Jonathan Biddle – Made in Taiwan

Author: Jonathan Biddle

  • Love & Money

    Government support for exporting design in the UK is pretty strong, and the efforts landed in Taiwan last week, with the ‘Love & Money’ show rolling into town. Basically, a show case of the British creative industries, it showcased work from, among others, Zaha Hadid, Sam Hecht, Thomas Heatherwick and Jamie Hewlett. The work was supported by the de-facto embassy, British Council, British Trade & Industry and Design UK.

    The two week event culminated with a Pecha Kucha show and I was invited to speak alongside Sam Hecht of Industrial Facility and Benjamin Chia of Elemental Eight – previously Designafairs USA.

    The basic format is, 20 seconds for each slide, with a total of 20 slides, creating a total of 6 minutes 40 seconds – and you have no control over the slides. Believe me, a badly rehearsed presentation makes the 6 minutes feel like an eternity, while a good show flies by in a flash. The rock and roll of presentations!


    Pecha Kucha night Taipei


    Keeping the ladies awake – what are you looking at, David?


    It’s all just hot air, really


    I had some important points to make – and thanks to Abe for the great photos!

    I am trying out the Slideshare service, in order to publish the results. See what you think!

    http://s3.amazonaws.com/slideshare/ssplayer2.swf?doc=pecha-kucha-jonathan-biddle-1193068225935190-4

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Hello Kitty

    Sorry, some entirely gratuitous photos of our two house cats, DaTou and Tripod. I think this is the beginning of the end.


    Tripod, who is simply a ball of delightful cuteness


    … and then there is DaTou, dark lord of the cat underworld.


    He displays rodent-like tendencies, including biting his way into boxes, creating almost perfectly circular holes along the way. Deeply strange.


    And there he sits, plotting his revenge…

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • 10 / 10 Fireworks

    First blog posting in a wee while, and I hope to go back and fill in a couple of gaps…

    Anyway, today is national day in Taiwan, and to cap it all the city organises a huge fireworks show by the river. We, however, chose the wrong river, and were treated to a display requiring either Hubble levels of magnification, or at least a strong imagination.

    None the less, in one of the first days of Autumn, it was nice to go for a stroll and soak in the atmosphere of kids trying their absolute hardest to get excited by the tiny dots exploding in the distance.


    Apartment Blocks


    DaZhi Bridge

    Check out some more images on my Web Gallery here:

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Rooftop Live

    With Markus leaving Taiwan there are a few activities that we need to clear out of the way before he is granted access to the United States, we have not been the bessst at meeting up, but in the last few days we have made some pretty serious effort to meet up and redress the balance.

    I am still a bit groggy from the weekend and lack of sleep, but we had an absolute stormer of a night watching 1976 on the roof of Eslite bookstore. Fighting the elements, we enjoyed a good show, and capped it with one of the funniest moments of Taiwan in months. More to tell later on that one, in case it ruins any surprises in the near future.


    Markus and I, with about 250 people behind us not able to see past us


    Taiwan does pull of some good locations when it wants to!


    Peeking through


    My baby’s on fire


    1976 in the house

    More pics on my web gallery here:

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Moving House

    Hopefully, in the coming days, life can return to something resembling normal. As soon as I landed, the race was on to pack my stuff up and move the mile or so down to Abe’s place near the Zhongxiao / Dunhua intersection. As ever, moving was a stress and had mutiple unforeseen hassles, so I cannot imagine how Jade did it. Twice.

    Moving by itself is already quite a strain, but this pressure was exacerbated by the lack of foresight and consideration of my previous landlords. We told them that Saturday was the big day, so I was more than a little perturbed to arrive home one lunch time to find a team of betelnut munching workmen tearing the place apart, sanding walls and drilling holes. It almost goes without saying (except, clearly, to my landlord) that there was dust everywhere, and a disgusting, grimy layer of residue sat on all of my belongings, rendering my Mac, cameras, furniture, clothes, bed sheets and photographs all, well, disgusting. If they had only waited 48 hours – clearly too long – they would have had the place to themselves. But no. In their worldview turning the apartment into a tip is appropriate. Good riddance!

    Anyway, I am now sitting drinking a victory beer in the venerable PS: Cafe and feeling rather better. There is still a load of setting up and wiping down of my stuff, but things are rather more manageable now – maybe it is just the beer kicking in.

    And tonight, Jade and I head south to enjoy the long weekend (Mid-Autumn festival) and escape the bullshit. Can’t wait.


    View Larger Map

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Coffee Time

    I have just been sitting in the garden sipping on coffee that has been sitting in my room for eight years. That might not sound too apetising, but this bag of powder was bought from downtown Havana on my first really big solo adventure at the end of the first year of university.


    Cuppa Castro

    For some reason, I never opened the pack, but in the gradual clear-out of my room, I decided it was taking up space on the shelf, when it really should be drunk. Mum and I sniffed it for a while, deciding it smelled like weak chocolate powder – but Dad downed it in the way that only someone with an asbestos-lined throat could and seemed to enjoy it.

    Sitting in the garden, it’s really amazing to look back at that first trip and work out the events that lead up to it. Traveling by myself down to Grenoble for a skiing holiday … having a family member like Nigel around who was impossibly cosmopolitan and dashing … adventurous holidays with the Biddles … it all adds up to me flying ‘back to Mordor’ tonight on the red-eye express.

    It’s just the most amazing thing to look back at the first days in Taiwan, backpack barely loaded and without a clue of what to expect. And here I am, returning to Taipei and ready to move house, downtown and inspired and energised by a couple of meetings earlier this week that really reminded me that what I was doing is special, and that many people that I have a great deal of respect in want to hear about.

    It’s not easy living out east, on the edge of your motivation and on the limits of your personality, but I think I return this time with a touch more maturity and the ability to look back at something that I have built. And for that reason I think that gives me more optimism and resolve for the future.

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Prince

    Seeing Prince live has sat around in my Things To Do In Life list for years and years, and I finally caught up with the wee scoundrel at the Millenium Dome in London last Thursday with Phil. That boy knows how to entertain, I can tell you, and played a frenetic 36-song set that included many of the classics… and one song with Elton!

    It was quite funny sitting in the new arena looking at the aged rocker belt out the song, and look back at the slightly tragic celebrities in Taiwan that I occasionally encounter and think … ‘what’s so different?’

    BBC: Sir Elton John Joins Prince in London


    Purple Rain, in a shot stolen on my camphone (people were being chucked out for taking photos!) … to be fair though, the guy is giving away the album for free, so it is hardly surprising that he is being paranoid about the in-show copyright.


    The encore after the encore, after the lights came up… quite a treat, but we did miss out on the aftershow, where he played some vintage Led-Zep… denied!

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Apple Web Gallery

    I have taken the plunge. I needed / wanted to give myself some more space for photos, so after weeks of deliberation (just ask Jade) I have opted to use Apple’s Web Gallery.

    In many ways, I preferred Flickr, but with a potential move to China this option would be pretty inconvenient. It’s not perfect – images uploaded are not full size and show signs of compression, managing the photos is a little primitive, and sometimes it behaves a little strangely, but for a no-brainer, super fast image upload system, this has to be a great option.

    Check out my pictures here:

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Pure Insight – Outsourcing Innovation

    Last week, amongst trying to relax with the family, I hosted an online ‘Webinar’ for a company called Pure Insight. The title? “The Next Logical Step? Outsourcing Your Innovation to Asia“

    I have used online meeting tools a fair amount in the past, but this was the first time I was driving a session, with a group of listeners around the world, and with no feedback except an MSN Messenger-style window.

    It was quite a tense build-up, but the session went pretty well, and I’ll be back next month for some more in-depth discussion with a few members.

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • English Summer

    Apparently, England has failed to really have a summer this year. I am not sure I believe anyone when they tell me, because it has been gorgeous weather for the whole time that I have been here.

    I was calculating with Dad, I have not actually been in the UK in summer time for five years! Impossible to believe, but that includes three years away, and then a summer spent gallivanting off to Mexico. So it was rather a novelty to pack the bikes up and ride in Derbyshire in the summer time, with no ice and no burning lungs.

    It was a magical day, riding up and around Monseldale, but after riding on my old clunker (no suspension, thumbshifters, cantilever brakes) it feels like I have been in a fight today. My whole body has taken a beating. Still – hilarious, purist fun.


    Retro bikes!


    The Biddle boys on top of the world!


    Thanks Dad. Keep the day job.


    Better! (me trying to look cool)

    More images on my Web Gallery, here:

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…