Chinese zodiac year inspires Australian stamps, decorations

Chrissy Lau, the designer of Australia Post's Year of the Snake stamps and lucky snakes painted on a light rail tram in downtown Sydney in celebration of Spring Festival, is inspired by the traditional Chinese culture passed down by her father.

"The inspiration comes from my background and the conversations I used to have with my late father," says Lau, a British-born Australian-Chinese multidisciplinary artist.

"We would chat for hours about Chinese culture, art and history. He knew a lot about feng shui — the ancient study of geomantic Chinese omens used to determine the auspicious location and orientation of buildings, rooms and more — and the animal ornaments displayed to attract prosperity," she says.

Lau, 41, was born and raised in Yorkshire, England, to a father from Guangdong province and a mother from Hong Kong. She has lived in Sydney since 2007.

This year marks Lau's fifth anniversary of designing the Australia Post's Chinese New Year stamps. The illustrations for the Year of the Snake blend traditional Chinese culture with a modern twist — three snake stamps that look like lucky feng shui ornaments filled with gold coins and ingots.

"I love having the opportunity to share a piece of my heritage," Lau says. "It's a good connection between my upbringing in the West and my Chinese cultural background."

Lau has two children and hopes to pass traditional Chinese culture down to the next generation like her father did.

"It's important to celebrate your culture and teach your children about your heritage," Lau says. "I involve them in the design stage."

"Whenever I make designs for Chinese New Year, I always run them past my children," she says. "They're also my inspiration. They're always checking if it's a fun design."

The Lucky 8 Snakes design on a Sydney light rail tram to celebrate the Chinese festival is Lau's newest work.

In front of Sydney City Hall, the light rail tram painted with large red and gold snakes slowly approaches. The red lantern patterns and the Chinese character for "snake" are particularly prominent.

"The design incorporates lucky ornaments," Lau says. "It's a wonderful piece that I hope will brings joy to passengers in Sydney."

The snakes sit among gold coins and ingots, plum blossoms, orchids, chrysanthemums, peony flowers, lanterns, and auspicious clouds — elements symbolizing wealth, perseverance, good luck, longevity, and prosperity.

At the end section of the lucky snake illustrations are the designer's names — Chrissy Lau in English and Liu Dingqi in Chinese.

Lau says a few years ago, she decided to put both her Chinese name and English name on her illustrations. "I think it's nice to embrace your heritage and share your Chinese name."