Taiwan Today

At the recent Taiwan Furniture Show, a collection of fine rosewood furniture especially attracted the atten­tion of visitors. But unfortunately for the exhibitor, it turned out to be more like a tourist attraction than a commercial ex­hibit-in the midst of the show's record attendance and sales, he was the center for compliments, but not of major purchases.

An American buyer, examining the handcarved panels of an elegant rosewood sideboard and table, commented, "This stuff is really beautiful; it's from another age." He went on enthusiastical­ly, "I'd like to buy it for myself, but in New York, I don't have the banquet hall to put it in."

Lion's foot, mother-of-pearl-inlaid occasional tables were more in keeping with apartment living, he mused. How­ ever, though it would give him great pleasure to be selling such artifacts, he allowed that as marketable items they were "just not in" nowadays.

Discussing this incident, Professor James Lee of National Taipei Institute of Technology's Department of Industrial Design noted that most people today favor furniture designs featuring clean lines that highlight the basic material, whether it be metal, wood, fabric, glass, or even plastic. Above all, he said, utility and flexibility are essential.

Catering superbly to these criteria, and at the opposite extreme in design to the handicrafted solid wood desks shown with the rosewood collection, was the show's computer furniture for the "in­formation age." Consisting of various units which can be integrated into a whole office complex as "work stations," such furniture makes allowances in design for computer hardware and for the possibility of adding or subtracting any module at will.

With the computer designs amongst others, the Taiwan furniture industry is currently riding the crest of a wave in export earnings: optimistic estimates for 1984 go toward the US$1 billion mark, following soaring sales in 1983.

This is an island industry well found­ed on an artisan base, still evident in the fine furniture segment that survives today. As an export industry, though, it really matured in the 1970's after making steadily increasing inroads into foreign markets over the preceding decade.

A number of forces combined to give the industry its new strength in the 1970's, producing an evolution unfor­seeable by the actual craftsmen involved. Of paramount importance was the or­ganizing of Taiwan's abundant supply of semi-skilled labor in factories, under master craftsmen's direct supervision. Therein, diligent work compensated for the lack of more sophisticated equipment and technology, then available to the is­land's advanced competitor nations, thus closing the product quality gap. The relatively inexpensive cost of this labor and the freewheeling international market of the time gave the furniture industry an excellent atmosphere in which to mature.

The ultimate step in Taiwan's present direction is for the island's furniture to express distinctive Chinese design char­acteristics, something more subtle than a traditional motif on an acquired design. The craftsmen themselves, busy in their daily work, rarely have the conceptual opportunity to make this step. But some graduates of industrial design schools in Taiwan and others returned from overseas studies have already taken up this challenge. And from this year on, their ranks will be regularly filled by an additional 30, all graduates from the furniture design course coordinated by Professor Lee.

Admissions to Lee's three-year course are open to trade school graduates already competent in metal, wood, or other fabrication work. And from the start, the course work concentrates on creative design, with students working through modeling to the final products of their imaginations. Graduates will be in the happy position of virtually assured employment—even some undergrads have already secured future positions. The graduating class has cooperated with manufacturers in developing and providing new designs as part of their class work, contributing, for instance, two designs which have gone into production at Shin Maw Wood Furniture Co., a cabi­net maker of export furniture in the cen­tral city of Taichung.

Project work is demonstrated by lecturer-demonstrator K.S. Lin, whose approach is to proceed from a general topic through to actual design, allowing a maximum of latitude to the students' creativity. One such project focused on botanical models of joints in trees and grasses. Their fundamentals, once absorbed through drawing, were later translated into different materials—woods, steel tubing, rattan, and bamboo. Each fledgling designer then incorporated his concept of the joint into a chair design. One novel design for a stool by student N.S. Chung took its sculptured seat from a leaf blade and its back support from the stem, a spare but attractive design. Another student made a traditional armchair using a joint pattern he found in grasses. Laminated bamboo, a popular native material used by manu­facturers in Taiwan, was shown by a couple of students to be a wonderfully flexible material if, unfortunately, very labor consuming.

An earlier project with the functional theme of modular, knockdown furniture gave rise to both office and home suites. One design in steel tubing and PVC plastic could be variously arranged to provide sofa, armchair, or bed. Its student-designer demonstrated how it could be drawn up to a cozy fireside or be made to fit a dentist's waiting room. Lin's apolo­gies for the workshop's lack of certain equipment was certainly not reflected in the versatility of its output.

Juxtaposed against this direction in de­velopment is the type of incentive to furniture makers provided by the Taiwan Provincial Handicraft Research Institute (TPHRI), which at an annual competition offers prizes of up to US$3,000 for furniture crafted in more traditional styles. In the last competition, held last November, particularly favored amongst place-getters were rattan manu­facturers, most for good finish and sound designs.

There was one screen in rattan, how­ever, by Chung Yi Rattan Trade Co., which demonstrated a real flair for the use of the arcs and curves that are a speciality of rattan furnishings; it made a room divider that was especially decora­tive as well as functional. In the tradition­al vein of most entries was a prize-winning canopy bed, a four-poster in a striking deep red and Chinese styling. The manufacturer, Wa Chung Corporation Ltd., makes this in knockdown form for efficient export shipment. A TPHRI spokesman explained that the purpose of the competition was not mere chauvinis­tic promotion of traditional Chinese crafts, but primarily an aide to make overseas buyers aware of their unique nature, and so a more valuable export product for China.

Rattan furniture has been a very im­portant component of the Taiwan furni­ture industry's output and still continues to grow in importance. And this is not only because furniture woods are becom­ing such an expensive commodity. As Toshihiko Adachi, chief editor of Furni­ture Industry magazine in Japan, pointed out on a recent visit to Taiwan: "Rattan furniture has been gaining ground in Japan, because young Japanese regard it as modern and natural. These attributes combined with its light weight and durability make it very appealing."

Nor is rattan furniture necessarily inexpensive. The best finished products require a lot of careful work and find a place in a high status market. Typically, the living room, bedroom, and outdoor suites are the main rattan items made. Luku Industrial Co. Ltd., for example, makes products that particularly attract status conscious buyers. Heavier frames, nearly twice the diameter of frame materials normally used, add a visible touch of class. The sturdy frames are further complimented by jointed, lined drawers, featuring dust proof dividers in their clothes chests and dressers, which attention to detail has enabled this company to sell well in the up-value American and European markets.

Rattan seems to lend itself to style innovation more than any other material worked by Taiwan's furniture designers. The large range of table and fixed lamps with rattan frame and paper or woven rattan shades which have appeared in the last few years demonstrate this better than any other product—trends in their design seem to change as fast as Taipei's weather.

Wooden furniture, particularly liv­ingroom and family room pieces, makes up nearly half the value of exports from Taiwan, but for various reasons is fairly static in terms of growth. Design limita­tions is one, the availability of timber another; the intense competition both in­ternally and internationally is an additional reason. The former two open up opportunities for the use of substitute materials such as particle board and other composition boards, especially noticeable in the area of office furniture.

Despite all this, "A good wood can't be beat!" maintains James McGinn, a Michigan customer for Taiwan-made furniture. Specializing in oak furniture, McGinn buys from a few select makers here whom he freely compliments, saying that their quality is better than some of the good American brands. McGinn noted that in recent years, oak furniture has become very popular in the U.S. and should remain so in the foreseeable future. "People love the durabili­ty and beauty of oak," he added. "The current rage is for French styles; early colonial remains the old standby." His problem is to find enough of it—he is very selective; but he can usually find at least three containers' full on a visit to Taiwan.

Timber supply is generally a problem for Taiwan. Furniture makers like to work in ramin and oak, but most of the logs must be imported. Other popular woods being worked are luan, kaper, kiuing, beech, maple, and teak.

Often, the strength of a Taiwan furniture maker is seen in the ability to improve technically on designs already popular overseas. An example is the "Perfect Chair," a leather chair on a wood and metal base made by Tai Hau Products Design Co. Ltd. According to F.J. New, sales manager for the compa­ny, the chair is a vast improvement on a similar high-cost model being marketed on the American west coast. "A number of companies have tried to imitate the original, and with some success. But our approach was to tackle the design prob­lems inherent in the original and go it one better. Having done this using only the best materials, we produced a winner in market terms and a very satisfying product."

The Perfect Chair comes in rosewood, teak, or oak veneers and full-grain leather upholstery. Its base is an engi­neering masterpiece, allowing countless degrees of tilt-rock and adjustments in all sorts of positions on its metal pedestal.

Perhaps, overall, the most interesting feature of Taiwan's furniture industry is its multi-faceted nature. No other country produces such a vast range of items in such varied materials, extending from plastics of the new age to traditional marble with its inherent ageless qual­ity.