青山葵 ed2k file:A Design Just Right for the IDA Congress

What in the world is an“Incense-Strolling Cup”(遛香杯)? It's not a newfangled way to drink your fine Taiwan tea, but a novel way to experience the fragrance of tea essence. For another new take on a familiar image, try this: Take a couple of red-crowned cranes standing in their elegant manner, pluck out their long, straight legs, and what have you got? Why, chopsticks of course!

These and many other novel items are flowing from the creativity banks of this Treasure Island, Taiwan. They add a little extra spice to our lives and, as it happens, are superb promotions for the great flow of creative energy to be witnessed at the 2011 International Design Alliance (IDA) Congress Taipei.

The Aesthetics of Fun—Goods of Good Design

This year is both the Republic of China centennial and the Year of Taiwan Design, and to celebrate the staging of the prestigious IDA Congress in the country's preeminent city this October, Taipei will be unveiling a steady stream of creative activities.

Seeking to spread an awareness of fine aesthetics among the general public starting in 2009, the Taiwan Design Center (台湾创意设计中心) began the process of selecting 100 representative good-design merchandise items for this year's congress, and of having these vetted and authorized for the event. These products will also do much to promote Taiwan's image for creative product design abroad. Among the 100 designs are food products (packaging), daily use articles, office stationery, toys, souvenir goods, 3C products and bags, apparel, and accessories. The collection is one of refined workmanship, ingenuity, and beauty, and one that will be of stellar service in promoting Taiwan's design and the creative living industry.

These official merchandise items, along with a rich catalog of other Taiwan cultural-creative merchandise, are available for browsing and purchase at a league of design stores. Among these is the well-known O.H.L. (Office.Home.Life.) space at the Dunhua S. Rd. (敦化南路) branch of the Eslite Bookstore chain, which sets out its army of over 100 cultural-creative wares in a gallery-like setting.

“A Little Round-Round Land”(小小的旋转乐园) is a coffee cup with a pleasing twist. The glaze on the ceramic cup exterior is mirror-like, reflecting the merry-go-round characters on the inside of the accompanying saucer. Turn the saucer under your cup and your spirits are instantly uplifted. “The Incense-Strolling Cup”has a lid fitted with a fragrance-release aperture in the shape of a branch that allows the fragrance of your tea to still waft forth even when you can't stop to lift the lid for a sip. The“Pengpai Bowl”(澎派碗) is a porcelain bowl with patterns in the iconic blue and white porcelain style; except the patterns here are food. Pengpai means “surge,”representing the image of a bowl brimming with tasty morsels.

The Search for Originality—Design Spot

The secrets of Taiwan creative originality are not only on display in each product of marvelous design— they are on display in each displayer as well. The Taiwan Design Center has brought its strict evaluation standards to the selection of Taipei's 40 best creative-design stores for highlighting on the Design Spot (设计好站) website.

Among these is Lovely Taiwan (台湾好，店), which serves as a fair-trade platform for items crafted in remote communities and indigenous villages. Another is 1914 Connection, a venue for innovative gift item creations by Taiwan's edgiest contemporary designers, which is located at Huashan 1914 Creative Park (华山1914创意文化园区) in the old brewery site's renovated garage workshop. Among the other lights in this stellar group are Dragonfly Gallery (清庭), a design shop of international caliber and repute, 41 Furnishings Gallery (四一玩作), which focuses on natural materials and textures, and Au.Dot (华元创意), ppaper, and Booday (蘑菇). These spots are where you find Taiwan's most dynamic creativity and authentic native soil culture being blended into something—many things, actually—distinctively and appealingly new.

For more details on these and other stores, visit Design Spot at designspot.boco.com.tw. Just a few finger taps away, this invaluable portal brings bricks-and-mortar sellers of top-quality creative merchandise right to your doorstep.