Jonathan Biddle – Made in Taiwan

Tag: Shanghai

  • 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…

  • Shanghai & Hangzhou

    Well, there is a reason they call it a ‘kickoff’ meeting … we waited six months to start this project, and now I am spending more time abroad than I am at home. I can’t relax as much as I might like, but if you know me well you’ll know that I maxed out on the fun, frolicking and food – and most importantly had the chance to meet up with Anke, Lars and Bump (a huge part of the Singapore story that I was not allowed to divulge is that Anke is preggers with a baby – Made in China of course – and she announced it on the beach… hang on, this is too important for brackets…)

    So – congratulations guys! You have your own paragraph now… look how spacious it is!

    Anyway – I spent the days visiting clients and factories, and the nights heading out with the crew and meeting some new and old friends, and some like Simon that I know through multiple contacts, but never actually saw face to face. Anyway – not too good with words right now, so here are some pics. Ahh.


    Shanghai World Financial Centre – not without its fair share of controversy… its original (elegant) shape had a large circle in the top … but the locals are still rather sensetive about the whole Japan thing, and so dropped that for some kind of melted square hole. And in the process of the delay lost top spot as the world’s tallest building.


    Not quite the world’s tallest building … on the streets of Shanghai


    View from one of the client offices – quite funny to be up above one of the recognisable locations in Shanghai – The Pacific Mall (same name as the one in Taipei!)


    Elevated


    Sunset in Shanghai


    View from the Galaxy Hotel (translation ‘Star River’)


    Road block


    Hangzhou sunset – really rather wonderful


    Loch Ness


    Shattered mirror (just look at the texture on that one, Michael and Markus!)


    Totally ridiculous – the only thing missing was the whiny Chinese music


    It’s really amazing to be around Taiwanese guys when they come to China… there is all this tension, but at the end of the day their culture is rooted here, and they know all of these stories… quite touching. Here is Alfie contemplating things.


    Bikes – Shanghai Style

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Off my feet

    Kicked off the project, and I am now going to Hangzhou tomorrow morning to visit a factory, and at this rate will be in Seoul and Tianjin (near Beijing) next weekend.
     
    Great trip so far – busy but successful, and great food courtesy of Da Marco's Italian restaurant.
     
    Onwards and upwards!
    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Travel

    Well, here I am in Hong Kong airport, on my way to Shanghai. I am coming over at the last minute to kick off one of my projects. In typical DEM style, schedules were changing by the minute right up until I left work yesterday, as we juggled schedules from people flying in from all over Asia. Quite a feat.

    And here I am, waiting for four hours in arrivals, waiting for the Visa to be processed. I can’t really go anywhere as they have my passport, and all the fun stuff is really in departures. One bright light is the fact that Cathay Pacific have (cynically) offered me free membership to their ‘Marco Polo’ business club, and with the Silver card have access to all the lounges and cool stuff I have for so long been denied access to. Finally! Of course, it coincides with my almost having enough air miles for a return trip to London, so it is a sweetener to make me stay loyal, obviously, before I splurge it all on going home. But, the quicker check-in, extra 10kg and sense of elitist satisfaction I have more than makes it worth it!

    Next stop Shanghai … there for two days on business, then a weekend of fun with Anke & Lars … and who knows, I might be in Korea and Beijing next weekend. It’s all to play for!

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Shanghai Hoon

    Part business trip, and part extended excuse to see some more of Shanghai, visit Anke & Lars, and serve as a jumping-off point to Beijing. It was really just super to see them, and lovely to see them setting up here. Their pad, although lacking some of the very special ‘character’ of the Taipei offices, was really a delight to see.

    After two nice homes in two weekends it makes me think I want to move somewhere and, well, care about it more – I am still pretty much camping in Taipei. It is really amazing to live a ‘lightweight’ lifestyle, without any of the heavy loads of many of my friends back home, but I know at some point this is certainly I will grow to want – and especially after seeing my Sister’s frankly ridiculous place in Cambridge!

    I was here last year. It was a fantastic that time around, but my timing meant that I left one day before German designer Gerhard arrived, and three days before Anke & Lars. This time, on top of the sausage-eating crew, Rich was in town, helping a club with their promotion work to open up.

    It was really very interesting to check out the city for a second time – and really get a stronger feeling about moving here to set up shop. It certainly makes me excited – but I think I also need a bit of holiday first – it is pretty intense.

    As a break from it all, Lars, Anke and two of their Germanisch architect friends joined us for a day trip to Hangzhou. This, I have to say, is what I thought China would be like in my tourist head. Temples and lakes surrounded by nice little eateries and day tripping young romantics from the big city. Although it is stretching it to claim it really is ‘heaven on earth’, it is definitely a nice place. I often think about China developing its own New Yorks and Los Angeleses (if that is a plural), but I am unsure if these hot little creative towns will also crop up – where will the San Franciscos and Seattles and Bostons be in twenty years time? Could it be here, I wonder?


    The charming view out of the back of the building


    Their amazing balcony, pointing towards downtown – although they live on a big ‘orrid housing estate, they also manage to escape it as soon as the front door is shut.


    Enjoying a light breakfast / snack after a night out


    Love birds – Anke & Lars caught!


    People leave messages on the bamboo – though it would be great to know what they are and what the traditions are!


    Speed


    Waiting in the impressive Shanghai South train station


    Lars enjoys one of my jokes


    Anke checks some photos of me


    One of the many shadowy monks lurking in the shadows in Hangzhou – I was itching to battle!


    Wearing its hat at a jaunty angle


    I am a big fan of the Ladybird phone booths in China


    A gap betweeb buildings – that just so happened to make FANTASTIC echoes


    Loch Ness monster


    Cheesy grin – he enjoyed it too!

    And a load more images here:

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Back to the Future

    Today, I was finally granted the future I was promised as a child. Today, I rode the Mag Lev.

    Linking the Airport and the city – or at least a parking lot in the middle of nowhere kind of near the city – it covers the 40km run in 7 minutes! Half the time is spent accelerating, and the other half braking. The most efficient way, of course – perhaps the Shanghai taxi drivers understand physics better than I realised.

    The whole experience was however slightly provincial, and rounded off with a very slow, frustrating and badly organised airport. Strange, considering the epic world class proportions of the exterior. Perhaps it is an ideal analogy of my whole China experience so far.


    Anything with red glowing lights gets my vote


    For those of you that are interested, this is a mag-lev track. Where is the dry ice and lasers?


    Fast! But not quite as smooth as I expected


    My plane to Hong Kong, and after back to Taipei and *cough* civilisation

    As an interesting note, the MagLev was constructed using German know-how and is the only commercial example existing in the world, saving the technology from becoming a white elephant. The Germans are now up in arms because the Chinese are planning their own version, but cheaper this time. However, as some observers have pointed out this may be the only way to recoup costs – by supplying key components. That the Chinese copy the system and make it cheaper, could open the door for it in other locations.

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Henry Wilkins

    I just got back from a rather marvellous evening – a house party in Henry Wilkins’ apartment in Shanghai. Henry I went to school with so I have known him since he was about 11 years old, and although he denies it he grew up in Bar Hill, home of Tescos. I even bumped into a dutch designer that I met last night at the hoky poky thing, so it is quite clear that I have become pretty au fait with the community here, just in the space of a few days. A nice feeling.


    The view from Henry’s balcony across Shanghai

    So, a school friend in the local viscinity. And another crazy cab ride home to match the crazy journey there with the Chinese Fernando Alonso

    The Dukes of Hazard…



    What a rush!

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Chinese Economics

    Today was the first day off I had in a week and a half, so I planned to get up, head to the train station and go and find my self of ‘real’ China.

    Unfortunately, that plan was dashed by the cleaning lady at my door this morning, indicating I had slept through my alarm by two hours. I made it to the station, bought a ticket to Suzhou, but realised that it was too late to make good use of the day. As a result, I took the opportunity to see a little of Shanghai in the day time and it certainly delivered.

    I have to say, this is a town to live in, not to visit. The Bund is marvellous and there are a few other interesting places to go, but it does not have the tourist attraction of Beijing. I went to check out the YeYuen gardens – the old town – and it was very nice but absolutely packed with yellow-hatted Chinese tourists following their respective yellow flags. Package tours take on a new meaning with the Chinese, and I would not be surprised to see more of these headpieces in Europe as their gather more disposable income.

    I had some rather forced conversations with Chinese clearly wanting to sell me something under the pretence of learning English – a ruse I got extremely tired of. The pinnacle came when my will broke and accompanied a pair of Chinese students to a café bar for a coffee. My treat, and I didn’t really mind. I was rather shocked to find they had ordered half the menu and the most expensive Whiskeys on the menu! My heart both dropping and pounding in rage, I had to control myself, pay the bill and get the hell out. I raised a stink but this was clearly not a good idea in the particular location I had chosen. You know, I have traversed Mexico and Central America, Thailand and Taiwan, and I have maintained my street wise all the way. I have never been ripped off by more than is reasonable. But today I lost out on about 100 bloody quid, but I feel like it was a very cheap way to learn a very expensive lesson. Folk lore suggests people coming here, setting up businesses and having the investments pulled out underneath them. So. Lesson learnt. Wounds licked. And a more circumspect approach to the city of sin.

    That feels better now! Now I prepare to head out one last time to meet Henry from my High School. Amazing to see him and my oldest friend in Asia. At the same time, I have lost out by days once again as my friend Gerhard (previously of Panasonic in Japan, and hailing from Germania – where else?) arrives to set up a design company on Monday (!) and Anke & Lars move their life here via India on Thursday. It seems like a bit of a German conspiracy, what with missing out on Michael & Tanja’s farewell bash last weekend!

    Shower and change. A wiser man steps out into the night.


    Bamboo sticks out into the street, providing drying space for clothes. Just thread them on and poke ’em out!


    The pond at YuYuen gardens – the ‘Old City’


    A door


    A phone recharging machine on Nanjing Street. Maybe I am the only one that found it interesting.


    The animation exhibition in MOCA – The Museum of Contemporary Art – in People’s Square.


    Spinning LED installation – quite cool – reminded me of a guy from my old time at ideo in London


    Bruce Lee Fried Chicken. I’m Not Joking. Actually they take his Chinese name ‘Lee Xiao Long’, or ‘Little Dragon’ Lee

    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…

  • Taiwanese Ex-Pats

    I already wrote a little about the different behaviour of the Taiwanese in the office, but I was lucky enough last night to be invited out for dinner once again by some of the China operation’s directors last night for a meal. The restaurant was in the west of the city where there are extensive communities of HongKongese, Japanese, Korean and Japanese. The whole thing was shiny and neon’d, interspersed with Japanese titty bars, Karaoke and stores full of overpriced food. And all the time, there were ramshackle houses built next to the fountains, full of tiny rooms. Who for? The maids? Workers?

    Once into conversation, It felt like I was looking at myself amongst my foreigner friends in Taiwan bitching about the taxis, social protocol, level of professionality, work environment, food and a million other things. This is what we do too, semingly as some sort of natural reaction to a new environment. I hate doing it – it feels like I am talking behind my friends’ backs – but somehow this is the release valve that we need to vent steam.

    So there I was last night, listening to the Taiwanese Ex-Pats talk about life in China – their body language once again more confident as they watched the girls bring in food and leaned back on their chairs. Half of me felt horribly superior, as I imagined all the locations that the British have settlements. The other felt some kind of minor pride for Taiwan – this is their little empire right inside China. Of course, there are other major Taiwanese communities, and I guess most of them are in the USA. I wonder if they talk about the US in the same way. Probably.
    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…