Meet the Creator: Zhang Chi

This is a difficult question. I believe that every creator develops new perspectives as they grow, which are often reflected in the outcomes of their work. For a long time, my inspiration stemmed from conversations with individuals working in various fields.

Last year, I completed a master’s course in Illustration in Cornwall, during which I dedicated a year to exploring the relationship between humour and illustration. Therefore, if I were to answer this question now, I would say that I draw inspiration from "disrupting narrative logic" and create images that are humorous and unconventional.

Chinese New Year is undoubtedly special for every Chinese person, as well as for East Asian communities and others influenced by this culture. For me, the celebration must include eating dumplings and fish.

In Beijing, many children are told a 'secret' by their parents: the shape of dumplings resembles ears, and if you don’t eat dumplings during winter, your ears might 'freeze off'! As a result, from a young age, I would always eat dumplings in winter.

The pronunciation of "fish" in Chinese, ‘yu’, is a homophone for "surplus" or "abundance." Therefore, in Chinese households, eating fish during the New Year symbolises the hope that the family will enjoy greater material prosperity and have surplus in the coming year.

Before designing any character, I always establish their personality in advance. This helps me consider their movements, expressions, and presentation during the design process.

In some cultures, snakes are symbolic of evil, so from the outset, I aimed to design a character that wasn’t particularly intimidating. When designing its head, I experimented with numerous versions, but the final design drew inspiration from a turtle, particularly its nose and the patterns on its head.

The markings on the snake’s body were inspired by Chinese calligraphy, created through free-flowing lines and dripping ink. My favourite part of the design is the eyes, which were inspired by the traditional Khon masks used in Thai dance. Ultimately, I combined these elements to create a snake that isn’t overly aggressive, but looks pretty cool.

The introduction of commercial modernised coffee culture can likely be traced back to the arrival of Starbucks in China. When I was a child, coffee was often associated with luxury. At a time when the average monthly income for Beijing’s middle class was around 1,000 yuan, spending 30 yuan on a single drink was considered extravagant.

However, the rise of independent coffee culture around 2010 transformed people’s perceptions of coffee. Today, cafés are extremely common, especially in the city centre, where you can find excellent coffee roasting on almost every street. People have also become more willing to explore different coffee flavours.

In 2022, I visited coffee plantations in Pu’er, Yunnan, and developed an interest in some of the speciality coffee from the region. Perhaps in the future, we will see more coffee products originating from Yunnan, China.