A success that the head of the design team behind Bing Dwen Dwen, Cao Xue, could not imagine. “With the opening of the Olympic Games, I obviously expected people to buy it, but not that it would become so popular overnight,” he told AFP. “It has become a phenomenon.”
“We keep one as a souvenir for each of the 14 designers (…) These last few days we tell ourselves that maybe we should have kept more,” jokes Cao Xue about her stuffed animal, now on the verge of extinction.
The start of the Olympic Games on February 4 coincided with the Lunar New Year holiday in China., when most of the country’s factories are on vacation. Result: out of stock in stores.
Taking advantage of the scarcity, some tried to resell the toy at ten times its market value. The police also warn against online sales, where sellers disappear once they have received payment in advance.
In ravioli version
But the process of creating the final pet was not easy.
“We designed tens of thousands of sketches, we spent seven months conceiving and modifying all of that. At one point we even abandoned the idea of having a panda. Since there were so many models of pandas in the past…” Cao Xue recalls.
The panda only lives in the wild in China, where it is a national symbol.. The authorities have been making efforts for decades to prevent their disappearance.
“In the end, at the same time for our team and for the organizing committee of the Games, we told ourselves that a panda was the best possible option,” says Cao, a professor of Fine Arts in Guangzhou (south).
The final version is a smiling panda, dressed in a kind of transparent astronaut suit.like ice, a kind of combination of useful protection in times of pandemic.
In Internet the success is such that some share videos of the pet made at home with ravioli or with rice cake.
Faced with the demand, the organizers of the Games promised to speed up production. Chinese media have already featured reports showing Chinese workers doing extra overtime in factories.
“When I see all those people in Beijing dealing with the cold for hours standing in line, it’s not just to buy an inanimate toy,” Cao said.
“What they come to find is something to hold in their hands and that gives them a bit of warmth,” he adds.