Two local designers reinterpret time with HUA.
"Is a calendar more than a linear representation of time?" The designers/ authors of HUA posed this question and the project is their response to it.
HUA is a seasonal calendar. Unlike traditional calendars that start in January, HUA begins in Spring. Inspired by the cyclical/ephemeral nature of time, HUA is an exploration of forms destroyed and recycled to create new ones. Every aspect of the finished piece – from its name, the paper stock to cover imagery – was chosen to suggest the transience of time.
Divided and organised seasonally, this "calendar" begins in Spring 2014 and concludes in Winter 2015.
"HUA is the Chinese word for flower. And to us, the life cycle of a flower encapsulates the ebb and flow of life over the four seasons". – Neville Lam, co-designer.
"A calendar is a linear series of markers which denotes the passage of time, yet to the user, it is a vessel for myriad of experiences and emotions, it elicits a longing for the past and anticipation for the future". – Roy Chan, co-designer.
Huā. 2014
Missionary, designed by Miles Newlyn, 1991
The key features of the piece are the Chinese characters for each month designed by Neville. Inspired by mathematically precise arabesque floral patterns of the 17th century, parts of these characters were “sampled” from Emigre’s Missionary (designed by Miles Newlyn in 1991), a roman typeface, into constituent parts and recontextualised into Chinese. Ornate yet precise, they serve as a counterpoint to the linearity of the calendar.
The design grid of the calendar is based on the structure and proportion of traditional Chinese almanacs. Its pared down form frames the ornamental Chinese characters.
published in Hong Kong, 2014 by FUUFF
text copyright © N/R1 2014
typeface copyright © N 2014
designed by N/R1
printed by Sega printing ltd in Hong Kong
The moral right of the authors and designers has been asserted.
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this work may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
text copyright © N/R1 2014
typeface copyright © N 2014
designed by N/R1
printed by Sega printing ltd in Hong Kong
The moral right of the authors and designers has been asserted.
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this work may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
