[Yizhi Xiang] Good Luck Honey Cake Gift Box (with Carrier Bag)

Awarded First Place for Silver A' Design Award in Packaging Design, Italy. The first design work in Taiwan's history with Taiwanese Hokkien at its core to receive international acclaim. This is Taiwan's first gift box that directly imprints an "endangered mother tongue"—Taiwanese Hokkien—onto the food itself. The text is transformed from paper to an edible surface, allowing language to be tasted. Through gifting and reusable "mother tongue transparent stickers" that can be affixed to everyday objects, it is shared in daily life. By integrating archival documents and industrial memory, this endangered mother tongue is revived through taste, transforming 250 years of cultural heritage into a shareable and collectible emotional experience. The packaging also uses FSC-certified paper and vegetable-based inks to support more responsible and sustainable production methods. The inspiration for this project comes from the 1774 "Siraya-Taivoan Documents" (Xin'gang Manuscripts)—a generational treasure of the Gu Garden Huang family in Tainan. These documents combine indigenous languages recorded in Roman script, Chinese characters, and hand-drawn maps. The "Xin'gang Manuscripts," which record the Siraya language in Roman script, are one of the earliest forms of written language in Taiwan, providing an early historical foundation for the Romanization of Taiwanese languages. They bear witness to early Taiwanese language writing and land exchanges, as well as the evidence of how different ethnic groups understood, exchanged, and built trust. This artifact is treasured by Huang Longzheng of the Gu Garden Huang family in the ancient city of Fucheng. "Taiwanese Hokkien" on the cake: Right: "Hó-ūn lóng lâi" (Good luck comes in abundance) Left: "Tak-kang sū-sī" (Every day is well and proper) By directly imprinting the characters onto the honey cake, language is not confined to print, history, and memory. Instead, it re-enters human senses and daily life through the food itself, the packaging visuals, and the reusable transparent stickers. Through the intertwining of literature, land, the sugar industry, language, and food craftsmanship, 250 years of cultural memory are transformed into a shareable and collectible emotional experience. Language becomes not just an object of reading, but a presence that can be seen, tasted, shared, and carried. The mother tongue, once fading from life, returns to family, gifts, and daily living, forming a gentle yet powerful cultural resurgence. Taiwan is a land of high-quality sugar production. In the 18th century, sugar was one of Taiwan's significant export commodities. The land documented in the deed, located around present-day Zuozhen District in Tainan, was owned by the indigenous Siraya people of the Zhuohou community. Much of the land leased through the Xin'gang Manuscripts was used for cultivating sugarcane and rice. After harvesting, the sugarcane was refined into sugar and exported via maritime trade to Nagasaki, Japan, becoming a key ingredient in Nagasaki cakes. This pathway from land, agriculture, production, to maritime export forms the historical backdrop of this work. Yizhi Xiang's honey cake inherits the craftsmanship of Nagasaki cake, using the traditional "pine wood box" baking method and incorporating natural longan flower honey. It is a popular, long-selling product. It not only draws from history visually but also continues the sweet tradition of inter-Asian maritime trade in its food craftsmanship, creating a complete link between language, land, industry, and craftsmanship. The outer packaging uses the Xin'gang Manuscripts land deed as its visual theme. Through the translation of maps, text, and paper texture, it recreates the visual weight of historical documents. The inner box, in a golden hue, conveys a sense of gifting and the preciousness of dessert, balancing history with contemporaneity, and culture with commerce. The gift box packaging uses FSC-certified paper and vegetable-based inks to support responsible and sustainable production methods. Beyond its cultural narrative, it also responds to contemporary design demands for material responsibility and ethical production. (Revised: Tsò-hué bat Tâi-bûn - Understanding Taiwanese Together)