Jonathan Biddle – Made in Taiwan

Tag: DEM

  • DEM inc : The New Office

    I haven’t really said too much about the new office location. Over Chinese New Year we shifted from the sticks of Shilin to the bright lights of Keelung and Jhongxiao. Downtown baby!

    The investment in the new place is impressive, easily putting it on par with many European offices. The office is small (we seem to have instantly filled the place), but has impressive detailing and intelligent use of space. Energetic, and a professional step up in the world.

    The down side is certainly that I had to cancel Chinese study with Michael in Tienmu. We had a good six month run of continued study together with the school near my old work, and more or less on his way home. It was a very pleasant way to stay in touch. The shift to the new downtown school on An He Road (and now six hours a week, up from four) is good, but I do miss a language study partner.

    The shift in geographic focus is having some interesting side effects. I am cooking far less at home, now I am in such easy proximity of my friends, and all the bars. And in general I am spending less time at the apartment – not that I was ever at home much anyway. So, I need to be more careful about my sleep patterns, which remain pretty eratic.

    I’ll put a bunch more photos up when the professional shots come back from the developers, but for now here is a shot from the recent grey days of Taipei early spring… now replaced with glorious sunshine and outdoor beers!


    101 at lunch

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Ryan’s Wedding

    Weddings in Taiwan share some attributes of their Western counterparts – distant family feigning recognition, uncles and brothers ending up with their shirts hanging out of their trousers, and kids running around chairs until they knock their heads of some piece of well-placed wood.

    There are, however, acute differences. The couple usually has their official family wedding several weeks before. There is an elaborate system of ceremonies, particularly focusing on the bride and her family, as far as I can tell. Perhaps I’ll cover that in more depth one day (though I cannot predict exactly how much detail at the moment, if you catch my drift).

    The larger affair that I was at had 50 tables populated with every person they have ever met. The idea then is to fill each table with food and booze, leaving only the food remaining at the end. Specifically, it is the primary aim of every person in the room to drink the groom under the table – not difficult when he has to knock back a glass of whiskey at every table. By the end, Ryan had a small crowd of only marginally less drunk minders propping him up and guiding him to the next table, their faces full of joyous expectation, ready for the moment of marital vomit.

    I returned home at 3:45pm totally hammered – some sort of new record I think.

    Johnnie Walker is massively popular in Taiwan – especially at this wedding, it seems.


    The aftermath – you can see the dream of the western wedding, but through an Asian lens

    The DEM crew stagger home
    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Lord of the Rings

    “The cameras go live to the nation in 1 minute … please tell us about your design concept …”

    Arriving at a client to find five teams of cameramen with journalists is alarming. And being told to talk to five blinking red LEDs about your concept with 35 seconds of preparation time is certainly a new experience for me. Welcome to the world of Celebrity Wedding Ring Design!

    The ring leader


    Smile for the camera

    Two months ago Demos – my boss – was on Taiwanese celebrity Tao Zi’s television show being interviewed. Unfortunately for him, he lost a bet which ended with him committing to design her wedding ring. Famous across Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and the whole Asian region (think Chinese Oprah), I am sure it seemed logical to ask a Brit designer with no jewelery experience to deliver the goods.

    The end result – a diamond, cut in half and concealed under an ergonomic bulge … more details of the design to follow, I am sure

    I knew on Thursday that the press release had been passed onto the media. Finding out it was in every major daily paper on Friday was rather a shock – especially since I had not seen it in the flesh at that point. I had been warned to dress up a bit on Friday (obviously, I still didn’t shave) but I was not so prepared to speak into six microphones at short notice with a brace of pretty interviewers fluttering around me. A blur.

    Tao Zi on the left – also with a bump. Demos looking cheeky down below

    As I left work, in a daze after the afternoon, text messages and phone calls started arriving from friends who had seen me on different channels (in between reports of the election – it wasn’t even a slow news day). I headed over to Nelson’s place to watch the TV and make use of the split screen function to keep track of the TV stations. Typically, two hours passed before I saw myself, and Nelson had to endure my jumping around pointing and screaming at the TV.

    My five minutes of fame!

    Deeply surreal
    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Telly


    Edward works it

    I had an amusing reminder that my boss is a celebrity in Taiwan when TV crews arrived for an interview for a local fashion show. Bertie, Kate, Charlotte and I more or less took the piss for the whole time, contemplating ringing Edward’s cell phone, but wisely we restrained ourselves. The two brothers – Edward and Demos Chiang – are more or less a cross between Richard Branson and Prince William, and as such telling girls who you work for more or less has them on the floor. I would never do such a thing, of course!

    As an amusing post-script, when the crew left they popped the power for the building, and as such I lost a bunch of ProE development … after some swearing and looking less than friendly, the fashion model host came over to apologise to me. Again, I had no idea who she was, but apparently she is quite a celebrity. I should find out her name and the name of the show really, eh.

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • The Office Dogs

    Max is sadly so hilarious to look at in the office today after his fight with Gi-Li that I had to take photos. He is more or less addicted to licking things – especially my trousers, for some reason – so this has rather deprived him of his primary past-time. Gi-Li, looks on looking rather guilty. I’ll capture some pictures of the rather well-endowed Poky this week. You will not believe your eyes.


    Max, looking a bit sorry for himself

    “Who? – Me?!”

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Dior Dahling

    We had been looking forward to the Dior party for some time – held to commemorate the launch of the ‘Crystal’ ladies’ watch and hosted in the new stadium on Nanjing and Dunhu. A handsome building.

    Dior – Crystal

    The show’s invites instructed guests to be sure to wear warm clothing – it cryptically stated that the temperature could go as low as 18 degrees Celsius (positively Baltic!). Entering the stadium, it became immediately obvious why – the event was being held on an ice rink, with a strip of ice for the runway. Imaginative.

    The show started out promisingly enough, if rather Taiwanese. A very elegant ice skater gracefullty pirueted (check the spelling on that later!) her way up and down the strip in time with soothing music, indicating some kind of narative. No such danger.

    She departed and a pair of striking models strutted down either side flashing the watches, making for what turned out to be the pole dancing stage. Sadly / hilariously one fell over on a patch of melted ice and this introduced us to the remainder of the show, which was really rather naff – models pouting on next to pole miles away from the VIP / celebrity area (where I was enjoying the sports bottles of Champagne). Comedic value of models showing off the same watches for twenty minutes waned rather, but the Champagne took the edge off the boredom.

    The DEM guys – Rick, Charlotte, Rachel, Berti and I

    The next section completely baffled me. A man in a dark cape entered the ice arena, clearly tip-toeing for fear of his cranium. The chandalier at the centre of the stage descended and he dropped his cape to reveal he was a HUMAN DISCO BALL. Every inch of his skin was covered in mirror tiles, and the laser beams simultaneously pointing at him made sure your could not forget that fact. It also turns out he was incredibly flexible, and walked around very slowly flexing and bending. And then he left. And then I drank more Champagne. The End.

    The Human Disco Ball!
    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Absolutely Fabulous


    “Over here, Viv!”


    “Ta Dahhhhh”

    Dahlings,

    My social life took an explosive turn for the better this weekend, as a result of some special golden tickets and rivers of free booze.

    Friday:
    21:20pm Vivienne Westwood launch. Rather!
    12:30am MOS to see Crystal Method and dance my booty off.

    Saturday:
    19:30pm Japanese food at Dozo – Tarantino style joint.
    21:30pm Prada Launch. 86th floor, Taipei 101. Celebrities. Champagne. FABulous views.
    01:30am Room 18 club event … and I am almost falling over from too much expensive booze.
    04:30am Meet U2’s lighting designers and agree to get more smashed at Vibe.
    06:30am Continue session at Hyatt suite overlooking the mountains.
    08:30am Roll into cab.
    17:30pm Wake up with my face stuck to the pillow.

    … next weekend I will be more healthy. Promise.

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • DEM – The New Office

    Life is changing quickly for me. A new apartment and a new job are two significant differences in my life, that should both bring some good benefits. The new office certainly stimulating and I am really looking forward to my job developing over the coming weeks. For now, I should introduce to Prada – the office bitch.

    Prada assists

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Asus – Game Over

    Last week, I submitted my notice to my boss Debbie and I will be leaving Asus, and one incredible year behind me.

    Various frustrations, plus the prospect of a new job made the decision logical, if not entirely easy. I will, of course, be leaving behind my dearest friends in Taiwan and a group that has warmly welcomed me to Taiwan. But the time is right to move on.

    I’ll be starting at DEM, working as an Industrial Designer under Michael Young. I’ll be working with Lorenzo again and I think I should be learning an enormous amount in the coming months. Check the links below for some more information:

    DEM
    Michael Young

    I’ll post some more information soon, but for now that is enough … I am also moving apartmant this week, so some real life upgrades here in Taiwan!

    My last ever Gon Bao Ji Ding (Kung Po Chicken)

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…