Louisa Mak Ming-sze, a former Miss Hong Kong, turned heads recently with her fashion choices.
Stepping out in an A-line Zimmermann High Tide Picnic dress with an abstract orange and yellow design melting down the bustier, Mak wasn’t being praised for her sartorial sense – but her uncanny resemblance to a takeaway paper cup of milk tea. Tea Paper Cup
Once seen, it can’t be unseen. “OK, she represents Hong Kong,” wrote one user underneath an Instagram post by digital platform HolidaySmart, which was among the first to point out the resemblance. “It’s exactly the same,” joked another. “I thought she was a walking ad for the cup design.”
The pattern – swaying stalks of orange and yellow wheat – which features on most cha chaan teng takeaway cups, is undoubtedly an iconic Hong Kong design.
Like the red, white and blue plastic storage bags or the teardrop-shaped patterns of the Mister Softee ice-cream truck, it is a visual language that represents a cultural artefact of the city.
But who is actually behind this particular pattern?
As with many things in the emerging Hong Kong of the 20th century, there are few records of the design’s first appearance.
While the earliest documented paper cups date back to Imperial China (paper was invented by the Chinese in the 2nd century AD), where paper cups known as chih pei were used for serving tea, the modern version didn’t come into existence until the early 20th century.
Developed towards the end of the American civil war, the takeaway paper cup became popular in the 1980s as changing habits gave rise to convenience and on-the-go drinking.
In Hong Kong, it is unlikely that the cup with the iconic wheat pattern was created before the boom years of the ’80s, when single-use products became more widespread.
Until the ’60s, product designers only played a supporting role in local industries, and industrial design did not become a profession in its own right until the latter part of the 20th century.
Galaxy FastFood Products, a Hong Kong-based manufacturer, is one name that dominates searches for the production of these iconic cups. Its website suggests the pattern has been a part of Hong Kong history for more than 30 years.
“It’s not just an ordinary cup,” reads the blurb. “You can find its footprint everywhere. It has witnessed the changes in Hong Kong and has become one of the historical items of the city.”
In March 2018, Galaxy FastFood Products registered its design of the pattern – listed in its online catalogue as “Golden Wheat Pattern” – with Hong Kong’s Intellectual Property Department (IPD), gaining approval in August of that year.
The company’s website lists two other paper cup designs used for milk tea, including “Golden Time”, which features a slightly different, more narrow wheat design, and “Imperial Flower”, depicting orange and yellow chrysanthemums in bloom. Neither has been registered with the IPD.
The registration for the Golden Wheat Pattern expired this year, and there is no indication whether Galaxy intends to reapply. Multiple requests to the company to discuss the pattern and its provenance went unanswered.
But, even if there is someone who can lay claim to the original design, it hasn’t stopped creatives from using the colour palette and aesthetic in their own artworks and products.
I myself own several knick-knacks that appropriate the design, from embroidered patches to pin badges.
You’re likely to spot some form of paper-cup-inspired product at one of the many local arts and crafts fairs that take place in Hong Kong.
Ceramics brand 1handclay, based in the city, produces stout little ceramic cups with hand-painted versions of the pattern, while Tufting Studio offers classes teaching people how to tuft their own rugs, including in a milk-tea-cup pattern.
For Ellen Ng Wing-lam, a Hongkonger behind the brand Betaneko, based in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, the breezy design of the wafting wheat on her tall, handmade ceramic cups attracts homesick Hongkongers to her products.
Ng, who worked as a visual arts teacher in Hong Kong before emigrating to Taiwan in 2018, didn’t always work in ceramics; but after taking a course in her newly adopted city, it became her calling card, then a brand and a business.
“I actually didn’t know much about ceramics, but I came to Taiwan and learned,” she says. “My tutor asked us to incorporate some of our own memories and culture into our works, so I thought, as a Hongkonger, what would I use?”
She started thinking about foods she missed, such as Hong Kong-style milk tea, proper versions of which she says are still hard to find in Taiwan.
She then decided to incorporate elements of cha chaan teng culture into her creations, such as the eye-catching orange and yellow cup design.
“As I did research, I found that the wheat design was symbolic of Hong Kong,” she says. “I discovered that the golden wheat is the most popular design [for paper cups], but that has been taken in different directions, too. Like in some you might see a little sun added as well. But the original wheat is the classic.”
Each Betaneko cup is hand painted and fired several times. Ng first sold her creations at a local market in Kaohsiung, and when she started promoting her work on social media, the fans started multiplying.
“The first time I participated in a market, a lot of Hongkongers came to support me. They would see it and immediately think of Hong Kong,” she recalls.
As more Hongkongers began to emigrate in the following years, she saw an uptick in the number of customers who were inquiring and buying her ceramic cups to give to friends or keep for themselves.
Dixie Paper Plates “They’re all thinking, ‘What can I bring with me to remind me of home?’”