Today was quite simply one of the craziest days in Taiwan as a professional designer. Why? Because today I launched my first cell phone!

The Taiwanese do things a little differently from back home, but it was still a shock to arrive to find a life size poster of me in the doorway holding the phone, Karim Rashid stylee looking philosphical and serious. It was more or less a total rollercoaster from there, as wave upon wave of surprises, delights, shocks and horrors greeted my eyes.

The PR company had organised quite a bash, with magicians (the brand for my cell phone is Mashi Maro – the Korean anti-Hello Kitty, hence the rabbit/hat combo), dancing girls, celebrity models and dry ice (sadly no lasers – my time will come).

The project has been pretty fascinating, negotiating between Korean clients, Taiwanese engineers and a Chinese factory … with one lone Brit fighting his corner. As ever, the schedules were exceptionally tight, but the learning experience has been immense.

There should be a bunch more PR emerging in the next few days, that I will shamelessly post up here – I am enjoying my 15 seconds!

This is the pos(t)er that greeted me when I first entered the conference room … the rest was a bit of a blur!

I sit back and marvel at the PR genius

I wonder what Steve would have done – I did manage to get in one ‘boom’ when I opened the phone, which I guess only I found amusing (Steve Jobs’ catch phrase)

The press back meets brat pack (Demos my boss is just right of me)

This is one of Taiwan’s most famous super models – I have to agree she looked pretty hot, and I think there was some attraction between us 😉

Team MashiMaro M808 stands for the obligatory press shots

Some links:
GQ
Engadget
Phone Daily
Sogi