The Taiwanese exhibit at the Old Truman’s Brewery in London — the establishment hosting the sixth Tent London design trade show — has dazzled and surprised visitors to the event with its creativity, aesthetics and practicality.
Several designers from Taiwan participated in this year’s Tent London from Thursday to Sunday, part of the London Design Festival, contributing nearly 100 pieces.
According to Hsieh Chi-yun (謝其韞), the project manager in charge of carrying out the “International Expansion for Cultural and Creative Products” project, which is supervised by the Ministry of Culture, the Taiwanese exposition, called “Fresh Taiwan,” attracted many with its unique designs and use of Taiwanese materials.
International media and buyers were impressed with the booth’s design products, he added.
Among the products selected to feature in the festival’s promotional flyers was a bamboo chair made by the Taiwan Tsaodi Workshop.
Designer Hsu Yun-tian (徐雲天) said the design concept sought to utilize the elasticity of bamboo through applied mechanics to produce comfortable seating, adding that due to both environmental concerns and practical reasons, he chose bamboo endemic to Taiwan.
A magnet in the form of a smooth cobblestone also drew visitors to the booth. An on-site demonstration of the magnet holding on to a £1 coin intrigued visitors.
Another design uses the form of a traditional bird toy — one that can be balanced on one’s finger — shaped to resemble various bird species endemic to Taiwan and functioning as a pencil sharpener.
The visitors to the booth were all impressed with the creativity of the Taiwanese designers, Hsieh said.
The Fresh Taiwan exposition has plans to appear at six international events this year, with Tent London being the most recent and third stop. It appeared at the GIFTEX World 2012 in Tokyo in July and the Maison&Objet show in Paris earlier this month.
“We hope the Taiwanese designers’ group will be able to reflect in its creations their attitude toward life and their appreciation for aesthetics, and through their designs, give the international community continued delight with Taiwanese innovations,” Hsieh said.
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