new year's flavor". "Netizens use language and images, and some people use orange peels to make ice piers, which is a cultural phenomenon." As long as it's not a spoof. We are not too much, but too little. ”
Paper-cut, blue printed patterns, traditional objects, used in today's cultural and creative products, it is called the national tide? Cao Xue believes that engaging in graphic design cannot be "flat thinking". "Everyone is discussing the national tide driven by the ice piers, and Chinese designers are going to excavate traditional Chinese culture." But traditional culture and the visual elements of traditional culture are two different concepts. "Just like the 'ice pier', the body is very simple, it is a panda image that meets the aesthetics of the new era, with a sense of technology and futurism." Cao Xue stressed, "We must dig into the past and look for Chinese context, but we are not simply pasting the visual elements of our ancestors on the products." Respect Chinese culture and really read China. ”
In his view, the ice pier is a way for China to express itself to people all over the world. "Any mascot design belongs to the character design, including handmade, doll, blind box, without content and culture, you will not become a 'horn'." He said that these days people line up in the cold wind to buy ice piers, not to buy products, but to buy themselves, to bring warmth, through silent language and their own dialogue of small lives.
Xiaoxue was born, and there is a snow scene of Jinling behind the ice pier
After the 60s, Cao Xue is an authentic Nanjing native, and the growth environment of literature and art has cultivated him who loves painting and is very thoughtful. My sister is a veteran media person, and my father was a screenwriter in the literature and art department of Nanjing Television Station, and I was under the impression that my father always recited his poems in front of the mirror. Her skillful mother was an art teacher in elementary school. "When I was a child, my mother used to make various models of pulp for us to play with, and in the absence of materials, she would also use fruit and vegetable skins to make toys." There are also various sketch albums at home, which makes Cao Xue take the design road with great fascination. As a classical music enthusiast, Cao Xue believes in Chopin's saying that music was born when human beings could not express their feelings in words. When the end of the written language is the starting point of visual art.
His middle school years were spent in Eleventh Middle School (now the Affiliated Middle School of Nanjing University). "It's incredible to think about it today. I was too stupid to know anything about math. Preparing to take the college entrance examination, the school specially approved that I can treat the math class as an art class, without leaving the classroom, without affecting other students. In math class, Cao Xue sat in the corner, watching the teacher and classmates draw sketches. Later, Cao Xue was admitted to Wuxi Light Industry University, one of the two students in the class who were admitted to the university.
In addition to publishing comic works in newspapers, he remembers that in 1989, the Yangtze Evening News reported that he had won a grand prize in the world's first can reuse design competition, with a prize of as much as $1,300. When others designed the cans into small crafts, he added glass, disassembled the cans into a kiosk, cut and interspersed, and did not need a nail or rivet at all, impressing the international judges.
"I have 'snow' in my name, and my mother said it was 'little snow' on the day I was born." Recently, it snowed in Nanjing, and Cao Xue also saw a beautiful picture from his parents and sister who lived in Nanjing. He told reporters that many of his design materials came from memories of his childhood. The action of shaking snow after the ice pier slides down from the snowy mountain, and when it melts with the snow, brushing the top on the ice, sitting on the sleigh and other scenes, the creativity is derived from the childhood memory in Nanjing. When I was a child, when it snowed in winter, the children used small bamboo boards, wooden boards, small benches, and five flowers tied into an "earth sleigh" or a skateboard cover, and hu peng led his companions to ski in the snow downstairs.
"A designer should be good at capturing information from life, turning it into point A stored in the mind, and when you have enough to store it, you see point B." When pointS A and B react instantaneously, there is inspiration for point C. Some people often ask Cao Xue, how can there be so many ideas?" It's because I learn to store. When a person's mind is empty, hoping to collect the received information on the USB stick and hard disk, he will also turn a blind eye and turn a deaf ear to the B point he sees now. When you have enough quantity, there must be a qualitative process of transformation, into your own supply. ”
Source: Yangtze Evening News/Purple Cow News
(Editors: Li Yingxuan, Wu Bing)