A shampoo bottle that has the potential to sprout trees and a poster that functions as a lamp are among items on display in an exhibition at the Red Dot Design Museum in Taipei that opened on Thursday.
The exhibition showcases 102 items — including 44 by Taiwanese designers — that won Red Dot awards in the communication design category last year, the museum said, adding that winners are selected by expert juries.
The displays range from posters, illustrations and apps to animations, packaging designs and typography.
Included are shampoo and hair moisturizer bottles made of fully biodegradable polylactide plastic that contains seeds of the endemic acacia tree.
If the used bottles are buried in soil, they decompose and allow the seeds hidden in the plastic to grow into acacia trees, which are known for their high capacity for carbon sequestration, the museum said.
Also on display is a poster with an image of a lamp printed on it that serves as decoration in the daytime and as a light at night.
The lamp is made of a phosphorescent material that absorbs ambient light during the day and emits it at night, the museum said.
An interactive installation called Tree Concert is also on display.
To raise public awareness of the importance of planting and protecting trees, advocacy group Friends of the Earth Germany organized a charity concert in Berlin last year in which sound and light effects were produced every time chestnuts fell on an interactive instrument placed under the trees, the museum said.
Compared with product design, communication design allows more creative freedom and room for unexpected ideas, Red Dot initiator and chief executive Peter Zec said on Wednesday in Taipei.
Zec said Taiwanese designers are especially good at packaging and poster designs.
“Taiwan, in the field of communication design, is really one of the leading nations in the world,” he said.
The exhibition is to run until Sept. 21 at the Red Dot Design Museum Taipei, in Songshan Cultural and Creative Park.
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