Jonathan Biddle – Made in Taiwan

Tag: Design

  • Factories

    I have visited dozens of factories in my time, but I never lose my enthusiasm for seeing new ones. We were visiting a client’s supplier to ascertain their capabilities, and I was just fascinated by the machinery. I never knew how fabric tubes were made before, but I do now – anything from about 10mm wide, up to over a metre wide … though I am not quite sure what for.


    Squared circle

    The machinery was a funny mix of new kit and apparently reconditioned Japanese aparatus. There were alarmingly few safety barriers or guards, and for a gangly Westerner this proved to be quite hazardous – especially when dealing with rows of spinning needles and winding fabric.


    In-house temple


    Ta Ting Tumbler


    I really liked their storage system, which reminded me a bit of some libraries that store books on mobile shelves. And their colour scheme was rad!

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Get on the Bus


    Uh Oh, 100 buses in Taipei…

    Know that I got some very strange looks when I was taking these photos!


    Advertising in Banciao – BIG (see me below) – I had to talk my way into the top floor. The security guard said ‘no’ but then I showed him a poster of me behind him and he had to say yes! Authority?

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Japan – A Nation of Textures

    I came away feeling like Japan is an immediately accessible place, and yet one that is completely impenetrable. If the society has a simple, immediately recognisable silhouette, then its culture is an intricate texture of patterns and forms.

    One of my mini personal projects was to look harder at these surfaces and textures. Just to force me to look up, down and sideways.


    Osaka downtown – for those that have seen Black Rain, you might recognise this scene


    Osakajo Icecream


    Rivetting


    Rusty nails


    First of the inevitible bamboo


    Yup


    Bamboo with some sticks


    Door


    Lovers wishes for eachother


    Some other type of wish thing


    Temple roof from below


    Characters in the rock


    Sumptuous Fabric


    Zen


    Combinations


    Different bamboo


    Cute – a flower contemplates life


    Hi


    Shadowy wood


    Light coming through wood – it’s not like you don’t get most of this anywhere else in the world, but it is nice to be forced to look for it!


    Zen raking


    Door


    I love this photo – close up of the chip wood roof ’tiles’


    Zen Zen Zen


    I still can’t find the meaning here


    Oh look at the light coming through the bamboo


    Lamps in a market


    The tasteful Kyoto tower refected in the thoughtful Kyoto station. Both fail to really capture the mood of Kyoto!


    Plum blossom


    The best shade of orange ever


    Stairs


    Stair close-up


    Oxidised


    Rather a nice wall


    Oxidised 2.0


    I had a beaming smile taking this photo – this is what I came to Japan for!


    Some wood


    This pole is worn by generations of people rubbing it


    It all hinges on this


    Fags


    New kicks hit the streets of Tokyo


    Bright lights of Shinjuku


    Barrel of laughs


    (and from the last trip…) Functional drinks


    Blood of the city


    Pachinko!

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • My 15 Seconds of Fame

    The night half of me was waiting for with sweet anticipation, and half dreading finally arrived – I had my first television interview in Chinese! It wasn’t quite the character assassination I was fearing, and apart from sounding a bit dim, it went ok – even the parts they spliced in where I clearly did not understand at all what was going on looked funny. So, rather a treat overall!

    We discussed my cell phone, and TaoZi also showed off her wedding ring that I designed last year (link here). Quite, quite surreal.


    Not quite Jamie Oliver

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • My First Cell Phone

    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

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Simple Life

    This weekend I went to ‘Simple Life’ – an urban music festival at my new top location, The HuaShan Arts District. Somebody is clearly doing their job exceedingly well, as I have written about that place several times of late.

    The term ‘Simple Life’ applied to this festival is perhaps pushing it a bit. Sponsored jointly by Muji and 7-11, well over half of the site was filled with a craft market, a Muji museum, food stalls, mini 7-11s and clothes shops. It really hit the sweet spot in that Birkenstock-clad, excessively worthy yet cute style that is such the rage here. Why brave the elements when you can do what you love best – buying cute crap.


    Cute crap mart at the Muji stand

    Strangely, there was also a reading room. An entire hall of the exhibition was taken up with the real Camper warriors all nodding in agreement at the speakers extolling the virtues of ‘sustainable’ lifestyles, all while munching on their 7-11 boiled snacks.

    But I did get to see my favourite Taiwan rockers, 1976, bring the house down, even though everyone behind me (several hundred people) could not see over my shoulders. They’ll learn.


    1976 – notice all the blinky camera and phone screens as people record the concert … when do they expect to watch this again?

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Pencils for Gambling – Kokuyo

    Well, the results are out, and I won the ‘Special Prize’ in the annual Kokuyo Design Award!

    ‘Pencils for Gambling’ are a combination of dice and pencils.

    The inspiration came when looking at these two traditional, easily recognized objects, and realizing that they both had six sides. The resultant design simply places dots on the end of a pencil’s shaft. Subtle and fun, it allows the user to play games without anyone else knowing.

    When researching the project, the team also discovered that the first dice, used in ancient China, were formed from sticks of bamboo. Therefore, the shape also reflects Asian history, in a modern, yet affordable product.

    Check out the link – I am very excited!

    Kokuyo Design Award 2006

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Kokuyo

    I just won the ‘Special’ prize in the Kokuyo design award 2006!

    It’s a Japanese design prize … more details when I know them.

    Kokuyo 2006

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Design Speed Dating

    I just returned from a great evening meeting many creative types at a series of speeches as part of a “Pecha Kucha” – Japanese for Chit Chat. You get 20 seconds per slide, and 20 slides and it is really strict. We had speakers from fields as diverse as architecture (Shanghai is full of ‘em) design, photography and fashion and it made for a really stimulating evening. At long last, it felt like a gallery opening in London surrounded by people faintly cooler than you. But still, everyone maintains there is no scene here, and the nearest beach is three hours away. By aeroplane.

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Stuck in the Office

    The hotel is strangely serene. Doors stay open, creating a strange mix of private and public space and a white noise of television, hair dryers and conversation – an experience not unlike student halls. Breakfast brought delightful flashbacks to my first days in Taipei and the feeling I was distinctly different from everyone else in the room.

    My first hours of the outside world have seen me sitting in the clients offices staring at screens of numbers or making broken conversation with the engineers – in fact I am here right now. They seem to have it worked out, but communicating my feelings of the design is proving rather difficult. My Chinese is still simply not good enough.

    Interestingly, the designer assigned to me is deathly cynical, especially about the state of design in China – something I was not at all expecting amidst all this bravado and optimism.

    The other people are nice, but the impression is different from Taiwan. There, the mere mention that you are English or a designer is enough to push them over the edge while they try to quash their excitement of being in the presence of a foreigner. Less cute. More cynical. Certainly less warm on first impression. But as a result somehow less alien than the ultra-friendly Taiwan.

    It’s been a rather unconventional introduction to the city, but I can always do the tourist thing some other day. I am hoping to escape my client captors tonight and meet a couple of friends for drinks, but time will tell how successful I am – the head of design here seems intent on showing me a ‘good time’. Words to be avoided in this city of cities of sin.


    The delightful work environment, and my team!


    The funny queuing system for lunch

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…