Kam Mak, the illustrator for the USPS Celebrating Lunar New Year series, is at his studio in Brooklyn, New York on Monday. Lu Huiquan / For China Daily

To Kam Mak, the designer for the Lunar New Year stamps by the US Postal Service, the festival starting Feb 19 is not only a holiday but connected to a string of happy, noisy, lively and colorful memories in Manhattan's Chinatown.

"When I go visit my relatives, my joy was to go after the tray and take all the candies that I wanted. ... And my grandmother would tell me, "Don't leave the shells [of watermelon seeds] on the table.' It's about family. It's about togetherness," Mak said.

In an interview with China Daily, the 53-year-old at times tilted his head slightly rightward, as he recalled what inspired his design for the stamp for the Year of the Ram - tray of togetherness, or chuen hop in Cantonese, which was used to fill snacks and serve guests.

"We didn't have a lot of food," he said. "It was tough for us. And my mother saved and saved just for the holiday," said the artist, whose father worked at a Chinese restaurant and mother at a sweatshop. "Extra food," he said. "Delicious food."