2022 Golden Pin Design Award: Circular Sustainability and Public Designs gain spotlight
The judging panels for the two awards comprised 102 design and creativity experts hailing from 17 countries and regions, including Taiwan, China, Italy, Australia, Finland, Singapore, Thailand, Brazil, the United States, and Japan. They included an impressive lineup of professionals such as top-tier German industrial design master Werner Aisslinger, Dutch master of home and interior design Richard Hutten, Japanese graphic designer Yoshiaki Irobe, Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, Finnish designer Renne Angelvuo, renowned Thai graphic designer and design educator Tnop Wangsillapakun, regional adviser of World Design Organization Kuang-Min Chan, Chief Design Officer of Compal Electronics, Inc. Shikuan Chen, founder and creative director of Bito Keng-Ming Liu, and renowned Taiwanese designer Aaron Nieh. Through a professional, rigorous three-stage selection process, the jurors jointly selected outstanding designs for commendation.
The 2022 Golden Pin Design Award received 2,765 entries. After the judging of the final selection, the award saw 118 entries from all participating categories nominated for the Best Design. In the end, only 34 designs emerged victorious, including fourteen in the Product Design category, nine in Communication Design, ten in Spatial Design, and one in Integration Design. Finally, two designs were selected to receive the Special Annual Award, which commends outstanding entries in the fields of social design and circular design which can serve as exemplars for their respective industries.
As a juror in the final judging round, Werner Aisslinger was amazed by the level of professionalism, smoothness, and democracy in the selection process of the Golden Pin Design Award and by the scale of the award and the high standard of the entries. Well-known Japanese graphic designer Yoshiaki Irobe was able to tell, by the many works submitted this year, that the designers have put a considerable effort in addressing societal issues and improving industries and included ingenuous ideas in designing old spaces and traditional objects are that difficult to renovate or transform as well as public aspects such as election procedures and court of law that are generally considered difficult to design; he further commended their attempt to create new value or promote a more positive communication. Founder of Tang-Cao Industrial Design, Hugh Hu, indicated that the ability to stand out from among the many outstanding designs and then win the Best Design award is typically attributed to the ability to break free from existing design frames and not yield to the logic and game rules of current industries and to the courage to try new ways to achieve breakthroughs or meet more needs, all the while creating good designs that take everything into consideration, including a discussion of social responsibilities and issues.
This year’s Product Design category has received the highest number of awards among all categories. The diverse types of designs are reflective of trends in social and industrial innovation. For example, HP Inc.’s HP Presence and Pegatron’s Kaigio-Cam 360 are flexible video conferencing solutions developed in response to the increasing demand for remote collaboration and communication in the post-pandemic era. The high degree of software and hardware integration and the design craftsmanship were all favorably received by the jurors. The ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED UX9702, a foldable screen laptop developed by Asus, a major tech manufacturer in Taiwan, and BestShape GO by Wistron Corporation also emerged victorious in the innovation of laptop products and smart assistive devices with their excellent design, R&D and manufacturing capabilities. The EMU3000 intercity express train designed by Japan’s Hitachi Ltd. in collaboration with Taiwan Railways Administration also won an award for its difficult large-scale engineering design.
Top left to right: HP Inc.’s HP Presence, Pegatron’s Kaigio-Cam 360
Middle left to right: ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED UX9702, BestShape GO
Bottom: The EMU3000
This year, the judging panels also selected a number of innovative works that feature circular and sustainability design elements, including the single-use disposable PAPER RAZORTM by Kai Corporation, a major Japanese cutlery manufacturer; the Hibāng RE-fishing-Net Circular Eyewear designed by Duolog Design LLC, a Taiwanese innovative spectacle designer; the aesthetically unique Bloom Chair made of Kobe leather by JC Architecture in collaboration with Japanese leather makers; and the EcoCal® Laundry Detergent by Picupi Int’l Co., Ltd. which has received the recognition of both the Best Design and Special Annual Award (Circular Design). The hope is to encourage more designers to unleash their creativity and more industries to strive for sustainability goals.
Top left to right: PAPER RAZOR™, Hibāng RE-fishing-Net Circular Eyewear
Bottom left to right: Bloom Chair, EcoCal® Laundry Detergent
There are a variety of winning designs in the Communication Design category representing the fields of art, public interest, and business. Taiwanese design teams have performed outstandingly, such as the Graphic Room and RE:LAB whose “Electoral Aesthetics – Referendum Bulletin Redesign” won both the Best Design and Special Annual Award (Social Design). Given the heavy constraints of legal regulations, the Bulletin features information design to improve the standard medium of election communication so that more people are willing to understand and in turn participate in the democratic process. The “2021 New Taipei City SDGs Voluntary Local Review” designed by Mistroom using scrap materials, “Taiwan Indigenous TV News Program Package” by Whitelight Motion, and the vivid animation of “GOGORO VIVA MIX” by MixCode Studio are all outstanding works in their respective category. Design teams from Hong Kong also performed brilliantly with for&st’s “Technical City – visual identity system” and “& The overprint series” winning the two awards, and “Conserving James Wong [Limited Box-Set]” designed by graphic designer Yiu Kwok Ho for Joint Publishing and “Grand Gallop─Art and Culture of the Horse” by Makkaihang Design both swooped up an award with their exceptional design skills.
Top left to right: Electoral Aesthetics – Referendum Bulletin Redesign, 2021 New Taipei City SDGs Voluntary Local Review
Bottom left to right: Taiwan Indigenous TV News Program Package, GOGORO VIVA MIX
Top left to right: Technical City – visual identity system, & The overprint series
Bottom left to right: Conserving James Wong [Limited Box-Set], Grand Gallop─Art and Culture of the Horse
The winning designs in the Spatial Design category are equally exciting, with extraordinary works including “The Moving Kitchen”, a renovated Chu-Kuang Express train by J.C. Architecture to create new tourism opportunities, and the “NOUSAKU Concept Store in Taiwan” developed by Koizumi Studio in Japan in collaboration with PiliWu Design seed and spacelab co. in Taiwan. Winners of public facility or spatial designs included “Eternal Hill” in Hsinchu City, which overthrows our inherent impression of traditional columbarium; “Hengshan Calligraphy Art Center” in Yaoyuan, which embodies the beauty of calligraphy with the language of architecture; “Wood Factory”, which aims to revitalize a cluster of old Japanese-style dormitories in Chiayi City; and “Taisugar’s Circular Village” which represents the future of housing that advocates environmental protection, energy conservation, and resource efficiency. Winning works by foreign designers are brilliant as well and included “THE CAMPUS” which is a new-generation office space renovated from an old building by KOKUYO, a Japanese stationery and furniture brand; “Siu Hei Court Play Space” which was originally an old rooftop sportsground and was transformed by One Bite Design Studio Limited, an architecture design team from Hong Kong; and “Dog / Human” a novel residence developed by EKAR Architects in Thailand to create a space for humans and pets to live side-by-side. The winner of the Integration Design category was YANGMING MT. LAB which was repurposed by InFormat Design Curating as a mountain hut where the public can experience a mixture of leisure, recreation, and ecological education.
Top left to right: The Moving Kitchen, NOUSAKU Concept Store in Taiwan
Middle left to right: Eternal Hill, Hengshan Calligraphy Art Center
Bottom left to right: Wood Factory, Taisugar’s Circular Village
Top left to right: THE CAMPUS, Siu Hei Court Play Space
Bottom left to right: Dog / Human, YANGMING MT. LAB
2022 Golden Pin Concept Design Award: New-generation creativity in Taiwan shines bright
This year’s Golden Pin Concept Design Award received 5,114 entries. After the judging of the final selection, only eight entries made it to the final stage and were nominated for the Best Design. In the end, three designs from Taiwan emerged victorious from the fierce competition, each receiving a cash prize of 400,000 NTD. In the final selection process, Richard Hutten praised the overall high standard of the entries and the extent of maturity in most of the proposed conceptual designs, which are a testament to the young designers’ commitments and creativity. Seji Peng, AVP of Acer Incorporated, said that the three award-winning designs are deserving of encouragement for not only their ingenious creativity, which won favor from the jurors but also demonstrating the value advocacies of the younger generation.
“Music Out of the Box – An Open Source Music Teaching Aid For Kids” combining computer programming, art, and music lessons is a systematic tutorial comprising music teaching aids which are designed using simple materials. It offers a plan for learning outside of the traditional education framework, and reflects young people’s expectation of advancing future education toward interdisciplinary and exploratory learning innovations. “TOFU” subverts the public’s inherent impression of tofu with its creative visuals of mixing and matching various shapes and food ingredients; it enables people to see a new, fun side of tofu, an ingredient most commonly used in everyday life. Animation work “byebye.” describes the learning process of the protagonist’s struggles with isolation, dependence, and social engagement with the outside world. The association of panels and techniques are creatively used to provide a novel perspective on the problems of life—that is, taking care of yourself and discovering who you are. It is unique among the numerous communication designs.
Top to bottom: Music Out of the Box – An Open Source Music Teaching Aid For Kids, TOFU, byebye
Renowned producer Isaac Chen produces award ceremony, using a multi-leveled stage to interpret design creativity
This year’s Golden Pin Design Award Ceremony is produced by the renowned Taiwanese producer Isaac Chen. The theme for the ceremony “Thumb-Stopping Creative” symbolizes how good aesthetics and moving designs enable people to “stop their fingers” for their creativity in an era of information explosion, and in turn focus on their thought process to truly immerse themselves in their thoughts and feelings. It aims to encourage everyone to cherish and embrace the beauty around them, instead of merely experiencing everything with their fingers, and to start creating things by hand. The key visual for the award ceremony is created by an emerging Taiwanese designer Shi-ching Yang. Starting from the concept of “fingers” in the theme, Yang creatively collaged fingerprint images together with the classic symbol of a “golden pin” to produce an eye-catching visual that echoes the theme of hands-on creation.
This year, Isaac Chen helming a top production team and a group of outstanding Taiwanese designers is set to produce a never-before-seen award ceremony for the Golden Pin Design Award in terms of vision, stage design, and overall experience. For dynamic visuals, Chiu Huan-sheng, a renowned animation director, and Serendipity Visual Studio used a humorous animation style to vividly interpret the concept of the theme and the final selection results. The performance stage is set up by celebrated Taiwanese stage designer Li Shih-chi. By extending a collage of key visual images and arranging multiple screens in different formations, Li generated various scattering visual effects, shifting away from the standard stage presentation while showcasing the finalists’ and winners’ excellent designs amidst the unexpected variations
Ceremony hosts Mickey Huang and Melody Liu
The award ceremony features a wide range of exciting activities. The ceremony is hosted by firm supporter of the design circle Mickey Huang alongside co-host Melody. Both working together for the first time have demonstrated excellent tacit understanding and kept the spark alive during the ceremony. The ceremony is kicked off with a wild and charismatic performance by musical genius YELLOW. Musical performances throughout the ceremony are performed by rising star Chih Siou whose powerful and ethereal singing warmed the hearts of the designers present. In memory of deceased designers, world-renowned jazz pianist Hsu Yu-ying performed live, paying tribute to those who have passed with the peaceful and melodious sound of the piano. This year, the award presenter made a surprise debut as a duo for the first time, inviting a number of distinguished guests to ignite a spark at the ceremony and present awards, including jurors of the Golden Pin Design Award as well as winner of the Golden Horse Awards Hsieh Ying-Hsuan, internationally renowned dancer Fang-Yi Sheu, songwriter Sandee Chan, and celebrity Aaron Yan.
Top left to right: YELLOW, Chih Siou, Hsu Yu-ying
Bottom left to right: Hsieh Ying-Hsuan & Fang-Yi Sheu, Aaron Yan & Shi Shi
With more than 40 years of history, the Golden Pin Design Award not only serves as a benchmark of design excellence that is not to be missed by aspiring designers and industry practitioners in Taiwan, but it has also attracted design talent from across the globe since its 2014 transition to the international stage and continuously expanded the global scope and scale of the competition. Many outstanding designers have used the Golden Pin Design Award as a platform to propel their works into the global spotlight. For this reason, conceptual designs have gained greater attention and resource investments, which provide the opportunity for concepts to be actualized. In the future, the Golden Pin Design Award will continue to provide high quality design certifications for markets, industries, and society, and through this process help to raise public awareness of the value of design and aesthetics, thereby co- creating a positive industrial ecosystem and bettering the quality of life.
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.
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