Harvest Mouse
豐登鼠
Small steps,
a full harvest.
Harvest Mouse grew from an earlier character I once called the “Boss Mouse” — a small seated mouse wearing a tie, slightly arrogant and completely sure of itself.
Years later, I returned to that character and made it fuller, rounder, and more at ease. Arms crossed, head slightly raised, it became a mouse with a very big sense of prosperity.
In Chinese folk culture, the mouse has long lived close to grain, households, and everyday life. That closeness can suggest both loss and abundance: a mouse appears where food is stored, where harvests are gathered, and where life continues.
This tension became part of the idea behind Harvest Mouse — not a timid creature hiding in the corner, but one that looks as though it has already eaten its fill of the world and decided to stay.
On its back, two folk paper-cut images turn this idea of abundance into pattern: one mouse carries a coin ornament, while another rolls happily with a gold ingot in its arms.
Together, they form a small story of gathering and enjoying good fortune.
I also kept thinking of a line from the Book of Songs (《詩經》):
「碩鼠碩鼠，無食我黍。」
In its original context, it is a complaint. But in this zodiac doll, I began to imagine the mouse differently — no longer only as a thief of grain, but almost as a symbol of grain itself.
That is where the name Fengdeng Mouse (豐登鼠) — the Mouse of Harvest comes from: a wish for abundance, a good year, and the hope that what is taken will also return.
Made by Hand
Original patterns are screen-printed onto fabric, then each piece is cut, sewn, filled, and finished by hand. Small variations are part of the process, making every zodiac companion slightly different.
Zodiac Years
People born in the Year of the Rat include:
1924 · 1936 · 1948 · 1960 · 1972 · 1984 · 1996 · 2008 · 2020
Your zodiac year returns every twelve years.
For those born in the Year of the Rat, 2032 is one of those special years.
