Now in its fifth year, the annual Taiwan Designers’ Week (台灣設計師週) begins today at Huashan 1914 (華山1914) and runs until Sept. 26.
It is the first of several events that will put the spotlight on Taiwanese designers over the next month and a half. The Taiwan World Design Expo (台灣世界設計大會, www.2011ida.com), which is co-organized by the Taipei City Government to run in conjunction with next month’s International Design Alliance (IDA) Congress, starts at several venues on Sept. 30 and runs until Oct. 30.
Inspired by exhibitions like Tokyo Designers’ Week and Milan Design Week, Taiwan Designers’ Week was created in 2007 as a platform for independent projects and collaborations.
Photo: Catherine Shu, Taipei Times
“We have a lot of designers working in different industries in Taiwan, but people don’t know who they are,” co-organizer Timothy Liao (廖軍豪) says. “We want to give designers a chance to communicate their own point of view.”
Since its inception, Taiwan Designers’ Week has grown from about 100 exhibitors to more than 300 individual designers and teams. Liao expects 60,000 to 70,000 visitors over the next 10 days. In addition to the main exhibit area, there will be daily workshops and discussions.
Many designers who participate in the event already have full-time jobs in sectors like industrial or product design. For some, the exhibition is a chance to find distributors for independently produced items; others seek an audience for more conceptual works.
Photo: Catherine Shu, Taipei Times
Past exhibitors have included Chunwei Liao (廖峻偉), whose delicate false eyelashes inspired by traditional Chinese paper cutting have recently generated buzz on fashion Web sites like Vogue.com and influential blog Style Bubble (www.stylebubble.co.uk), as well as artists Wang Yang-en (王揚恩) and Hsiao Yu-chih (蕭有志), who create cocoon-like bamboo latticework structures.
“We don’t select designers based on how well-known they are. We look for ideas that are intellectually engaging or items that are representative of design in Taiwan,” Liao says.
One of the goals of the exhibit is to pinpoint what makes this country’s design scene unique, he says.
Photo: Catherine Shu, Taipei Times
“You can say that Taiwanese designers are talented, that they are well-trained, hardworking and good at making money for companies, but it’s harder to describe Taiwan’s overall design identity,” Liao says.
Over the past five years, however, he has observed that many Taiwanese designers focus on creating items meant to improve the quality of life for ordinary consumers. This year’s exhibition will feature more interactive items, including home lighting fixtures.
“Taiwan is a ‘tech island,’” Liao says. “A lot of designers work at high-tech companies and some of them have thought about how to use their skills to make everyday items more useful and interesting.”
Photo: Catherine Shu, Taipei Times
Many items celebrate Taiwanese culture and crafts. An annual feature of Taiwan Designers’ Week is an exhibit that pairs designers with their mothers or other older women to brainstorm innovative ways to use handcrafting techniques. Last year’s produced silicone card holders with cross-stitched motifs and lighting fixtures made by braiding cloth-covered wire into designs inspired by traditional Chinese knotting.
Several designers participating in this year’s exhibit worked with makers of iron window grills to produce furniture and other items with the commonplace building material. “Focusing on culture does not just mean things that are very old,” Liao says.
“Designers also want to draw attention to things that may not count as traditional crafts but, like the iron window grills, are starting to disappear because they are considered old fashioned.”
Photo: Catherine Shu, Taipei Times
He adds: “I would say that in the past a lot of Taiwanese people weren’t confident about Taiwanese culture, but it’s turned into an important resource for designers.”
Photo: Catherine Shu, Taipei Times
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