Design is having a profound impact on Taiwan society as the government integrates the field into all facets of life.
Each December Taiwan’s designers wait with bated breath to hear the results of the Golden Pin Design Award, which honors top performers in the field at home and abroad. The 2021 edition of the event organized by Taiwan Design Research Institute (TDRI) once again showcased the country’s impressive design pedigree, with 25 of the 37 winners coming from Taiwan. Awardees were selected from among a total of 7,671 contestants from 28 countries and territories by an international panel of 98 judges. Taiwan-based recipients include the world’s first rotary control built into a laptop and a renovated bottle cap factory in Taipei City, respectively recognized in the product and space design categories. Equally impressive are top entries in the integration design category, particularly those resulting from collaboration between government agencies and state-backed TDRI.
The renovated Nangang Bottle Cap Factory in Taipei is winner of a 2021 Golden Pin Design Award in the space design category. (Photo by Chin Hung-hao)
Tasked with promoting the country’s design sector, Taipei-headquartered TDRI is headed by Chang Chi-yi (張基義). “Our mission is to form interdisciplinary teams with public entities to make a deep impact on society,” Chang said. In 2020, the year the institute was officially founded, it received a Presidential Innovation Award granted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) for its role in utilizing design to help transform Taiwan and notable integrated design projects are ongoing in an array of fields across the country. Together with the Ministry of Education (MOE), TDRI is facilitating cooperation between designers and local school authorities in a drive to reinvent campuses. The institute has also played a major role in redesigning public fire safety equipment with the Ministry of the Interior’s National Fire Agency.
Eye-catching decorative and furniture pieces at TDRI, a national-level institution dedicated to facilitating cross-sector cooperation and expanding the role of design, embody the organization’s focus on innovation. (Photo by Chin Hung-hao / Courtesy of Taiwan Design Research Institute)
“It’s encouraging to see the government leading by example and encouraging designers to play a larger role than ever,” said Jimmy Chang (張漢寧), chair of Taipei-based Chinese Industrial Designers Association (CIDA). While the 54-year-old organization specialized in boosting Taiwan’s product design prowess during the country’s early manufacturing years, today it is heavily involved in cross-sector projects launched by government agencies. Among such initiatives is a campaign to cultivate a new image for Taiwan’s industrial parks set in motion by the MOEA’s Industrial Development Bureau last year, for which CIDA has helped create a corporate identity system. Around the same time, the organization joined in a movement to rebrand businesses in southern Taiwan’s Pingtung County as part of efforts by the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to revitalize the area’s travel industry.
Community Undertaking
An advertisement in the southern city of Chiayi’s G9 Creative Park promotes the 2021 edition of Taiwan Design Expo. (Photo by Chin Hung-hao)
Local governments are likewise playing a part in the collaborative design trend, including that of southern Taiwan’s Chiayi City. The metropolis organized the 2021 edition of Taiwan Design Expo, which took place over a 10-day period wrapping up in early January of this year. “We purposely invited individuals and groups from a range of professional backgrounds to curate exhibitions promoting the city’s rich character,” said Lucy Lu (盧怡君), director of Chiayi’s Cultural Affairs Bureau (CAB).
As the most prominent event on the country’s design calendar, the expo is held in a different city or county each year. While previous organizers commissioned a single company to manage exhibits, CAB invited more than 20 curators to contribute their expertise to the show. Among participating groups were performing arts ensemble Our Theatre, which staged musicals introducing Chiayi’s history, culture and lifestyle, and nongovernmental organization (NGO) Taiwan Field School. The latter is known for its regional revitalization efforts, particularly the restoration and upkeep of Chiayi Old Prison. The NGO temporarily remodeled the nationally designated historic site for the exposition to encourage visitors to explore the facility and learn its story.
CAB also took pains to spread exhibits out across the city, arranging shuttle buses and bike share services to connect the venues. “We wanted visitors to get an in-depth tour of the city and spend time at local shops while taking in the event,” Lu explained, adding that the municipal government wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to strengthen Chiayi’s reputation as a tourist destination. “The hosting experience really drove home the value of design and inspired our various departments to reassess how they implement projects,” she said.
Cultivating Aptitude
As cross-sector cooperation deepens countrywide, Taiwan is fostering the next generation of talent through strategies like the Young Pin Design Award, an offshoot of the Golden Pin Design Award. Granted each spring, the honor targets teams with members majoring in design-related disciplines at Taiwan universities. Last year alone it attracted nearly 6,000 entries submitted in nine categories by students from 66 institutions around the country.
In 2006 the MOE launched its International Design Competition, a move aimed at encouraging students to take part in nearly 60 select contests abroad with financial support of up to NT$400,000 (US$14,285) given to winners in the competitions. Last year 213 projects from 27 schools received MOE prize money, up from 22 from seven schools in 2006. The Taiwan International Student Design Competition, another MOE initiative dating back to 2008, similarly seeks to discover young talent while establishing the country’s design status on the global stage. The competition has garnered increasing levels of interest from the international community since its launch, with submissions jumping from an initial 662 from nine countries and territories to 21,901 from 59 countries and territories in 2021. The MOE Scholarship Program for Overseas Study in Arts and Design has also proved instrumental in nurturing new designers. Since 2005, the project has provided grants to 334 promising students, with each entitled to NT$1.5 million (US$54,100) for a one-year stint studying or interning overseas.
Broadening the horizons of young local designers is high on CIDA’s agenda, as well. To that end, the association teamed up with counterparts in Japan and South Korea to form Asia Designers Assembly in 2001, and affiliated organizations take turns hosting the annual International Student Design Workshop. Participants in the 2021 edition organized by Japanese Industrial Design Association were guided by tutors from the three countries to create designs based on the year’s theme of “Asian sympathy,” which was selected to show that design is an act of caring for others. “In the past, discussions at the workshop largely focused on product design, but the scope is much wider today,” Chang of CIDA said.
A 2020 exhibition on the circular economy is held at TDRI-operated Taiwan Design Museum in Taipei. (Photo courtesy of TDRI)
With the government actively expanding the local role of design while building dialogue with global communities, the field is set to flourish in Taiwan. According to a survey of the country’s enterprises released by TDRI in 2020, 84 percent of respondents recognize the value of design professionals for companies, demonstrating the field’s immense potential for future growth. “As long as we dare to use our imaginations and strive to realize our ideas, Taiwan will see more innovative, disruptive designs,” TDRI’s Chang said. “Design has the power to transform the whole country.”
Write to Oscar Chung at mhchung@mofa.gov.tw