Faculty of Design

Material Art & Design

Melody Juthamongkol

The Knucklebones (Chinese Jack) - The Great Race (The Chinese Zodiac)

The Knucklebones (Chinese Jacks) are inspired by the Chinese Zodiac origin story: The Great Race. The set consists of 12 Chinese Zodiac animal hairclips and a storage pouch which dual functions as a hair bun cover and a beanbag for knucklebone games.Please refer to the video for the play demonstration.

“The story of ‘The Great Race’ is a ubiquitous tale in Asia where the Jade Emperor, in an attempt to devise a way to track time, organized a race for the twelve attended animals to participate. Their finishing order would mark their placement on the Zodiac calendar. At the finish line, The rat, carried by the ox, jumped off the ox's head and secured first place. The ox came in second, the tiger in third and the rabbit in fourth. Next came the dragon, who could have flown directly across, but stopped to help some creatures she had encountered on the way. The snake and the horse follow. The Jade Emperor looked out at the river and spotted the sheep, the monkey, and the rooster, finishing the race in that respective order. Next came the dog, who spent too much time frolicking, only managing eleventh. The final spot was claimed by the pig, who had gotten hungry and stopped to eat and nap before finally waddling across the finish line. As the game of Jacks and Knucklebones involves picking objects up in order or sequence, this toy and game fits well with the narration of the animals finishing the race in order and in small groupings. Through the narration, additional rules can be added to the gameplay such as collecting the animal clips in order or in specific groupings. In honour of my Taiwanese heritage, imagery of plum flowers (Taiwan’s national flower) is present on the silk pouch pattern and on the frame of all twelve hairclips.”