So my quest to see the design world in Taiwan has come to a long-awaited thesis. Taiwan, an odd place to me that I can’t say represents something as prominent as Japan in the world, is a curious creature. It’s hard to put my finger on it, but I can say what I’ve seen and experienced in my short, yet fruitful design life has given me a lot of perspective and a good scope on what I should look out for.
My foray into studying the design climate in Taiwan is to 1)see the level of creativity and depth the art movement Taiwan is at, 2)see what the community takes to and understands, 3)see if it is feasible to bring a new idea here as basic a platform as a t-shirt line, but as complex as something new and different in art.
Upon first arriving here and beginning my research, I did some online searches and found an article about how Taiwan lacks creativity. The award winning entrees into competitions have been found out to be rehashes and recycling of ideas others have done from all over the world, which is a bit of an embarrassment to say the least but also to be expected. It states how Taiwanese designers are undereducated, and hence uncreative. However, I do feel you can still be creative without the education, but it does help and give you a deeper understanding of the craft.
I visited the national museum of fine arts in Taichung and the one bit of pop art I found was an exhibit juxtaposing pop art icons in Japan(and Taiwan) like mazinger-z with gold idols like that in Thailand. I found that the most engaging and relevant to the art movements in the pop-culture world. The remainder of what I’ve seen in museums in Taipei and Taichung are relatively traditional. Calligraphy, historical photography, and abstract painting were the majority of what I saw. A movement to move the abstract art world towards a direction towards more relative pop platforms is a good idea, but I have yet to foresee that happening. Art in itself remains somewhat set apart.
Something to notice is looking at street signs and billboards and how for the most part they all look to be done by the same person. That may even be the case, but signage lacks a level of sophistication and innovation that I have seen in other countries. It could be rooted in color choice and local superstitions, but that could also not be the case and we could just have a lazy designer.
The culture of Taiwan is to make money, and since they rely more on importing than exporting, the Taiwanese consumers would not know as much if they were being swindled or dealt a recycled idea. Even if they did know, I don’t think they would care that much because they’d pay less for something quite similar to the real thing, which is quite different compared to the idealism of Hong Kong. Case in point is a brand I spotted, which I saw in a department store. I think of it as “almost BAPE” since they use a similar light colored camou and the face of their symbol/icon is so close to the “Planet of the Apes” face but not quite there. I do notice the BAPE store in Taipei usually empty but then again, I think they want it that way; peaceful and catering to the ones that are worthy of the brand. But at the same time, the way the economy is and Taiwanese people are, only a handful are gutsy enough to put down enough cash for some real authentic BAPE. I told my friend that I would think it is so shameful to do something like copying a brand because, not only is it blatantly obvious and they can get away with it, but I just have too much respect for some designers in this world that put thought into their work, to take that and claim it as my own and be as mindless as to just copy and not think up my own work. I can’t even begin to imagine how planning sessions are for the designer who just rips off another’s work.
Currently succeeding trends have been Japanese and American imports that are sold at boutiques and department stores, but that’s high end. As much as these t-shirts are popular in terms of design and visibility, a problem is whether they sell at the right price points and to the locals. As far as I’ve seen, teens to adults still wear t-shirts, especially due to the climate, but the English is a little all over the place. The messages are fairly simple, with some sort of iconography with accompanying text that makes little sense. It’s similar to japan with things like LOVE, HAPPINESS, PURE 100% but they’ve also improved in their grammar(a little bit) and punctuation. In Taiwan, it still remains to be quite a problem as spelling and meaning are absolutely lost. Think of it as Westerners have Chinese tattoos which make little to no sense.
I think the grammar issues are less of a problem in terms of understandability and comprehension, but if products in Taiwan and the “made in Taiwan” moniker are to have a more positive and renown image, then exportability is a factor and Taiwanese brands need to excel in all aspects beyond competitors and quality needs to be more closely looked upon over quantity and sales. You may have a cheap find for the masses, but whether its special, lasts, and retains its image amidst others is another thing. Lasting quality, functionality, and lasting interest. These are things I’m looking towards.
There are a few brands I saw as unacceptable, and a tad tacky. BSX has a bape-like Milo-esque iconography. The problem is its too similar and the characters they have are unoriginal. They have Ultraman, Robocop, spiderman, wolverine, etc and Lu Guang Zhong. The last one is the only original one I’ve seen, and that one I’ll give them but the others are beloved trademarks that have no message or purpose rather than to use their status. It’s one thing to take an icon and add upon it for a message or a given purpose or theme, but just to use the likeness for no intended purpose is shameful.
Ecstacy is another brand, trademarked with some sort of hose-like SD creature. This one I just pass by but rarely take a look. The artwork is too simple and has been rather the same for years, that there isn’t much worth of development or improvement. It’s one thing to have a trademarked icon like POLO, but this is just a cartoon character which is not interesting enough to follow.
Powpowpow.cc is a brand my friend Honda showed me and initially I was impressed. It almost had the same business model I had wanted, to give artists that had not following or background a chance. Think of it kind of like threadless.com sold in stores. Some of the designs I saw were not bad, although the subject matter is questionable. However, after some review I found it not what I was looking for. They let almost anyone in, and have no quality control. The artists seem too amateur, with no sense of any formal training and guidance as to choice of subject matter. Juxtaposing iconic figures like Ronald Mcdonald to Cookie Monster with a concept like cannabilism might sound good on paper(or maybe not that even), but the execution was not on par for sale in stores and the overall drawing lacked a refinement I would expect for the price point. Overall, pretty darn disappointed with the lackluster designs(almost 90% awful in my eye).
So in my review of what didn’t work in Taiwan, I have concluded that there is a lack of a good eye, which is missing in a lot of shops in the world. I’ll still find the same lame designs in the U.S., Japan, etc. Nobody’s perfect, but its all a call to action to save consumerism and improve quality by upping the standards, rather than relegating to rehashing the subpar for an extra quarter.
Current brands I have found to have acceptable quality are Pizza Cut Five and Graniph Design. The former being a Taiwan company, I felt the presentation is great but the t-shirts were under-utilized. I was unsure that people were jumping on and grasping on to the brand’s image, and although graphically they were engaging enough, I still felt they were rather flat and needed an extra push to take them off. The latter, is a Japanese brand that has plenty of cool t-shirts with some nice motifs I recognize from famous artists. However, I’m not entirely sure people can tell the difference between this design and the ones they can find on the night markets.
What I looked for in these brands were soft material, softer paint, and complexity of design. T-shirts like Hanes beefy tees are easier to find, and are not comfortable in the long run and wrinkle upon drying and wash. They are not the best at handling heat either. Cheaper paints are bolder, with less depth in color(like gradients), are thicker and peel and wrinkle after a few washes, and smell bad like chemicals. IN terms of design, I’m looking for something different, more importantly humorous. The consumer needs to feel special, and when they see themselves in the shirt, they need to have a conception of what they’re wearing or enjoy it. The plain answer is I like this design because “it’s cute”. The answer I’m looking for is, “The concept reminds me of a dream I had and makes me smile when I see it in the mirror”. It’s a hard goal to attain, but I like the challenge.
Trends in terms of design are very simple. Cartoon figures, very simple SD forms, flat non-shaded imagery. These are mainly “born” in Japan and or are rehashes of Japanese designs. Designs are plastered on t-shirts with flat paint, puffy and perhaps a little to mechanical in my eye, and many times not done with the best eye for quality. Upon examining the consumer and the product, I find consumers are drawn to cartoony figures as a trend, with cute factor being where design is at this point in Taiwan. Consumers don’t necessary look at the quality as much so as much as you have your share of department stores, night markets, and boutiques where the t-shirts are hung on racks with plastic covering, they all don’t matter one bit when it comes to quality and utilization of the design space.
In the U.S. we have more flocking and full coverage of the t-shirt area as a while compared to the canvas area just being front or back. Although this is just a trend you can find a la “Ed Hardy” or “Affliction” t-shirts, its something perhaps underutilized or explored here leading to a very one-sided and pigeon-holed view of fashion. The design area is a big factor in t-shirts and is something that is quite unexplored. Rather, if there are t-shirts that go against the trends, they are usually imports from the states, and therefore many times its not as visible.
Currently the trends in Taiwan are relatively slow and I find for the most part, because of the economy, people are quite poor and unable to fully grasp “taste” and choose as one should when looking for their own personal style. I find some people quite capable of emulating a style that you find in the magazines, something you can see a level of preparation and creativity. However, this represents 15-20% of what I see, while the general population is still stuck in what I call “lazy fashion” which consists of sleepwear, worn out tennis shoes, and streetwear. The GQ trend of H&M is still relatively unexplored as people don’t know how to put it together here. Slim fitting shirts are available but are people ready or able to put It together is another question.
My vision thus far has been to create something, I now realize, is similar to the Artsprojekt motto of liberating artists and trying to create a platform of availability to the masses. However, I would first start with myself as the sole contributor and experimenter. I want to concentrate on creativity and quality, two key aspects. I want the price point to be moderately affordable, but it depends on the line. I’d start with a general more affordable line but I guess depending on the theme, the seasonal design would have to be affordably made. I’m going to opt out of two simple of a design as it will become just a competitor of the pre-existing. Instead, I’d like to start a trend and create and inspire competitors for myself. I want to explore new avenues of design to try and appeal to the masses and influence how you wear a t-shirt. Coupling a design with your current wardrobe is something not very well thought out. Sure, you can go with a jean or shorts, but that doesn’t take much thought. What if your shirt complimented your pre-existing wardrobe, that would be awesome and requires a lot more thought and depth on the consumer, but its well worth it.
I wouldn’t want to dwell on a certain idea for too long, but rather keep it moving and reinventing itself. My whole purpose is not just to make a profit, but to inspire a new trend to move forward the movement and elevate the quality of work here. So for instance, if you look at Uniqlo there is such a varying level of designs ranging from designs for girls, designs from European graphic artists, tributes to cartoon characters, etc. That is the level I am looking for, a platform and space that is new, different, not overly self-promoting, but rather letting the material speak for itself and having a presence and visibility that spreads through word of mouth rather than over-marketing. I want it to have some grass roots beginnings, some very basic beginnings and a positive experience.
