The Secondary Selection judging concluded in Taipei on September 6, led by a group of sixteen design experts, divided across the four categories according to their individual specialisms. Product design yielded the highest number of Design Mark winners among all the categories, followed by spatial design, then the new communication design and integration design categories. Chinese designers dominated in the product design category, meanwhile Taiwanese designers came out on top in the other three categories, winning 43% of the total Design Mark awards.
All 697 Design Mark winners progress to the Final Selection judging where the 2018 Best Design winners will be chosen. The Golden Pin Design Award 2018 Final Selection judging round will be held on September 20 at Songshan Cultural and Creative Park. The Best Design winners will be announced at the Grand Ceremony on November 29.
Product design
Jury member, LIN PIN-SI, ROGER (Chief Adviser at NOVA Design) observes that the face of this year’s award-winning works is quite diverse, and the number of medical, smart, and pet-related products has increased significantly. This partly reflects our aging population and millennial lifestyle demands. Jury member, Gina Hsu (Design Director at Dong Hai Hospital Design Studio) says that there are many great products that aim to transform conventional industries this year. Whether the material of the product emphasizes sustainability is one of the main considerations in her selection.
WOOMOON
– Designed by PiliWu-Design (Taiwan)
Collaborating with W Hotel and Spring Pool Glass, PiliWu-Design sought to establish a recycling process for champagne bottles. The WOOMOON solution is to transform them into cocktail glasses. Empty bottles are no longer just thrown away after parties, moreover, they are a prologue to more parties in future. As a Moon Festival campaign product, these chic cocktail glasses are designed for the poolside WOOBAR at W Hotel in Taipei.
Pockeat
– Designed by agooday corp. (Taiwan)
Pockeat is a reusable food bag designed especially for Asian diets. Its purpose is to replace disposable plastic bags and reduce environmental pollution. The leak proof inner bag is food safe and heat-resistant to 120 degrees C, suitable for soup or food with sauce, with a maximum capacity of 3 liters and weighing just 47 grams. The outer bag has a number of features including handles and size adjustability.
Lucky Chicken
– Designed by Hands (Taiwan)
Hands redesigned the traditional, large feather duster, transforming it into a desktop cleaning brush. As opposed to similar plastic brushes, Lucky Chicken uses natural feathers, which can just as easily pick up dust and debris from electronic products. There is a beauty in the feather itself, and a sense of simplicity in redesigning a traditional product for contemporary times.
SOLID WOOD CAT KENNEL
– Designed by 2PI CREATIVE DESIGN CO., LTD. (Taiwan)
2PI CREATIVE DESIGN CO., LTD. creates a secret space for cats. Perfectly suited to a cats nature, SOLID WOOD CAT KENNEL is place that cats can explore freely, leap around, and hide inside. It also solves the problem of messy cat litter, which is a common inconvenience for cat owners. This is both a home for cats and a modern piece of furniture, made to compliment contemporary home interiors.
Communication design
Jury member, Ho chia-hsing (Designer at Timonium Lake Design) feels that the entries reviewed this year are of a high level, which can be seen in the diversity of the works and the variation of values on show. Jury member, Akibo Lee (Curator at akibo works) especially prefers to see designers who express their own cultural characteristics through visual communication. He believes that in the era of globalization, design increases in value when it visualizes culture.
Hanyi Alzheimer font
– Designed by Beijing Hanyi information Technology Co.,Ltd (China)
The number of Alzheimer’s Disease patients in China has reached 10 million. To draw people’s attention to the issue, Mcgarrybowen (Shanghai) Advertising Company and Hanyi Fonts worked together on this public welfare project. The team produced a fragmentary-style typeface, which visually expresses memory loss and disabilities associated with Alzheimer’s Disease. With some elements deleted and dashes added to fragment the character composition, its basic function remains, but it is weak in terms of legibility.
Behind the Scenes – Projection Mapping of St. Paul’s, Macau 2017
– Designed by Novae Production House (Macau)
This is a ‘Behind the Scenes’ deconstruction of the ‘Projection Mapping of St. Paul’s, Macau 2017’ project, which was part of the Macau Light Festival. Based on the historical background of Macau and the elements of love, Novae Production House designed a series of animation scenes to be projected on the building. It incorporates a perspective stereo method, especially used in projection mapping to manipulate light and shadow. Meanwhile, the fantasy-style animation expresses love, time, space, and cultural difference.
THE LAST JUDGMENT by HANS MEMLING / posters
– Designed by TOFU Studio (Poland)
Painted between 1467 and 1471, ‘The Last Judgement’ is a triptych attributed to German painter Hans Memling, which is housed in the collection of the National Museum in Gdansk, Poland. In order to promote and expand local knowledge about the great work, Gdansk authorities announced a celebration of Hans Memling. TOFU Studio created a promotional campaign based on the exposition of the golden sphere, taken directly from Memling’s triptych and rendered into photographs of well known locations in Gdansk.
No dream, no life.
– Designed by Godkilla Art Production (Taiwan)
‘No dream, no life’ is an album by Taiwanese band SorryYouth, and Godkilla Art Production designed the album artwork. The ocean has always been a muse for SorryYouth’s music, and their songs often picture people confronting the ocean, which the writer uses as a metaphor for life in capitalist society. To reflect the writer’s metaphor, the album artwork depicts an ocean, interwoven with limbs and clenched fists. The album artwork is printed with a mixture of special ink and embossing techniques.
Spatial design
Jury member, Effie Huang (Design Director at EHS ArchiLab) points to a trend in minimal decorative styles, as opposed to an accumulation of objects that was common to see in the past. She reflects this trend on the rise of contemporary individualism. Jury member, Johnny Chiu (Founder of J.C. Architecture) appreciates design that merges interior and exterior space, creating a sense of spatial transparency. He emphasizes the importance of designing around the lifestyle of the real residents in the space, rather than imitating popular styles or filling the space with a lot of expensive furniture and decoration.
Connection and Conversation – Yinchuan Han Meilin Art Museum
– Designed by SUNLAY (China)
The design of Yinchuan Han Meilin Art Museum is inspired by Helan Mountain, inserting the architecture into the mountain. The epic, natural light and mountain view are a complement to the art exhibitions housed in the museum. The façade is constructed in ashlar, manifesting the heritage of the local construction method. The art museum provides a connection between art and history, and it induces an opportunity to converse between the cultural site and its surrounding natural landscape.
THE HIDDEN HOUSE
– Designed by PRODUCE + TALE (Singapore)
Originally built to accommodate a British military officer and his family stationed on the island from the early 1920s, the bungalow and the site will now be home to a Singaporean family of Chinese descent. The design aims to conserve the aura of the place by concealing the new structures under layers of terracing green platforms, preserving the original building as the only expressive object within the new landscape, thereby protecting the wonderful view of grassy fields bounded by lush trees to the south.
Kaomai Estate 1955
– Designed by Pava/Shma Soen/KC Space/Tri Architect (Thailand)
Kaomai Estate 1955 is an adaptive regeneration project based at a 63 year-old tobacco processing plant in Chiang Mai. The project is designed to preserve the values and authenticity of the architectural heritage, while ensuring the sustainable existence of its surrounding, decades-old trees. It features a renovated barn turned cafe, an amphitheater for outdoor recreational purposes, and historic lanes surrounded by fifteen structures, as well as two museum buildings.
Symbiotic House
– Designed by C.H.I. Design Studio (Taiwan)
Situated among rice fields and home to nature-loving residents, the tranquil location of Symbiotic House is the inspiration for the design. The building walls are made from a composite rice and plaster material, matching the surroundings in a symbiotic nature. Terrazzo flooring is another local material used for the interior, which also creates a distinct connection between interior and exterior. Large windows on either side of the building allow the residents to enjoy the picturesque landscape, changing from season to season.
Integration design
Jury member, Ping Chu (Founder of Ripplemaker Foundation) hails the new integration design category as a celebration of ephemeral events in design. He notices a number of the designers attempting to breath new life into archaic cultural practices such as funeral services and traditional crafts. These designers are creating a new economy of experience through culture and tradition. In this new category for 2018, he is looking out for the trailblazers who demonstrate disruptive and revolutionary design.
Hyogo craft
– Designed by TRUNK DESIGN INC. (Japan)
This design project began in 2011 and is shaped by Hyogo Prefecture’s unique, local, traditional crafts. By collaborating with the local craftspeople, TRUNK DESIGN INC. establishes a comprehensive sales channel system throughout Japan, and also sets up original brands overseas. Not only does the project sell crafts, but it also creates local craft tours where visitors can interact with the masters. The project’s aim is to set up a system that can sustain traditional craft industries in contemporary times.
Soundscape of Body
– Designed by Dimension Plus (Hong Kong)
Our body is a landscape, which can also be read as a musical score. In the performance and experience of ‘Soundscape of Body’, the human body is scanned using low energy lasers and reinterpreted with music and light. Dimension Plus created the performance for the 2018 Body Donation Day, organized by the Body Donation Programme of The University of Hong Kong. It provides an entry point into life and death education, by stimulating the audience to think about the value and meaning of life and our body.
2018 South Taipei Fun Carnival
– Designed by The General Association of Chinese Culture (Taiwan)
The 2018 South Taipei Fun Carnival was a series of family-oriented music, theater, cinema and bazaar activities held from April 1 to 8 (2018) during the Children’s Day holiday. It was held at a group of venues, beginning with the ‘Adventure through Time’ exhibition at the GACC. Furthermore, surrounding venues joined together to conduct interactive games, across the entire South Taipei region, creating five experiential adventures, which combined the senses of seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching.