4th Taiwan Design Award Picks 9 Winners from Five Categories
2009/06/26 | By Quincy LiangThe jury for the 2008 or the 4th version the Taiwan Design Award (TDA) had selected 9 winners or design teams from five categories, including two Gold Award winners each from product design, visual communication design, packaging design, and interior design; as well as one Special Theme Award winner in eco design.
The TDA, kicked off in 2005, is sponsored by the Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and organized by the Taiwan Design Center (TDC), a national body, and the Chinese Society of Interior Designers (CSID), the largest trade association of its kind on the island, with the awards given out seen as the highest honor for the local design industry.
Besides recognizing local designers, companies, and products that have achieved success in Taiwan and perhaps have become benchmark for the design industry, the TDA also aims to inspire companies to invest more in innovative design, through which the development of the design industry on the island would continue to upgrade.
Clearly regarded as a priority event on their calendars by the design industry and professionals, the TDA has since its inauguration attracted over 300 submissions yearly.
The TDA also honored this year W.L. Chen, president of Nova Design Co., Ltd., with a Special Achievement Award, recognizing his firm as the most outstanding design company of the year, as well as its active participation in international design activities and Chen's lifelong dedication to the local design industry.
The Nova Design chief's devotion to design is also reflected by his many memberships in high-profile bodies, including the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID, a global non-profit organization that promotes better design worldwide with 150-plus members in more than 50 countries; and the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) of the United States; with his being the first Chinese juror for the global-standard-setting iF design award in 2005 also notable. Plus Chen is known as the godfather of the Taiwan design industry.
Nova Design, established in 1988 by the Chinfon Group and headquartered in Taiwan, is the largest of its kind in Greater China, and runs five branches overseas, including ones in Shanghai, Xiamen, Sondrio (Italy), and San Jose (USA). The leading design house specializes in optimal design consultancy that considers, melds Eastern and Western perspectives, which is achieved via strategic partnerships, tapping business experience in Asia, manufacturing know-how, and globally integrated design networks.
Taiwan Design Award Winners
Category: Product Design
Award: Gold
Product: Waving Cooling Pad
Designer: Duck Image Co., Ltd.
Category: Product Design
Award: Gold
Product: 180-degree Reversible Pen YP-M-01
Designer: Yeduo Design Co. Ltd.
Category: Packaging Design
Award: Gold
Product: Tian Yuan Hsiang, traditionally-brewed vinegar
Designer: Leaf.Design Co., Ltd.
The designer purposefully adopts thicker cardboard to give the packaging extra substance, enabling the easy removal of the vinegar without fussing with opening a paper box.
Category: Packaging Design
Award: Gold
Product: TEA KINGDOM Taiwan Tea
Designer: Hua Cheng Advertising Co., Ltd.
Category: Visual Communication Design
Award: Gold
Product: Saville Row Tweed、Saville Row Pinstripe
Designer: Stony Image
Category: Visual Communication Design
Award: Gold
Product: Jing-do House Restaurant Brochure
Designer: UP Creative Design & Advertising Corporation
Category: Interior Design
Award: Gold
Product: Ching Jia Sales Office
Designer: AURA Architects & Associates
The sales office features ample glass bricks to create curvilinear walls that wind from the outside to the interior, with the reflection defining and interpreting the voids and solids of the building as well as inter-spatial relations. The glass bricks used achieve contrasting day-to-night views, allowing light in during the day and becoming a light source at night. The designer uses solid recyclable materials such as charcoal to define boundaries.
An interesting feature is the creation of the lit, curved glass-brick wall that defines, separates light between the outside and inside, which seems to tell two stories happening in the same space.
Category: Interior Design
Award: Gold
Product: NIKE Airmax 360 Exhibition
Designer: Mark Lintott Design (MLD), Mark Lintott
The promotional slogan for the new shoe is "run on air," with the transparency and lightness of the shoe structure being the main promotional theme. With this in mind, MLD designed a space that was defined by transparency and line-work rather than hard surfaces or walls in the conventional sense.
The boundaries of the space are defined by lightweight transparent fabrics stitched together to form a "room." Behind these "walls" on the two long sides of the space are hung clear acrylic display cases showing previous "Airmax" shoes.
The center of the exhibition space has six transparent acrylic balls which are suspended only by fiber-optic cables, which display the new "Airmax 360." All other graphics such as the Nike logo are stitched into the fabric walls and thereby maintains the transparency and lightness of the product itself.
Category: Eco Design
Award: Special Theme Award
Product: Ching Jia Hospitality Center
Designer: AURA Architects & Associates
(Also the winner of the Gold Award for Interior Design above)
Award: Special Achievement Award
Name: W.L. Chen, president of Nova Design Co., Ltd.
Tapping his background and expertise, Chen set up Nova Design in 1988 and has cultivated the firm to rapidly grow into the largest of its kind in Greater China, as well as having groomed numerous talented designers in Taiwan.