For designer Ashley Tenzing, the Year of the Horse is deeply personal.
That's because it's her Chinese Zodiac sign.
Tenzing, Manager, Creative Services at TD Securities, spent a few years designing Lunar New Year rounds for TD Precious Metals, but she'd been on other portfolios for the past little while.
Her colleague and fellow designer Jerry Zhao took over the Lunar New Year project. However, she called dibs on the Year of the Horse. Zhao was happy to oblige.
Tenzing's design marries research and personal experience.
She worked with the TD Precious Metals team and colleagues in-branch to land on a design that references the symbolism of the horse.
"There's one side of the horse where we see its gracefulness and its calm demeanour," she said.
"But there's also the other side, which I think was a little bit more in line with the description of the Zodiac, where the horse is in motion, galloping towards a destination. I think it also brings a lot of motivation for the year ahead," she continued.
As someone who's celebrated Lunar New Year her whole life, it was important for her to include cultural references on the round, too, like the colour red and flowers to represent luck and prosperity.
Tenzing is proud of the deeply personal Lunar New Year collection she and Zhao have created.
Communities across Asia, and in the diaspora, have different Lunar New Year traditions. But for many, it’s customary to exchange monetary gifts.
To celebrate Lunar New Year on February 17, many TD Branches in Canada will have in-branch activities and some will have red envelopes available in the preceding days.
For Tenzing, the TD Precious Metals Lunar New Year collection is an important part of her Lunar New Year celebrations. She has the TD 12-piece silver Lunar series collector's box to display her rounds and is looking forward to completing her collection. For her, knowing others are collecting rounds and bullion, and gifting them to family and friends is meaningful, especially this year.
"It's just special to say that I worked on a project that really had a piece of myself in it."