It was a sunny Friday afternoon but there was only one shopper in sight at the Taiwan Culture Point (好文化創意空間). A lone woman attended the counter. It seemed very forlorn for an established intended to promote the products of local designers and artists.
As part of the government-funded National Cultural Association's (文化總會) effort to boost the local creative industry and promote local cultural and art works, the recently opened gallery, situated on the second floor of the association's building, houses a colorful array of high-end gift items that blend traditional cultural elements with modern designs from 15 local brands, studios and individual artists.
“Our aim is to become a platform for local designers, give support and visibility to local brands in the nascent phase (of product development) and bridge the gap between the artists and the public,” said Hsieh Mo-chin (謝孟瑾), the young woman in charge of the display area.
Unfortunately, there seems to be some discrepancy between intention and operation, for while Taiwan Culture Point offers many handcrafted items that would be perfect as gifts, the venue has received very little publicity and few people know of its existence.
It's point of departure is a simple idea: offering a space for designers who welcome a spot to sell their things.
“Since we are a nonprofit organization, all the profits from sold items belong to the artists and studios. We only charge them a nominal rental fee: NT$2,000 for a glass showcase and NT$3,000 for a cupboard display,” Hsieh said. As some of Taiwan's most innovative designers and studios have rented space here, this makes Taiwan Culture Point a great place to check out for quality gifts. Most of the items found here cannot be easily found elsewhere in Taipei.
Flower vases and tea sets from the wood-fired ceramic studio Hwataoyao (華陶窯) in Miaoli County can be purchased at Taiwan Culture Point. These wood fired products, using local Taiwanese acacia, a native of the region, gives the pieces a distinctive golden coloring. “Different woods create different-colored glazes, and the golden hue is peculiar to the acacia. Ash from the wood falls scatters onto the pottery during firing, creating a unique dappled look,” Hsieh explained.
While the proud tradition of weaving of the Taroko tribe (太魯閣族) sees its modern revival in Yuli Taki's (連美惠) handbags and purses adorned with the rhombus totem -- standing for the eye of the tribal ancient spirit -- Taiwan's ceramic art will find its rainbow-colored representation in the koji figures made by a koji family in Yunlin (雲林) that adheres strictly to the teaching of the koji master Yei Wang (業王) in Chiayi (嘉義), the birthplace of Taiwan's koji ceramics.
Glove puppets from the Hsiao Hsiao-yuan (小西園) glove puppet theater are favorites as gift, as long as you are not scared off by the NT$5,000 price tag. Entirely handmade, the wooden puppets are attired in embroidered garment created with amazing attention to details. Once you lay your eyes on the art works of the traditional craft, you will be less willing to settle for a plastic puppet in machine-made costumes that cost half the price and are more readily available.
A perfect blend of the old and the new can be seen in the creations of designer Chen Chun-liang (陳俊良) from the Freeimage (自由落體設計公司) label. Injecting a minimalist look into his series of tableware, the artist draws his inspirations from ancient copper coins and ingeniously embellishes the modern design with a nostalgic stamp.
Award-winning porcelain designs from the Franz Collection Inc. (法藍瓷) are among the most frequently asked for items. Gathering designers from home and abroad, the five-year-old company has created innovative tableware with flower and animal motifs, and tea sets and jewelry designed in the Art Nouveau style.
Taiwan Culture Point is located at 2F, 15 Chungking S Rd Sec 2, Taipei (台北市重慶南路二段15號2樓). Business hour is Monday to Friday from 10am to 6pm. For more information, call (02) 2396 4256 ext.118.
A few weeks ago I found myself at a Family Mart talking with the morning shift worker there, who has become my coffee guy. Both of us were in a funk over the “unseasonable” warm weather, a state of mind known as “solastalgia” — distress produced by environmental change. In fact, the weather was not that out of the ordinary in boiling Central Taiwan, and likely cooler than the temperatures we will experience in the near-future. According to the Taiwan Adaptation Platform, between 1957 and 2006, summer lengthened by 27.8 days, while winter shrunk by 29.7 days. Winter is not
A sultry sea mist blankets New Taipei City as I pedal from Tamsui District (淡水) up the coast. This might not be ideal beach weather but it’s fine weather for riding –– the cloud cover sheltering arms and legs from the scourge of the subtropical sun. The dedicated bikeway that connects downtown Taipei with the west coast of New Taipei City ends just past Fisherman’s Wharf (漁人碼頭) so I’m not the only cyclist jostling for space among the SUVs and scooters on National Highway No. 2. Many Lycra-clad enthusiasts are racing north on stealthy Giants and Meridas, rounding “the crown coast”
March 25 to March 31 A 56-year-old Wu Li Yu-ke (吳李玉哥) was straightening out her artist son’s piles of drawings when she inadvertently flipped one over, revealing the blank backside of the paper. Absent-mindedly, she picked up a pencil and recalled how she used to sketch embroidery designs for her clothing business. Without clients and budget or labor constraints to worry about, Wu Li drew freely whatever image came to her mind. With much more free time now that her son had found a job, she found herself missing her home village in China, where she
Taiwan’s post-World War II architecture, “practical, cheap and temporary,” not to mention “rather forgettable.” This was a characterization recently given by Taiwan-based historian John Ross on his Formosa Files podcast. Yet the 1960s and 1970s were, in fact, the period of Taiwan’s foundational building boom, which, to a great extent, defined the look of Taiwan’s cities, determining the way denizens live today. During this period, functionalist concrete blocks and Chinese nostalgia gave way to new interpretations of modernism, large planned communities and high-rise skyscrapers. It is currently the subject of a new exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Modern