A refrigerator sticker quietly on the shelves for two hours, sold 1,700; on the market for three months, sold nearly 80,000, bring fire with the same series of cultural and creative sales total exceeded 10 million yuan, this amount does not represent the market demand, but is limited by the capacity of sales. National Museum of Ming Xiaoduan Empress phoenix crown as the inspiration for the design of the original phoenix crown refrigerator stickers, the museum in the past 20 years deserved to be the top seller, was jokingly referred to as one of the most wanted to have the Beijing cultural and creative products.

How to use a ‘small cultural creation’ pry ‘big economy’, and even drive the enthusiasm of the exhibition? 112-year-old National Museum of China has given the answer!

How did the fire into this

‘And Feng Guan refrigerator stickers,’ “What time in the morning to buy” ...... National Museum of the first floor of the cultural and creative shop, National Museum of the deputy director of the Department of Business Development Liao Fei hanging a work permit to stand still, will be non-stop questions! The first half is to inquire about the Feng Guan refrigerator stickers.

He said bluntly: ‘This cultural creation is really on fire! And a listing is a hit - two hours before the closing of the museum on 19 July on the counter, without any publicity under the premise, a breath of time to sell 1,700.’

This ‘heavenly’, unorganised fire, so that the National Museum of Cultural Creations design team a little bit of a puzzle - how the fire into this? After all, this is a programme that almost lost the election. The reason is that as a refrigerator sticker, it is like a ‘giant’, bigger than most adults' palm-sized refrigerator stickers by a full circle. Liao Fei laughed: ‘Initially, I just want to try, prefabricated a small batch of goods, I did not expect a fire.’

‘Fire’ up, sort of unintentional, but the development of Feng Guan refrigerator stickers is definitely “premeditated”. Last summer, the creative team found that many viewers in social media and filial piety end of the queen's phoenix crown photo. The designers had a flash of insight - this cultural relic has a ‘red’ body, and then started research and development.

From the ‘circle of friends’ to find the right flow, sounds unbelievable, but is the daily life of the cultural and creative team. Liao Fei said: ‘counting me, the team a total of seven people. We have time to string exhibition halls, see the exhibition, pay attention to the hot topics of social media, because the development of cultural and creative can not be made behind closed doors, the source must be the first line of exhibits, and the audience to produce empathy.’

Do not pursue ‘false fire’

‘Heavy work, face’ “straight to the heart of the Chinese aesthetic”, the audience to Feng Guan refrigerator sticker labels. And these are also one of the reasons why the refrigerator stickers still need to be limited.

‘The eyes of the masses are discerning, and good cultural creations naturally have an audience. This pursuit and expectation of beauty cannot be let down. To exaggerate, we have always pursued extreme quality.’ Liao Fei initially listed on the wooden phoenix crown refrigerator sticker design process, for example, 3 layers of wooden material superimposed on the production of the ‘phoenix crown’, can emit a similar metallic luster, flat printed beads and even have a naked eye 3D sense. ‘Crown inlaid ‘ruby’ needs to be hand-pasted, crooked a little will be returned to the factory. In order to add a sense of movement, the cap fins were changed to be movable.’

During the interview, he mentioned the most is, ‘refrigerator sticker process is complicated, must ensure absolute quality under the premise of considering the enhancement of production capacity, can not blindly pursue the “false fire”.’ At present, the daily production capacity of refrigerator stickers has reached about 3,000 pieces, but also speeding up.

The design team also took the initiative to ‘rub’ a wave of phoenix crown heat. Notebook, cosmetic mirror, badges, plush toys, keychains, horse skirt, coffee and other more than 10 phoenix crown series of cultural and creative products have been listed. Up to now, the phoenix crown series of cultural and creative heat is still rising, three or four have reached a phenomenon, sales are more than or approaching 1 million yuan. Liao Fei said: ‘This kind of spurt of cultural enthusiasm for us, is an incentive but also a spur, from another angle also shows that the fine cultural and creative market is still promising.’

The new mode of combining exhibition and creation

Good cultural and creative products are derived from the exhibits, and then the products return to the exhibits, the new mode of ‘exhibition and creation combination’ is emerging. In the Ancient China exhibition hall, the phoenix crown is the only exhibit that needs to queue up for appreciation. On social media, the most fashionable way of carding has become holding up the purchased phoenix crown refrigerator stickers and phoenix crown photo. ‘I swiped the phoenix crown fridge sticker before travelling to Beijing and was lucky to buy it! Just want to come to the exhibition hall to see the real thing.’ Zhejiang tourist Ms Li said.

‘There are still a lot of research and development programmes being promoted.’ Liao Fei sold a secret, ‘all products should adhere to the heavy industry, Chinese aesthetics, close to the daily life.’

Can the phoenix crown effect be replicated? Liao Fei said, ‘We are not sure. But we can be sure that Feng Guan Wenchuang has promoted consumption and driven employment, and the number of employees in the foundry has grown by about 50 per cent. We expect more similar effects can be presented.’

Brief introduction of cultural relics

Ming Xiaoduan Empress Nine Dragons and Nine Phoenixes Crown

The front part is decorated with nine golden dragons with bead drops in their mouths, eight dotted gold phoenixes underneath, and a golden phoenix at the back as well, totalling nine dragons and nine phoenixes. It is listed by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage in China's ‘Catalogue of the First Batch of Cultural Relics Prohibited to be Exhibited Abroad (in the Country)’.

Source: Qianlong.com