Tag Archives: Chinese New Year

Lunar New Year-themed Custom Mechanical Keycaps ring in the ‘Year Of The Dragon’

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Celebrating the Chinese New Year in fitting spirit, this limited-edition mechanical keyboard comes with both QWERTY and the Standard Chinese Script… but what we love more is the fitting red and gold color scheme, and those beautiful majestic fire-breathing beasts found on the special keys! The special keycaps sit on Drop’s CSTM80 keyboard, and are designed as a collaboration between Drop and designer Boba.Types. “Adorned with fiery reds and rich golds (a dragon’s favorite colors, we’d hazard a guess), this set is nothing if not ornate,” mention the folks at Drop.

Designers: Drop & Boba.Types

While most keyboards are designed to be comfortable enough to use without looking at, this one makes it hard to look away. The keycaps are just gorgeous, and make for a great collector’s edition for people celebrating the Lunar New Year… or anyone with a fascination for the great “lóng” (dragon) of Chinese mythology.

The keycaps come as a base set, but also feature novelty and accent caps for adding a little more flavor to your already Sichuan-spicy keyboard. The accents come in the form of golden keys that stand out against the otherwise red keyboard, allowing you to easily spot keys you’re more likely to use frequently. The novelty keys add gorgeous mythological imagery to your keyboard, including a special numeric row that’s adorned with the 12 Chinese zodiac signs. Even special keys like the escape, shift, control, alt, etc. are jazzed up with symbolism… and while memorizing all the key types will probably be a bit of a headache, it’s absolutely worth it in the long run. Also, your friends will have a tough time figuring out how to snoop around on your computer!

The keycaps come in a special DCD profile (Drop Cylindrical Dye-Sub) developed by Drop. It’s designed to deliver a “classic feel with a unique, grit-free PBT texture for a finish as smooth—and strong—as dragons’ scales,” say the folks at Drop. The keycaps are compatible with Cherry MX switches and similar clones, and the base kit sets you back $49, while an additional $35 gets you the novelty keycap set.

The post Lunar New Year-themed Custom Mechanical Keycaps ring in the ‘Year Of The Dragon’ first appeared on Yanko Design.

Discover Your Ideal Decor Style Through Chinese Astrology

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The Chinese zodiac, or shengxiao, consists of 12 animals representing time cycles, with your sign determined by your lunar birth year. Legend has it that only the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig arrived to bid farewell to a departing god, each earning a place of honor in a year based on their order of arrival. As per studies, one’s personality traits are closely tied to their Chinese zodiac sign and they can influence their individual preferences in home décor. You can explore the colors, materials, and styles aligned with your lunar year to create a living space that resonates with your individuality.

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YEAR OF RAT

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Birth years: 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020

Personality: Those born in the year of the Rat exhibit cleverness, charm, and curiosity and they are hardworking with a natural inclination for continuous learning.

Décor Style: They are drawn to objects and colors that ignite their imagination, reflecting their charismatic personalities. Those born in the year of the Rat favor light, airy colors, and a touch of geometric patterns, paying homage to their intellectual nature and satisfying their innate thirst for knowledge, a futuristic home is recommended.

YEAR OF OX

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Birth years: 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021

Personality: Individuals born in the year of the ox are decisive, independent, loyal, and philosophical.

Décor Style: They have a preference for minimalistic designs and traditional aesthetics while the interiors of their home incorporate classic silhouettes, dark neutrals, and a clean and fuss-free ambiance.

YEAR OF TIGER

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Birth years: 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010

Personality: Individuals born in the year of the Tiger are confident, fun, and courageous, characterized by a vibrant and fiery nature with intense passion and emotionality.

Décor Style: Those born in the year of the tiger have a preference for vibrant colors, and abstract paintings, and a fondness for contrasting materials such as glass, clay, fabric, and wood.

YEAR OF RABBIT

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Birth years: 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023

Personality: People born in the year of the rabbit are distinguished by their natural compassion, sincerity, and generosity. Recognized for their kindness, care, and loyalty, rabbits tend to exhibit introverted tendencies, often necessitating significant alone time at home for recharging.

Décor Style: They are not fond of a mix of colors or styles but also prefer a monochromatic color palette and comforting textures. Additionally, they opt for a straightforward, clutter-free style that enhances the calming atmosphere.

YEAR OF DRAGON

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Birth years: 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024

Personality: Despite their outward energy and fearlessness, individuals born in the year of the dragon possess a gentle interior, marked by a warm heart and unwavering loyalty. This gentle demeanor coexists with a dynamic personality that is driven by their perpetual quest for new adventures.

Décor Style: Those under the dragon sign value the idea of home and its comforting aspects. Their aesthetic preferences include bold colors and plush designs. Moreover, the prominent warm colors are believed to inspire a feeling of harmony, as they perfectly complement the Dragon’s strong and vibrant presence.

YEAR OF SNAKE

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Birth years: 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025

Personality: Those born in the year of the Snake are charming, clever, and reserved, showcasing intellectual prowess and an observant nature. Also, individuals with this zodiac sign often exhibit wit, sociability, and strong will, reflecting an ambitious nature that inclines them toward a simple, nature-inspired theme to soothe their competitive spirits.

Décor Style: Their décor style reflects their love for bookcases, books, and classic wooden coffee tables. An excellent choice for this is the Japandi interior design style, characterized by clean lines, nature-inspired colors, and bright spaces reminiscent of nature’s soothing qualities to enhance the Snake’s wisdom and intellectual capabilities.

YEAR OF HORSE

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Birth years: 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014, 2026

Personality: The horse is an extrovert and is defined by energy and independence and the individuals born under the horse sign in the Chinese zodiac are infused with compassion and love.

Décor Style: Individuals born in the year of the horse find an ideal home aesthetic that incorporates mementos from global travels and soft, comforting designs. Opting for muted colors, classic Scandinavian styles with pale woods like ash and beech are particularly suited for creating a calming home environment.

YEAR OF GOAT

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Birth years: 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015, 2027

Personality: Those born in the year of the goat are known as deep thinkers who have a strong appreciation for beautiful things. quiet with gentle, seemingly meek personalities

Décor Style: Create an ideal space for those born in the year of the goat with a decor that encourages creativity, blending a modern and airy ambiance with soft layers and cushions for a hospitable feel. Opt for a warm and inviting aesthetic, like the modern farmhouse style, characterized by natural textures and warm wood tones, to enhance their warmth.

YEAR OF MONKEY

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Birth years: 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016, 2028

Personality: Born under the Monkey sign, individuals exude upbeat, playful, and quick-witted traits, radiating joy in their interactions with others among the Chinese zodiac signs.

Décor Style: Their extroverted natures thrive on social engagements while they enjoy a sunny, natural décor that is adorned with live plants and vibrant colors. To moderate potential prankster tendencies, a decor dominated by wooden tones is the best choice, grounding their lively nature.

YEAR OF ROOSTER

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Birth years: 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017, 2029

Personality: Hardworking, vigilant, and independent, individuals born under the rooster sign are goal-oriented and find relaxation in environments that enable them to accomplish tasks on their to-do lists and strategize for future successes.

Décor Style: Individuals born in the year of the Rooster should ideally have a home featuring at least one work setup with classic wood materials and neutral colors. A vintage look brings comfort, with aged furnishings creating a reassuring ambiance and serving as a reminder that imperfections are acceptable.

YEAR OF DOG

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Birth years: 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018, 2030

Personality: Individuals born in the year of the dog epitomize loyalty, placing utmost importance on friendships and family within the context of their values.

Décor Style: For those with the year of the dog as their birth year, an ideal home environment is characterized by a contemporary interior style, blending sleek design and clean lines for a sophisticated home that suits both get-togethers and their need for order.

YEAR OF PIG

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Birth years: 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019, 2031

Personality: Born in the year of the pig, individuals naturally appreciate life’s finer aspects without prioritizing material luxury. Easygoing and independent, Pigs can, however, easily feel stressed about life.

Décor Style: They find utmost comfort in designs that are crafted with quality materials, and adorned with a hint of glamorous metallic elements that exude elegance. For a calming haven, they can opt for a classic minimalist home with subdued colors, natural light, and well-organized spaces that perfectly suit the magnanimous nature of Pigs.

The post Discover Your Ideal Decor Style Through Chinese Astrology first appeared on Yanko Design.

Cleaning Appliances designed to spruce up your home right in time for the Chinese New Year

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Today, millions of people all around the world, began celebrating the Chinese New Year, which marks the transition from the Year of the Ox to the Year of the Tiger. Also deemed, the Lunar New Year, the celebrations for this day usually involve catching up with family and friends, bursting firecrackers, watching traditional dances, drooling over exquisite feasts, and of course, decluttering and cleaning up your home in preparation for a year of whole new blessings and victories! And a couple of innovative and unique home appliances can really help you out with this! From a space-saving vacuum cleaner to an air purifier designed in the form of a turntable – these handy cleaning appliances are all you need to Marie Kondo your house and welcome the Year of the Tiger in the tidiest manner possible. Happy cleaning!

1. H5

H5 is a multifunctional vacuum cleaner designed for small spaces that can break down into four parts that fit into a compact charging bin for easy storage. H5 keeps an overall slim build when assembled and when disassembled so it doesn’t take up too much space in storage. When disassembled, H5 breaks down into four parts and fits into one charging case that can easily slip away behind any table or into the closet to free up floor space. When users would like to use the vacuum, putting H5 together comes just as easily as putting together any other vacuum. The main pipe connects via telescopic tubing where the vacuum head also easily attaches.

2. The Aether

Combining the goodness of air purification and music with an aesthetically pleasing form factor, designer Hyunbin Yang has conceived the AETHER. This Bluetooth speaker and air purifier in the shape of a modern turntable can be a centerpiece of disguise no matter where you choose to place it at home. The speaker is controlled remotely by a smartphone or smart device to play any music you like, well before you set foot into the house. So, the time you have can be spent on other tasks, while the mood of the house is already set. The biggest advantage that the AETHER has over the other air purifiers we have seen in our time is the convenience with which the air filters can be swapped. Here changing the filter is as easy as replacing a vinyl on the turntable.

3. The Alpha Pillow 2

The Alpha Pillow 2’s design starts with a bamboo-charcoal-infused foam mass, which apart from providing the benefits of memory foam, also uses activated carbon to neutralize microorganisms and toxins. The carbon-infused foam does a pretty standup job of keeping your pillow free of germs and microorganisms, the Alpha Pillow’s silver-fabric cover forms the first line of defense, destroying bacteria, viruses, and molds before they can even propagate. The pillow itself comes with a bamboo fabric cover, followed by a unique fabric made from silver fibers that are lab-tested to be incredibly efficient at self-sanitizing the pillow.

4. The Narwal T10

The Narwal T10 will immediately strike one as something so different from your usual robot vac, even the ones with 2-in-1 mopping and vacuuming functions. For one, both its base and the robot itself are coated in white, a color that’s most often associated with cleanliness and sanitation. It also gives off a better minimalist vibe, though that may come at the expense of dirt and stains being more visible on the product’s surface. The T10’s base station is also considerably larger and bulkier than other robot vacuums, but that is both intentional as well as an illusion. Robot cleaners with narrower stations actually have larger bases for the robot to stand on, taking up almost the same amount of floor space anyway. With Narwal’s design, the robot goes inside the station completely and hides any part that humans or pets can trip on. Additionally, the larger size is necessary to support the T10’s mopping functions, which we’ll get to later.

5. The Giddel Toilet Cleaning Robot Kit

The Giddel Toilet Cleaning Robot Kit is all you need to maintain a super clean toilet! The robot is perfect for cleaning those hard-to-reach spots in your toilet. You just need to remove the robot from its charging station and connect it to the mounting bracket. Add some toilet bowl cleaner to the bowl, and use Giddel to systematically scrub the rim, the bowl, the space under the bowl, and down the exit. Giddel’s telescopic arm can fit into toilets of all sizes, both small or large, and clean them effectively. Giddel’s circular and wavy motion ensures that it covers every inch of the toilet!

6. Elle

Inspired by the bathing rituals of elephants in the wild, Stalin Jr. designed Elle’s silhouette to resemble the shape of an elephant’s rump. Scaled down from the size of an actual elephant’s rump to around the same size as an air dryer, Elle is compact enough to fit right on any kitchen countertop. Elle functions as the go-to appliance in between meals, when there aren’t enough dirty dishes to use the full-size dishwasher, but you still want to keep the sink free of dirty dishes. Equipped with all of the functions needed for a thorough cleaning, Elle comes with a touch-automated control panel and wall-mountable water inlet valve.

7. Cork Vaccum Cleaner

This intriguing concept for a vacuum cleaner is not only multipurpose in design, it is also sustainable in construction. The storage section of the vac is made from cork, which is biodegradable and has a warm ambiance to it. The vacuum pipes and other parts are designed in a manner to be stored within the cork shell that then neatly covers using a lid. The possibility of concealing the entire appliance from sight saves valuable space at home and leaves the vacuum to still be used in the open with a different purpose.

8. WITS Collection

ROLL, for example, looks like a simple fabric-covered stool, though the seam at the top clearly indicates that it can be opened. Rather than being a hidden container, however, it can accommodate a detachable UV light module that can clean larger objects like toys, books, or even bags. It’s something handy to have around the house, especially during these days when people tend to worry a lot about indoor sanitation. FLOAT definitely has a simple cabinet feel to it, one that’s designed to stand by your bed for easy access to your things. However, a portion of its top surface actually acts as a wireless charging area for your phone so you won’t have to worry about forgetting to plug your phone in every night. Pull the top drawer, however, and you’ll be greeted by a soft LED light that could save you a lot of pain at night.

9. The Everloop Dish Brush

With the Everloop dish brush’s design, you can continue to maximize the functionality of your product while reducing waste. The head of the brush has a concave lid mechanism that compresses the bristles against the inner part of the brush. The bristles are snapped into place and you can clean effortlessly. This concavity also works as a soap container and dosifier while you clean your tableware. To replace bristles, use any flat piece from your kitchen as a lever to open it and replace it with a new set of bristles. The body of the brush is made from recycled plastic collected from discarded accessories and the bristles are made from natural fibers (bamboo, castor beans, etc).

10. The Cat Person Litter Box

With Cat Person, Granneberg set out to design a litter box that appears like a piece of furniture to blend in with other interior design elements. To achieve this, Granneberg outfitted the Cat Person litter box with a wooden top lid that gives it the same appeal as a small side table. Ensuring casts enjoy enough airflow and light while taking care of business, Granneberg punctuated the wooden top lid with circular cutouts, creating a ventilated and well-lit interior space. Granneberg also designed the litter box with larger-than-average dimensions to allow bigger cats to have enough room to sit and turn around with comfort. An ergonomic and durable scooper accompanies the litter box that comes with a handy storing mechanism to avoid the eyesore of litter dropping to the floor.

The post Cleaning Appliances designed to spruce up your home right in time for the Chinese New Year first appeared on Yanko Design.

YD Handpicks: Celebrating the Chinese New Year with 8 winning designs from China

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With a little help from our friends at the Red Dot Design Awards, we’re kicking off the Chinese New Year with 8 award-winning designs from Chinese designers curated from the past year’s Red Dot Awards. Wishing all our readers a wonderful and bountiful ‘year of the pig’, from the YD family to yours.
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01. Segway Ninebot Gokart Kit by Bowen Cai, Yongjie Li, Ji Lin
Imagine if you could take your hoverboard, add two more tires and a steering wheel to it and fashion a go-kart for yourself. Why that’s what the Segway Ninebot is. Designed as an attachment to the $499 Segway Mini Pro, the Ninebot turns a last-mile commutation device into a fun, electric go-kart that can be driven around practically anywhere! The company claims that the Segway-Ninebot electric gokart can accelerate from 0 to 12 mph (20 km/h) in under 2 seconds and can support riders of up to 220 lbs.

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02. Build-Fender by Chen Chi-Shan
The Build Fender is part architectural marvel, part massive eco-system. Inspired by how biological cells work together to clean and sustain a system, the Build Fender skyscraper imagines different ‘cell components’ in a building that have different functions and effects. When combined, they create a building that works around-the-clock like a living ecosystem that minimizes its impact on the environment and actively purifies the air that passes through it on a massive scale.

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03. Knitting Lounger by Liang Chen, Ma Qianli
Inspired by a type of Asian knitting handicraft that integrates aesthetics and functionality, the designers made full use of the merits of knitting and created this ergonomic outdoor furniture. The concept of knitting delivers a sense of interweaving and the ropes used for knitting are made from a water-proof material, requiring less maintenance and upkeep.

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04. Forseti Axe by Tony Chui Pak Ho
Designed as a modern take on the axe, the Forseti relooks the axe’s basic construction of a handle and a blade. The new design looks much more integrated, but what’s interesting is how the blade is designed as a plug-in-plug-out module that fits almost flush into the metal handle, creating an almost monolithic product that can always be repaired/maintained by simply switching blade-pieces by discarding the old blade and plugging in a new one!

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05. SHO by Pan Biwei
Practically a hallmark of simplicity and effectiveness, the Sho is made of literally two parts. A frame and a mattress. However, it can exist in three states. As a bed (with the mattress used as-is), as a comfortable chair, and as a reclining lounge chair. The SHO works well as instant furniture, be it in low-cost apartments, or at disaster relief sites. The metal framework is foldable, and when opened out, allows you to tuck the mattress into it, turning it either into a comfortable chair with a backrest, or into a lounging recline you can lean into. Independently, the mattress serves as a bed for one, allowing you to have three pieces of furniture that use just two simple objects.

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06. Fu-Chair by Wei-Chen Chang, Pei-Chun Hsueh, Po-Wei Tsai, Zhen-Ling You
Fu-Chair’s brilliance is in its duality. Designed as two chairs stacked upside down on each other, the Fu-Chair can either be used as one single chair with armrests (and a storage space for books below the seat) or as two separate stools. Ingenious, eh?!

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07. Cloud Cooker Hood by Jin Ze, Ye Tian, Zhang Haonan, Zhu Lingjie
Inspired by traditional Chinese paper-cutting art, the Cloud Cooker Hood uses undulating sheets to form a hood that looks flat when closed, and turns into an organic chimney/hood when open, allowing fumes to exit the kitchen while also adding a touch of aesthetics to the decor of the room.

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08. Connect by Li Enxin, Miao Xinyi, Tao Zhixiang , Wang Fubing, Zhang Jing
Created for the kindergarten environment, the Connect is a fun table-setup that allows you to join or separate desks based on need. Connecting plates allow you to create different sort of patterns that immediately turn the kindergarten into a place of fun, allowing kids to experiment with forms and layouts, while also improving their dexterity and understanding of furniture and of puzzles. Having the Connect in any kindergarten will automatically make it a place of learning and a place of fun!

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