A Ginger Jar Inspired Chinoiserie Floral Design and My Father's Fine China

Chinoiserie --the Western interpretation of the traditional Chinese style. I learned this name in recent years as I level up my training and workload as a surface pattern designer. 

Born and raised in China in the 80s, the fast-growing economy and pace of the city lifestyle numbed my curiosity for the vast sea of traditional Chinese art and design, somehow making me believe that Western art and design were superior. You can imagine the irony I felt when I learned the history behind the Chinoiserie style, where the Silk Road tradesman took an interest in Eastern Asian art and design as early as the 13th century. 

My love for design today was influenced by my artistic father, who enjoyed collecting traditional Chinese paintings, stamps, and fine china. Many years after he passed away, when my mom and stepdad visited our tiny apartment in Geneva, Switzerland, she surprised me by carrying all the traditional Chinese plates and bowls my father had collected for my future family. He never got to attend my wedding or see my husband or children, but I saved his wedding gifts for me and cherish them to this day. 

A big noodle bowl

A small plate

The bottom of a small bowl says Jing De Zheng, China, made in China. Jing De Zheng  is a famous place in China to for these traditional designs. 

It was a great pleasure designing this ginger jar-inspired Chinoiserie floral pattern. I love how it turned out! It was also very fun changing the colors of this design. Can you tell me in the comments which color is your favorite? 

My design process:

1. Sketch motifs and plan the pattern in Procreate ( with the diamond shape method, full-drop). 

2. Ink the motif outline in Procreate, including the cut-off corner ones ( you need to move the artboard around to get those motifs ). 

3. Drop the PNG files into Illustrator to vectorize. 

4. Put the motifs together, just like the sketched pattern plan. 

5. Lower the opacity and export the pattern block outline as a JPG.

6. Print the outline on watercolor paper 

7. Color the outline with indigo watercolor ink ( the fun part )! 

8. Vectorize the colored pattern block in Illustrator ( 🌟Pro tip: I chose 12 colors for the look ) 

9. Assemble the pattern according to the plan you made in Procreate! 

10. Recolor it however you want ( 🌟Pro tip: recolor it in Photoshop with the hue saturation slider will give you a much better look)! 🎉

11. Do a happy dance ( mandatory)! 👩🏻‍🎨

Mockup by Victoria Studio 

Mockup by Aline Bea

You can now shop this design and other new designs in my Spoonflower shop. Don't hesitate to reach out to me for any alterations. If you have any question about the design process, please leave me a comment. I can't wait to see what you create!

One more important thing: I have switched my email provider to Substack. If you are on my list, you would have received a gorgeous freebie from me this week! If you aren’t on my list yet, be sure to sign up below before Oct 18th to download the freebie, future goodies and updates!