Jonathan Biddle – Made in Taiwan

Tag: Festivals

  • Goodbye Year of the Pig

    It’s a little bit late to celebrate Chinese New Year, but these pictures have been sitting on my hard drive yearning to be posted. After living in Taipei for so long, it’s rare these days that I get a ‘holy shit!’ moment. But happen they do, and in this case, we had three of us with our jaws on the floor screaming a mixture of expletives, ‘gnarrrly duuude’ (Moshe), ‘crazy scheisse eh! (Georg) and ‘goodness gracious me!’ (yours truly).

    It seems at one of the temples we ride past on our ‘Gas Plant’ ride to the south of the city bids farewell to the year of the Pig with a rather special … what’s the word … not quite sure what it is. It’s one of the craziest things that I have ever seen anyway, and I’ll let the pictures do the talking.


    Sorry for the crap quality – cam phone.


    Yum


    Completely spherical!


    Check out the Mohalk hairdo … I still can’t believe they managed to stretch the skin out like that. And I don’t want to ask how they keep it so perfectly spherical.

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Pingxi Sky Lanterns


    The town of Pingxi, East of Taipei, has train tracks running through it, with trains regularly passing through – especially crazy when thousand of people are trying to launch sky lanterns at the same time.


    Formation flying.

    As part of the Chinese New Year celebrations, it’s traditional in Taiwan to release sky lanterns into the, well, sky and mark the coming of the new year with wishes and desires for the 12 months ahead.

    For those people that have not released sky lanterns – ie: most people I know – it is truly a magical thing. A nightmare for local fire services admittedly, but a magical thing none the less.

    The idea is, to write your wishes onto the side (pick your colour first), wrap it up, and head to the launch pad / open space. Once there, take your wad of prayer money (soaked in lighter fluid for two hours) and place it into the recepticle on the inside frame. Take your most pyrotechnically-inclined person (usually a male) and light that wad, ensuring that your friends / family members are supporting the outside paper and maintaining the shape. Then, watch it slowly fill with hot air and when ready, synchronise the release.


    “We want bonus”

    If the salesman has properly soaked the wad of cash, it should woosh up into the air, accompanied by ‘coos’ and ‘aahs’ of the team, and hopefully some pointing and poorly exposed, shaky photos. Served best, surrounded by thousands of other people doing the same … and for desert, watch other peoples’ wishes plummet from the heavens and crash into the ground!

    Ah, sweet schadenfreude (isn’t it great how the Germans have a whole word, just for this concept 🙂 ).


    T-Minus.

    And this is the result …







    My first trip, after four years of wishing I could go … lovely!

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Happy New Year

    A belated new year to you, beloved reader.

    I don’t know about you, but Phil and I managed to find ourselves at an exceptionally gay, techno-cabaret night at London’s Cargo club. It was a riot, but 6′ 6″ hairy, mulletted men in leotards dancing cabaret for the bells was a little more ‘alternative’ than I had expected as a start for 2009. Down the pub next year, then.


    ‘Voulez vous couchez avec moi, ce soir?’ ‘No thank you, kind sir.’

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Taking Granny to London

    We had a marvelous day trip down to Londonon the train with Granny yesterday to take her to the National Portrait Gallery and the Annie Leibowitz exhibition. We had a cracking lunch at Carluccio’s in the newly renovated St. Pancras station, amid arrivals and derpartures from Paris and probably the finest Victorian-era Industrial Revolution Architecture in the world.


    Granny striking a pose next to one of the delightful statues dotted around the platforms.

    The exhibition included some pretty striking images from the last 30 years that stand proud in the public consciousness. I didn’t know an enormous amount about her, but I certainly know a little more now.

    After the museum, we wandered up to Covent Garden, and while there were many people shopping like crazy and stores doing reasonable business, it was also mildly depressing to see so many 50% sales and shops obviously feeling the heat. People are really watching their pennies this year, it seems. Still – Merry Christmas one and all!

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Formoz Festival 2008

    Markus, clearly pulling the wool over the eyes of his client in Seattle, chose the best weekend of live music on the island to return for a few days of business. It kicked off in fine style with an impromptu photo session with insane just-graduated Masters students in one of the local “Re Chao” restaurants, and ended with a ballistic scooter ride through Typhoon rain to return Markus back to his hotel.

    In between? Another great Formoz Festival, underlined by 1976 in the final, main stage headliner slot – totally wonderful, since they were the first band I got into when I first landed here those four years ago. Is it really four years?

    They, or rather the weather, got their timing perfect, with showers arriving on queue to launch the crowd into raucous displays of solidarity, under umbrellas and spot lights. My phone has only just recently switched back on, in fact, after it drank too much. Much like me, in fact. A super night – come back more often, Markus, and bring Michwel next time!




    Not very impressed by local microbrewery slops

    I managed to flex some contacts and blagged my way into the event for free, claiming I was a journalist for Taipei Times (it’s true!), which I feel bad about and all – well, a bit. I did manage to get chucked off stage by security, though, which makes me feel cool and smooth.


    Blurry night


    1976 rule the roost


    Clearly abusing my photography pass, I capture Markus back in his natural environment.


    Antagonising the security staff, who were clearly not as enthused by the music as the crowd.


    And the afterparty – held at one of the old cabaret clubs in Ximending, and just the coolest, coolest venue in Taipei. The crowd boogied their butts off to the grooves of Public Radio and the best dub band I have heard in years.

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Mr. & Mrs. Hargreaves

    My sister is now called Eleanor Hargreaves – fancy that!

    Months of preparation, planning and preening – not mine, I might add – culminated in a quite, quite wonderful occasion, that would set a new standard if people started measuring these things (although based on the number of Excel spreadsheets circulated and revised to plan the event, some pretty detailed data visualisation could probably be generated).

    I was willingly roped in to MC the event, which was spread between the University Arms Hotel (with appropriate pop festival sound track) and Emmanuel College (backing vocals provided by the porter telling me and everyone else to stay off the grass). Family members came from far and wide, and it was truly strange to have both sides of the family together in one place – well, I suppose since Mum and Dad got hitched. It was a shame of course that I couldn’t spend more time with everyone, but I was chasing a stop watch attached to a large suspended axe if I dared get the timing wrong.

    The epic planning managed to balance formal with personal, poignant with anarchic. It was a pleasure to have any involvement at all – so good luck guys! (I am sure you planned for that too)


    My suggestion to leave the hair like this fell on deaf ears.


    Dahling!


    Ele prepares to leave the house for the last time as a Biddle!


    Dad – your waistcoat is where, exactly?


    Flars and megapixels


    Mum’s ‘fascinator’ (my new word of the day)


    The locals stop traffic for the beast (and my sister in the passenger seat)


    The marriage procession


    Signed up for love!


    Beards ruled the day


    Granny and mum watch with delight


    A brave new world


    Sniper in position …


    … ready to take the shot!


    Ele has her cake and eats it


    Dad surveys the scene at Emmanuel


    Not your average cookie-cutter wedding!


    Second new word of the day is ‘gavel’ – and as MC I took great pleasure in knocking the hell out of it to get peoples’ attention as the speeches progressed.


    Save me a piece!

    I am positive that there will be more photos to come as various family members collect and collate the shots – but these are my personal ones of the day. Have a great time in Croatia, Ele and Dave Hargreaves!

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Hot Crossed Buns


    Inexcusable behaviour by ‘fake’ flat eric and the Easter chicken

    Here I am, sitting in Hong Kong airport eating a hot crossed buns
    (two, if I am being truthful) for the first time in four years. Part
    of the collateral damage of living abroad is losing connections with
    the festivals and annual habits from home that help form your own
    personal calendar.

    I am no religious person, but Easter is one of those times of the year
    that helps punctuate the start of the good weaker, and living in a
    culture where that does not exist can be quite hard -especially as the
    disappointment usually sinks in on November 6th that you just missed
    Guy Fawkes night. Again.

    And Easter? Well I don’t even like chocolate that much, but what I do
    love is a toasted hot crossed bun laced with melted butter and served
    steamy hot. I didn’t get the toasted bit, but I did make up for it
    with the butter. Happy Easter everyone!


    Destination: Shanghai (Secret) … photo by the Helds

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Happy Lunar New Year

    Happy Lunar New Year everyone!

    新年快樂！

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • 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…

  • 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…