Taiwanese designers need to get closer to the edge, be more courageous and create their own visions for the future, international design experts who recently visited Taipei for a world design congress said.
“Taiwan needs more crazy people, people who really want to express themselves,” said Peter Zec, president of Germany’s red dot design award, during a meeting with press during the International Design Alliance Congress in Taipei late last month. “Taiwan is on a very good level of executing design, but when it comes to really outstanding design, it is not there at the moment.”
“I would encourage them [Taiwanese designers] to go more to the edge,” he added.
Nevertheless, the German design consultant commended Taipei for transforming from a “boring” city to “a fancy place” in the past 10 to 15 years and said this was the direction Taiwanese designers should follow.
Valerie Jacobs, vice president of US trend forecaster LPK Trends, said Taiwan’s opportunities in design lie in its potential to integrate its manufacturing and design capabilities, while other countries often have to offshore or outsource their manufacturing needs.
She also encouraged Taiwanese designers to create their own personal visions and dreams for the future.
“Think about trends and there will be a better potential for your design to be relevant and successful,” she said.
Jacobs said that in the past, designers have focused on the object and on defining the experience someone has with that object, but added that she believes design in the future will be “less controlled, more shared, less about broadcasting and more about a dialogue.”
Min Young-baek, founder of South Korea’s Min Associates Inc and former president of the International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers, encouraged Taiwanese designers to use Taiwan’s Chinese cultural heritage and multicultural diversity to its advantage.
Min mentioned Oscar-winning Taiwanese director Ang Lee (李安) as an example, saying Lee is successful because he weaves elements of Chinese culture, such as its cuisine, into his films, which he said distinguishes it from Western films.
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