Press Release
Mingzhi Cai Is Honored with the A' Design Award for Pocket Heritage Cultural Communication in Giftware Design
Mingzhi Cai acknowledged for giftware design by the international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 23, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that Pocket Heritage Cultural Communication by Mingzhi Cai has been granted the A' Design Award in the Giftware Design category. The award was conferred within the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who evaluated anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
The A' Design Award Explained
The Iron A' Design Award is awarded to good designs that meet the rigorous professional and industrial standards set by the A' Design Awards. This recognition is reserved for works that demonstrate a solid understanding of design principles and show creativity within their execution. Recipients of the Iron A' Design Award are acknowledged for their practical innovations and contributions to their respective fields, providing solutions that improve quality of life and foster positive change. These designs are a testament to the skill and dedication of their creators, showcasing their ability to address real-world challenges through thoughtful design.
About Pocket Heritage Cultural Communication
Pocket Heritage is a collectible red envelope series created for the Year of the Horse. The design transforms the traditional red envelope into a portable medium for cultural storytelling, translating temple fair and Shehuo performance imagery into a unified character system. Each envelope measures 90 mm by 170 mm and is printed on pearlescent specialty paper with five color UV inks. Selected designs add embossed relief with gold foil. Each pack holds six envelopes chosen at random from thirty four designs, which encourages exchange and later display as small prints.
About Mingzhi Cai
Cai Mingzhi is a Chinese product designer whose practice focuses on product design, cultural creativity, and market-oriented product development. With a background in environmental art and design, he works across furniture, lifestyle products, cultural products, and visual development. His work pays attention to the balance between function, manufacturability, and contemporary aesthetics, while also considering cultural expression and user experience. In addition to commercial design practice, he has participated in design research, professional seminars, and cross-cultural design exchange activities.
Award Record
With this recognition, Mingzhi Cai is a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Giftware Design Award
The A' Giftware Design Award is an international gift design competition recognizing good gift designs by leading brands, manufacturers and designers worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to giftware designers, product designers, industrial design studios and giftware brands from all countries. Entries typically include candles, figurines, picture frames, decorative plates, ornaments and souvenirs. Awarded gift designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/giftware
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/180415
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/180415
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!180415
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/369112
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Pocket Heritage Cultural Communication
- Function
- Cultural Communication
- Category
- Giftware Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Furniture & Home and Packaging & Retail
- Colors
- Red, Dark Red, Tomato, Black and Coral
- Images
- 5
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Mingzhi Cai
- Country
- China
- Recognition
- A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #180415
Credits
- Image Credits
- Creator (Content Design) Mingzhi Cai and Illustrator Siya Zhang, Pocket Heritage, 2026.; Creator (Content Design) Mingzhi Cai and Illustrator Siya Zhang, Pocket Heritage, 2026. Video Credits: Videographer Mingzhi Cai, Pocket Heritage, 2026.
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Pocket Heritage transforms the red envelope into a portable heritage medium for New Year and ceremonial gifting. A unified Year of the Horse character system ensures clear recognition while reinterpreting Shehuo performance culture in a contemporary format. Printed on pearlescent specialty paper with five color UV inks, selected designs also feature embossed relief with gold foil to create vivid color shifts and tactile depth. Each pack contains six randomly mixed envelopes to encourage exchange, collecting and continued use as keepsake prints.
- Inspiration
- This project was inspired by the visual energy of Chinese temple fairs and Shehuo performances. It rethinks the traditional red envelope as a portable medium for Year of the Horse cultural storytelling. Research compared classical painting records and relic imagery with contemporary festival documentation. Through collaboration with art students and iterative development, the design established a consistent character system and transformed heritage references into a vivid, tactile and shareable gift format.
- Research
- Cultural and user centered design research. The objective was to translate temple fair and Shehuo heritage into a coherent Year of the Horse character system that is easy to recognize and share. Methods included visual comparison of classical painting records, relic imagery and contemporary festival documentation, followed by iterative character development, print proofing and user feedback with art students. The result was a thirty four design series with strong tactile identity, collectible value and improved cultural recall.
- Challenge
- The main challenge was translating traditional Chinese temple fair and Shehuo culture into a contemporary collectible format without losing authenticity. The project needed to balance historical reference, visual clarity, tactile richness and production consistency at the same time. Another difficulty was building a unified character system from diverse cultural sources while keeping each design vivid, readable and suitable for printing, gifting and long term display.
- Realization and Technology
- Five color UV ink printing on pearlescent specialty paper creates vivid color shifts and a tactile surface. Selected designs feature embossed relief with gold foil to add raised detail and a ceremonial finish. The character artwork follows a unified visual guide to maintain consistency across the Year of the Horse series. Prototyping included print proofing, finish testing and iterative layout adjustment before final production.
- Operation and Interaction
- Users select a red envelope from the pack and present it during New Year celebrations or ceremonial gatherings. The tactile surface encourages handling and close viewing. Because each pack contains six randomly mixed designs, people naturally compare, exchange and discuss the characters and their cultural meanings. After use, the envelope can be kept, displayed or framed as a small decorative print, extending both its function and emotional value.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project was developed from May 2025 to January 2026 in Bazhou, Langfang, Hebei, China. Research and co creation workshops were conducted with art students during the development process. Print prototyping, material testing and final production were completed with local manufacturing partners. The series was then prepared for market presentation and distribution.
- Specifications
- This project is a collectible red envelope series. Each retail pack contains six randomly mixed envelopes selected from a set of thirty four designs to encourage exchange and storytelling. Envelope size is 90 mm x 170 mm. The envelopes are printed on pearlescent specialty paper with high contrast graphics for strong legibility and tactile appeal. Selected editions include embossed relief with gold foil. Used envelopes may also be kept and framed as decorative prints.
- Keywords
- Intangible Heritage, Temple Fair, Shehuo, Red Envelope, Cultural Communication, Year of the Horse, Character Design, UV Printing, Pearlescent Paper, Collectible Gift Set
