Mascots designed to boost tourism in the formerly tea-producing mountainous area of Maokong (貓空) in Taipei City ’s Wenshan District (文山) were on Wednesday unveiled by a commercial design team from National Taiwan University of Science and Technology.
The four mascots collectively named Maokong’s Little Sprites — Cha Lao (茶荖), Cha Bao (茶寶), Sun Cing (筍青) and Hua Ni (花妮) — representing kettle holes, tea, green bamboo and flowers respectively, which are attractions and produce of Maokong, are to be placed in locations associated with each feature or product.
The university’s Department of Industrial and Commercial Design chairman Sung Tung-jung (宋同正) said the sprites are the university’s donation to Maokong and his department was invited by Saylin Wen Cultural and Educational Foundation to make commercial designs for Taipei tourism that use localization as their theme.
Photo: CNA
The department investigated tourism in Maokong and found that local businesses are more concerned with survival than commercial design, Sung said.
Faculty members and students thought about how their designs could be used to boost tourist traffic in Maokong, and decided that strategically placed mascots at points frequented by visitors might help business, he said.
Maokong’s Little Sprites were designed to emphasize Maokong’s characteristics, said design team member Tsai Ya-tien (蔡亞典), who this year graduated from National Taiwan University of Science and Technology.
Tsai said the team referenced many popular Japanese mascots utilized to promote tourism in the prefectures for which they were designed, and that the team consulted with residents and businesses in creating the sprites.
The team hopes visitors come to appreciate that Maokong has more to offer than just the gondola and cats, Tsai said.
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