iF and Red Dot
The opening of the Red Dot Design Museum Taipei on August 30 was yet another feather in the park’s cap. It makes Taipei just the third city in the world (with Essen and Singapore) to host a Red Dot museum.
While in Taiwan for the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Peter Zec, Red Dot’s president, announced that Red Dot would also be opening a Taipei branch of the company at Songshan, sharing office space with TDC.
Taiwanese design teams have done very well at the Red Dot awards in recent years. In fact, Taiwanese designs competing among more than 6,800 designs from 49 nations came away with four “best of the best” and 42 “red dot” awards in this year’s competition.
“I’ve been even more impressed with Taipei’s design culture and its increasing acceptance of design,” says Zec.
Although the Red Dot Museum Taipei isn’t especially large and is just one of the park’s exhibition spaces, Zec nonetheless expects it to be influential. He cites the “Every Product Tells a Story” and “Style Your Life” exhibitions that accompanied the opening as examples, noting that they enabled the Taiwanese public to see award-winning designs at first hand without leaving the country.
For its part, iF opened a Taipei office in 2007 and moved into Songshan at the start of this year. The new office, which oversees its Greater China region awards competition and handles the commercialization of award-winning products, is intended to serve as a portal linking Taipei with global design.
Sean Lee, iF’s director for the Greater China region, was previously employed by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA). He argues that Taipei is the best place in Taiwan in terms of the acceptance of designed cultural and creative products, and the number and quality of design-related events, as well as for design education. Taipei designers have also done incredibly well in international design competitions. National Taiwan University of Science and Technology is a case in point, having been at the top of iF’s university rankings for many years.
But the “Eslite-ization” of Songshan isn’t necessarily a good thing. Says Lee: “If the focus remains on business and profits, this space is ultimately going to be completely dominated by high-end brands, events, and restaurants.”
The challenge for the park is finding a way to use Eslite’s arrival to enhance the city’s design capabilities.
The Songshan Tobacco Factory historic site frequently hosts design exhibitions. The photo shows iF-award-winning designer Kevin Chou’s “Giraffe in the City” on display at the park’s ongoing 3D printing design exhibition.