Roughly translated as “paper craft”, Zi zaat (the Cantonese equivalent for the Mandarin word “Zhizha”) is the centuries–old Chinese art of making paper figures with bamboo sticks. These figures, typically floral tributes, lanterns, dragons, and effigies in general, play an essential role in Taoist rituals. Their building technique relies primarily on manual skill and often resorts to improvisation, resulting in an intuitive practice that hardly allows for a systematic design process.

Based on this observation, Luis Vega proposed a codification exercise aimed at building Zi Zaat artifacts with standardized components. To make this possible, two parameters (length and radius) were used to define each component, and two values (minimum and maximum) were set to restrict each parameter, generating two-dimensional parts formed of lines, arcs, and a combination of both. All possible permutations between parts were rendered parametrically, which derived in an assembly matrix for three-dimensional objects.

Numerous figures were blueprinted with these criteria and five of them were prototyped in bamboo, giving birth to the Kowloon Series

In addition to delivering tangible outcomes, the project yielded technical knowledge in the form of codified data. The codification exercise enabled the study of the technique in a systematic way, whereas the production of artifacts afforded a simple yet varied repertoire of shapes to speculate on figures of greater complexity. As a result, the project managed to sample the constructive potential of the technique and synthesize the material lexicon of Zi zaat into a basic notation system.

‘Notations’ was supported by the Vocational Training Council of Hong Kong and carried out during a five–month Research Residency at the Department of Design Foundation Studies of the Hong Kong Design Institute. Special gratitude goes to Professor Phoebe Hui and Bamboo Master Ping–Chi Au Yeung.