Creative dynamics brims in all aspects of life

After around one decade of development, Taiwan's creative cultural industry has seen fruitful results and attracts creative participants from various fields, reinforcing the influence of “creative culture” on human life. The Taiwan International Cultural & Creative Industry Expo (TICCIE) has thus seen considerable growth in the number of either participants or exhibit categories since the Council for Cultural Affairs (CCA), the predecessor of today's Ministry of Culture (MOC), proposed to arrange the annual event three years ago.

The range of the exhibits at the show covered all aspects of life, well reflecting the reality that the concept of “creative culture” has prevailed to every field of business and inspire companies to offer innovative products or services as the means to help consumers pursue a better life.

The TICCIE 2012, held at the Taipei Nankang International Exhibition Hall on Oct. 15-18, attracted 83,000 visitors and hit a record high of NT$220 million in the deals signed during the four short exhibition days. Under the theme of “Dynamic Symphony,” the TICCIE divided all the exhibits from 525 domestic and international exhibitors into nine sections. “Besides the large enterprises which have been operated with renowned brands, the exhibition also embraced small and medium-sized companies which have just launched their trademark or brand as the symbol of their creativity,” said MOC Minister Long Ying-tai. “The participating of newly-established companies is important to keep the industry dynamic,” she added.

Meanwhile, governments of several cities, counties, and even small townships also take lead to promote sales of the craft works made by local people through modern marketing strategies.

“The creative cultural industry is a field where Taiwan is possessed of strong competence and we should make good use of our advantages to expand the influence of our soft power on the international venue,” said Chen Yu-pin, director of the creative cultural department under the MOC.

“A significant contribution of the development of the creative cultural industry is that it enlivens traditional craftsmanship with contemporary looks,” commented Yi Yu-an, designer of AA Twenty Design Studio which is engaged on making utensils and furniture featured with lacquer finish, a surface treatment technique only seen in China and Japan.

Renewed tradition

A major mission of the creative cultural industry is to turn traditional ingredients into innovative creations. In this regard, Pili International Multimedia is considered a representative modern player of native Taiwanese hand puppet show. The company applies modern electronic technology to make special sound and lighting effect at the performance stage and at the same time produces digitalized videodisks of hand puppet shows which are transformed from the wild stage performances popular in Taiwan society of the earlier years.

The company is committed to seeking new ways to evolve the hand puppet shows to keep the old Taiwanese cultural traditions alive.

The 1300 Only Porcelain, founded by ceramic artiest Shen Hen-rong, introduced the art items claimed to be made with wide-angle porcelain processing techniques, up to 720 degrees, and the unique ceramic materials which presented the best delicate quality of porcelain. According to the company, it spent a total of five years in R&D and over NT$100 million of budget before the formal launch of the new ceramic art collection.

After 18 years of learning in the U.S., Shen returned to Taiwan and founded Chi-jing Kilm, which was later renamed as 1300 Only Porcelain, committed to making best quality purely-white porcelain artworks. The company's name “1300 Only Porcelain” revealed Shen's ambition to present the beauty of the artworks made with traditional Chinese ceramic techniques that China developed 1,300 years ago when China was renowned for its porcelain art.

Artilize Worldwide Co., a specialized ceramic and stone all decorative items maker, has broaden its product line to embrace ceramic tea pot and cup sets, but maintains the most significant feature of the company's products—designed with inspiration from ancient Chinese paintings or poems.

The tea pot set which was named one of the winners of the MOC-presented Creative & Cultural Award for this year is inspired by the poem of Wang Wei, a poet of the tang Dynasty. A central theme of the design is to incorporate the tranquil and scenic natural view to the utensils used in modern life as a means to bring people back to the peaceful land in their mind.

aTtlee Style, an affiliate of Lee Gallery, is a newly-established company aimed at converting the art pieces exhibited at the Lee Gallery to commercialized items. Its products include paintings, ceramic pieces, and sculptures, among others.

The stone sculpture, named “Learned,” for example, is originally an artwork of Teng Lian-hui, who has won several sculpture awards in the past decades. For those artists like Teng, they never dreamed of having their art creation become commercialized until the establishment of aRtlee Style which, since set up, has taken the mission for bringing aesthetics to everyday life. It quoted Russian novelist Leo Tolstory as saying, “Art is originated from people's emotion, and is valued through sharing.” It well explains why the company is committed to commercializing the artworks of artists.