Edible mahjong tiles to bak kwa earrings: Singapore artisans get creative with CNY merchandise

SINGAPORE – With Chinese New Year (CNY) around the corner, Singapore artisans are giving free rein to their imagination with unique festive treats, accessories and fun toys to mark the Year of the Horse.

They include ornaments shaped to look like traditional auspicious symbols such as pineapples, oranges and pussy willow plants; earrings that look like bak kwa, or barbecued pork; and horse-shaped cookies.

The Straits Times takes a look at some of the more unique offerings available.

Traditional, with a twist

Fancy handicrafts to help usher in an auspicious new year? Seniors at the Carer eldercare centre in Tampines are selling handmade collectibles that resemble British toymaker Jellycat’s plushies.

The figurines are made of clay and colourful pipe cleaners, and come in traditional Chinese New Year good-luck symbols such as mandarin oranges, pineapples, peony blooms and pussy willow.

In a series of videos posted to social media platform TikTok by the centre’s founder, Ms Sherlyn Chen, 37, the seniors can be seen making, packing and promoting their wares.

Bak kwa bling

When artist Eve Loh, 25, decided to try her hand at making clay earrings, she was inspired by bak kwa, the barbecued pork treat synonymous with Chinese New Year celebrations.

Ms Loh, who started the stationery store soufflepunch around 2020, said it took her about five or six hours to create a batch of nine bak kwa-inspired earrings.

The process involved mixing colour into the clay and adding details like burnt edges and a glossy varnish to mimic the texture of the meat slices, she added.

The result: mouth-watering bak kwa lookalikes that will last longer than the edible ones.

Stepping it up

For her New Year collection of handcrafted polymer clay earrings, Ms Brenda Billy Tan, 39, decided to blend the traditional emblems for the Year of the Horse, like the zodiac animal and flowers, with her personal values, such as protection, continuity, gentleness and quiet strength.

One pair is shaped like a horse’s bust, in navy blue, framed by a swirling, reddish-brown mane. Below, a turquoise and pink floral arrangement, adorned with tiny pearls.

“I like pieces that feel strangely beautiful, rather than obviously festive,” said Ms Tan, who started jewellery brand WhereBilly in 2018.

Fidget auspiciously

If nervous about awkward questions during family reunions, a clicker fidget toy – designed to help users focus or relieve stress – could come in handy, especially one in the shape of Caishen, the Chinese God of Fortune, atop a bright orange horse.

In 2025, Ms Cherie Yeo and her sister Cheryl, who are in their early 30s and run online business TwoVersionSis, came up with Cubely – clickers that look like small characters – to create a toy that also feels like a companion.

For the New Year, the sisters have created the Caishen Cubely, among other festive designs that feature tiny mandarin oranges and miniature lion dance costumes.

Paws-perous goodies

Ms Danielle Chen, 34, who started pet accessory brand Namo et al in 2024, introduced her first New Year-themed collection in 2026.

It includes a pet tag design based on the Daruma doll – a Japanese good luck charm – that is 3D-printed using a bioplastic material and can be personalised to the pet’s breed, colour and name.

Prettywoofpeople has a bounty ready with goat milk biscuits shaped like coins, the Japanese maneki-neko (beckoning cat), gold ingots and mandarin oranges, to represent luck and prosperity.

The pet store also sells frozen treats shaped like mahjong tiles in blueberry, strawberry and coconut, flavours that give the treats “a lighter, playful twist”.

Too good to eat

Annabella Patisserie, which started off in a home kitchen in 2013 and now has two permanent stores in Singapore, is keeping up its tradition of mahjong-themed pastries in 2026.

Its pineapple tarts come in sets of 10 and are shaped like mahjong tiles, topped with five designs printed on icing – including the “huat” (meaning prosper) tile and the eighth-ranked tiles of each suit.

Ms Phyllis Wong, a 35-year-old Chinese-Muslim baker operating PhylBakes out of her home in Woodlands South, decided to ring in the New Year by making something new: her first Chinese New Year-themed collection of sugar cookies.

The cookies are decorated to look like mahjong tiles, chubby horses and festive decorations. They are Ms Wong’s attempt to blend “familiar CNY symbols with a softer, more playful and modern aesthetic that would feel warm, joyful and inclusive”.