The curator Eric Yu, the director of Atelier SUPERB
Bestowed by the Industrial Development Bureau and organized by TDRI, the Golden Pin Design Award is Taiwan’s longest-running and benchmark design award. Each year, designers and design teams receive recognition for delivering high-quality design works. Known for its caliber and credibility, the award has attracted submissions from internationally renowned corporations and design teams since it started accepting submissions worldwide in 2014. The annual Golden Pin Design Award Exhibition provides the general public a great opportunity to appreciate award-winning designs from Taiwan and around the world.
The theme of this year’s awards ceremony is “Superload,” which explores designers’ desire to break free from conventional constraints and pursue self-transcendence despite the formidable challenges they face in life. In charge of curating the exhibition this year is Atelier SUPERB’s Eric Yu, who proposed the concept “Multidimensional Hyperplasia” in resonance with the central theme. Yu himself won the Best of 2018 Golden Pin Concept Design Award for an avant-garde experimental design concept. Guided by his expertise, Atelier SUPERB assembles an interdisciplinary team of designers spanning fields such as interior design, landscaping, urban planning, installation art, and exhibition venue planning. In fact, the company is a staple at not only the Golden Pin Design Awards but also a host of other design awards, including the Taiwan Interior Design Award, Taipei Design Award, iF Product Design Award, and [d]arc awards. At the 2022 Taiwan Design Expo “MAKE PRO Kaohsiung—City of Creativity,” the team received widespread acclaim for creating an exhibition space that evokes the atmosphere of a massive manufacturing plant and the charm of Kaohsiung as an industrial city.
2023 Golden Pin Design Award Exhibition ‘Multidimensional Hyperplasia’
For the theme of this year’s Golden Pin Design Award Exhibition, Yu emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in contemporary design. For designers today, being well-versed in their own field is only fundamental. Multidimensional Hyperplasia explores how keeping an open mind and collaboration across different disciplines can help designers step out of their comfort zone, foster a unique perspective, and innovate their methods of creation. Through multidimensional imagination and communication, designers are opening the door to limitless possibilities. To bring this concept to life, the curation team incorporated abstract spatial elements of lines, surfaces, and volumes in the three galleries through additive design to create an immersive “spatial experience.” Attendees are certain to find inspiration from the scenes where reality and imagination are intertwined.
The three exhibits are curated based on topics. The first exhibit (Hall 01) features works portraying the “future ways of moving” and “human-machine co-creation,” showcasing contemporary transportation solutions and interdisciplinary smart product designs. This exhibit is decorated with linear spatial elements to highlight a sense of direction and movement. The second exhibit “multidimensional dialogue” (Hall 02) features picture frames of varying shapes and sizes arranged in a staggered layout mirroring a messaging app. In the frames, static images and motion pictures are displayed to showcase the winning works in the communication design, spatial design, and integration design categories which are created through interdisciplinary communication and collaboration. The final exhibit (Hall 04) features tabletop exhibits stacked on top of each other. The “local hyperplasia” section showcases designs that are imbued with Taiwanese elements or landscapes, promoting industrial transformation. The “multidimensional vogue” is a curation of designs of daily objects with unique aesthetics or innovative functions exemplifying designers’ vision and illustrating humanity’s future. The line that connects the three exhibits is “sustainable quality.” Indeed, sustainable design thinking and practice is not only an embodiment of aesthetics and quality but a common core value across all fields of contemporary design.
From left to right, The first exhibit (Hall 01), The second exhibit “multidimensional dialogue.”(Hall 02), The final exhibit (Hall 04) features the “local hyperplasia”and “multidimensional vogue” section
This year’s exhibition will feature 100+ Golden Pin Design Award- and Concept Design Award-winning works from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, the United States, and Lithuania. Among them are innovative products designed by major Taiwanese companies, including Pegatron Corporation’s TENOR TWS OTC-Hearing-Aid Earbuds, an AI-powered hearing aid with noise cancellation, smart detection, and onboard memory which leverages its AI neural network and machine learning capabilities to improve auditory performance and context recognition. Cooler Master Technology’s Orb X is billed as a semi-enclosed gaming experience. It reimagines the possibilities of a gaming chair through the ingenious integration of futuristic hardware and state-of-the-art software to provide the ultimate immersive experience for gamers and professionals. Sanyang Motor worked with Novadesign to present CLBCU, a series of female-oriented scooters featuring lightweight frames, elegant design, and delicate details. With female riders in mind, the two companies optimized the kickstand and the brake to enable easy operation with minimal effort, making CLBCU a safe and comfortable vehicle. On the international front, the Lithuanian start-up guitar brand Lava Drops presents the Infinite Fretless Drop Electric Guitar. Crafted with a resonance module made of sapele/maple hardwood and aviation grade aluminum, this guitar not only boasts a unique look but also produces enchanting sustain sounds. It is a product of both superb craftsmanship and innovative manufacturing technology.
From left to right in the top row are TENOR TWS OTC-Hearing-Aid Earbuds, and Orb X; from left to right in the bottom row are CLBCU, and Infinite Fretless Drop Electric Guitar.
The 2023 Golden Pin Design Exhibition—Multidimensional Hyperplasia will run from November 21st (Tuesday), 2023 to March 17th (Sunday), 2024, and the public are invited to get a glimpse of this year’s award-winning designs. In addition, the Best of Golden Pin Design Award winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on the night of December 1st. It will be streamed live in both Mandarin Chinese and English on the official YouTube channel. Be sure to tune in to find out who receives the top honor! For the latest news, please follow updates on the official website (www.goldenpin.org.tw/en) and the social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and X/Twitter.
Exhibition Info.
Date|2023.11.21 (Tue.) – 2024.03.17 (Sun.) (Closed on Mondays)
Opening Hours|10:00-18:00
Venue|Hall 01, 02 & 04, Taiwan Design Museum
Ticket Price|NT 50 (Full Ticket) / NT 40 (Group Ticket) / Free for those who qualify for discount tickets
Organizer|Industrial Development Administration (IDA), MOEA
Executive|Taiwan Design Research Institute (TDRI)
Curation|Atelier SUPERB
Visual Design|Yang Shi-Ching
About the Golden Pin Design Award Group
The annual Golden Pin Design Award is the longest-running international design award that celebrates products or projects expressly created for Chinese-speaking communities, offering entrants an unprecedented opportunity to prove their prowess in the world’s largest market. The Golden Pin Design Award Group is executed by the Taiwan Design Research Institute and organized by the Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs. The Ministry of Economic Affairs acts in an advisory capacity.
For the latest news on the Golden Pin Design Award, visit:
Official Website: Goldenpin.org.tw
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International Media Enquiries
Golden Pin Design Award Team
Taiwan Design Research Institute (TDRI)
Zoe Lo, Press Coordinator
press.gpaward@tdri.org.tw