Created by Zhengdaming as designated supplier for the 13th Silk Road International Film Festival, the 'Light on the Silk Road' lacquer art brooch takes the form of a phoenix turning its head with wings spread, combining mother-of-pearl inlay with silver-pigment lacquer — a subtle dialogue between a thousand-year-old Chinese craft and world cinema.

How much craft can a single brooch carry? As designated supplier of the 13th Silk Road International Film Festival, Zhengdaming answered with the 'Light on the Silk Road' lacquer art brooch, in a distinctly Eastern key: millennia-old lacquer as its body, mother-of-pearl as its light, dozens of hand stages as its footnotes — before it can finally rest on a guest's chest as a small yet exquisite vessel of dialogue between civilisations.

Origin of the Design: A Phoenix Looking Back, the Road Stretching On

The design theme is 'Silk Road Phoenix · Light of Chang'an'. The phoenix turns its head with wings spread: the head looking back symbolises a civilisation remembering its inheritance; the raised tail signifies the Silk Road's extension and openness; the feather lines read as the roads that connected East and West; and the whole form closes into a circle, standing for encounter, exchange and fusion. At the same time, the shifting light across the feathers echoes the play of light and shadow on film, making the brooch a double metaphor for Silk Road culture and the art of cinema.

The Difficulty of the Craft: The Slowness and Uniqueness of Natural Lacquer

The brooch is built on a base of natural lacquer over a brass body, only about 0.8 cm thick and roughly 5.5 cm by 4.5 cm. Within such a small volume, multiple coats of lacquer, mother-of-pearl inlay, silver-pigment laying and hand grinding and polishing must all be completed — every step testing the artisan's touch and patience with time.

What makes lacquer special is its slowness. Each coat must cure in a humidity-controlled room; the colour darkens as it dries and only 'wakes' back months later, growing brighter the longer it is used. A single brooch therefore often takes an entire season from design to finished piece. And because of the randomness of natural materials, the sheen of the lacquer and the refraction of the mother-of-pearl can never be exactly repeated — each piece is alive in its own way.

Two Proposals: Starry Silk Road and Flowing Phoenix Feathers

The sketches present two craft proposals. 'Starry Silk Road' uses silver-pigment lacquer to depict the land of the Silk Road and the dust of its ancient roads, dotted with round mother-of-pearl pieces that stand for stars, cities and points of film light — setting out from Chang'an, gathering into light, illuminating the world. 'Flowing Phoenix Feathers' covers the surface with mother-of-pearl threads laid along the direction of the feathers, each thread a ray of light, together forming the phoenix's plumage as it wings toward the future.

The Beauty of Wearing: Light Before the Camera

A sketch on paper is only an intention; wearing it is the answer. During the Festival, Overseas Promotion Ambassador Wen Junhui, Jury President Bao Dexi and Golden Silk Road Award Best Actor Ivan Savov wore the brooch in the official posters. The deep base of the lacquer holds the flowing light of the mother-of-pearl, producing a texture quite different from the drawing: it does not shout, yet it holds the eye; it is quiet, yet it writes the refinement of Eastern materials into every detail.

Behind the Scenes: From the Workshop to the Gift Bag

A brooch occupies only a few square centimetres in front of the camera, but in the workshop it is a complete production line. Before the Festival opened, the Zhengdaming team completed a final round of quality checks, packing and delivery: wooden boxes, silk lining, gift bags printed with the Festival emblem — every detail had to be worthy of the place it would occupy on a guest's chest.

What finally rested on the guests' chests was this fusion of an Eastern material language with an international aesthetic context: a brooch, and at the same time a miniature lacquer painting that can be worn — a tribute to the Silk Road, and another footnote in Chinese lacquer art's journey into the world.