Chalk Pebbles 绘画粉笔 by Rui Huang is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2025 A' Design Award 铜奖 in 美术与文具用品设计 Competition Category.

铜美术用品· 2025

Chalk Pebbles 绘画粉笔

by Rui Huang

Client: Xiamen University of Technology

A' Design Award 铜奖 Winner in 美术用品 Category

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Colors

The Design

About Chalk Pebbles 绘画粉笔

《卵石粉笔》是一套专为儿童设计的绘画粉笔，外形宛如河床上的卵石。每一块都拥有不规则的肌理，并以可食用的果蔬粉末调制出彩色纹带。七种硬度层级让孩子在书写中体会触感的差异，并逐层揭开隐藏的色彩。粉笔可直接在粗糙表面上留下痕迹，也可掰断后自由堆叠搭建。蘸水后，粉笔还能作为水彩媒介使用。食品级安全材料与可降解包装，既守护儿童健康，也体现对环境的关怀。

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award 铜奖

Chalk Pebbles 绘画粉笔是 A' Design Award 铜奖得主，这是授予以创造力、独创性和敏锐见长的杰出设计的极具声望的认可。铜奖得主是技艺娴熟、创意惊人的作品，印证了其设计师丰富的经验、想象力与机智。预计Chalk Pebbles 绘画粉笔将成为一件备受推崇、令人钦佩且被珍爱的物品，兼具显著的专业性与创新性。这件赢得 A' Design Award 铜奖的设计融入艺术、科学、设计和技术领域的最佳实践，并因注重细节而出类拔萃。Chalk Pebbles 绘画粉笔出色地满足需求，触动渴望，迷住情感，并吸引好奇心。

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Chalk Pebbles is designed with the concept of nature as a teaching tool, inspired by the natural shapes of riverbed pebbles. Each piece features irregular textures and vibrant color bands made from vegetable-based pigments. With seven hardness levels, children can explore tactile gradients, revealing hidden color layers. The chalk also doubles as a watercolor medium when moistened. Chalk Pebbles reconnects children with nature in a poetic way, offering low-tech, high-sensory interaction in the digital age.
Dimensions & Packaging: Individual: 56mmx42mmx23mm, 40mmx35mmx20mm, 50mmx38mmx18mm, 59mmx30mmx21mm, 58mmx26mmx21mm, 62mmx34mmx26mm, 70mmx50mmx25mm
Packaging: 264x142mm
Tags: Stationery, natural materials, tactile experience, fine motor skills, children's development, eco-friendly design, sensory play, educational tools, hand-eye coordination, creative exploration
Production Technology: The components of this product are edible fruit and vegetable powders. The pebbles are made using a molding process with food-safe materials, combining starch and powdered pigments for adjustable hardness.
Design Challenge: The biggest challenge lies in the ratio of product ingredients, because different color simulations, surface textures, and hardness are required, so multiple tests are needed to optimize the user experience.
Research: Chalk Pebbles reimagines traditional chalk through nature-inspired design, combining edible vegetable pigments and riverbed pebble morphology to create a multi-sensory chalk for children. Through naturalistic observation, material testing, and questionnaire from 28 users，Open-ended interactions deepen children’s connection to ecological cycles. Future work will scale the play-learn-renew model to broader sustainability education contexts.
Inspiration: Bring the pebble elements of nature indoors to arouse curiosity and closeness to nature in educational scenes.
The unique texture and color changes of natural pebbles are retained in shape and material, allowing children to directly feel the beauty of nature through playing.
Environmentally friendly, edible raw materials and degradable packaging are used, which are friendly to the environment and concerned about children's safety.
Project Duration: The project runs from March 2024 to February 2025 in Xiamen, China
Operation Flow: Paint directly onto rough surfaces.
Break apart and paint onto rough surfaces.
Smudge painted areas with a wet brush for a watercolor effect.
Use Chalk Pebbles or break them apart for free-building play.
Patents: Copyrights belong to Rui Huang, 2025.
Team Members: Rui Huang
Image Credits: Image #1: Designer Rui Huang, ChalkPebbles, 2025.
Image #2: Designer Rui Huang, ChalkPebbles, 2025.
Image #3: Designer Rui Huang, ChalkPebbles, 2025.
Image #4: Designer Rui Huang, ChalkPebbles, 2025.
Image #5: Designer Rui Huang, ChalkPebbles, 2025.
Video Credits: Designer Rui Huang, ChalkPebbles, 2025.