Design in Taiwan - Blog Post #6 - A Caterpillar and A Final Goodbye

    Hello blog! It is currently around an hour past the due date of this blog (jet lag really got me this time), but at least I'm writing now rather than later! I really can't believe that this program is over :(, but I still have the memories to remember later. I actually just finished moving back into my apartment for my senior year and unpacking. I also found a little note from one of the SCU students we worked with that I didn't see before, definitely reading that after this blog. Let's get to it!

    After the last blog, my group got together at our hotel again to work on our project. We were prototyping with tea bags provided by our hotel, and we used my hair straightener to heat-press the edges of the bags together to form our desired shaped. This was an outcome we didn't really expect to happen, we later discovered that tea bags have some plastic in them to give the bag structure, so that explained it. 

    The next morning, we experienced a Japanese tea ceremony with matcha. The matcha was mildly bitter which I liked, so I ended up drinking most of it haha. I actually have a matcha set at home that I use daily like clockwork, so learning how to perform the ceremony was enriching. I'm thinking about incorporating it into my daily matcha routine. 

    We were split into two groups for this area, so half of the cohort explored the area while waiting for the other group to be done with their activity. While we waited, we walked into this other room that was a yukata rental, so we did the obvious thing and asked to try them on for a bit. They were so nice about it! They let us wear whatever yukata and accessories, and we even had a mini fashion show for the other group which was a little embarrassing but fun! 

    After the other group finished, my group took their place. The activity was pretty cool, we made these charms (?) out of this golden-copper looking foil, metal wire, and some glue. I'm not exactly sure what this is, but I remember the teacher telling us that it's a object of good fortune or luck that we can hang up somewhere in our room. It's actually hanging up above my desk that I'm typing this blog on haha. 

    After finishing the charm workshop, we had some free time before meeting up with our mentors about our projects, so a couple of my classmates and I went to this donburi place that our professor recommended to us. I thought I ordered sashimi, rice on the side, with some miso soup, but it ended up being sashimi donburi with EXTRA RICE, and a large (?) miso soup? I still finished it all (miraculously), but I did feel like I had to throw up after. Nonetheless, it was very tasty and fulfilling, so 11/10 would do it again. 

    The next day, we had our final presentations, and our group won the Trendy Craft Award! We stayed up pretty late finishing this, but it was worth it in the end. I enjoyed working with the talented NCKU students (Mei Zong (second from the left), junior in Creative Industrial Design, and Shika Huang (far right), second-year masters student in Creative Industrial Design), and the UW students as well! Even though the NCKU students started school the same time we started this project, they still set aside time to meet and work with us, so I'm extremely grateful for their hard work and dedicated because we could not have done this without them <3.

    After the final presentation and goodbyes, some of my classmates and I went out to celebrate with some shaved ice. I actually didn't know the difference between shaved ice and snow ice (bingsu), so I ended up getting shaved ice expecting it to be snow ice. It was pretty good, but I think I prefer snow ice since it's sweeter and milky. 

    After dinner, some other classmates and I hung out at a nearby bar called Bar Whisper that has a cute little cat that looks like Garfield. Look at him! So cute!

    The next morning we had our last breakfast at !'m Coffee, a coffee place next to the hotel. I got the Kyoto Matcha Smoothie, Oolong Pound Cake, and Chicken Bake, all were very good. I think the one thing I'll miss about the food here are the flavors because you don't see tea-flavored, especially oolong tea, pastries in Seattle. While eating breakfast our professors had us verbally reflect on the program, and the major consensus was that it was way more well-organized and thought-out compared to other programs. Although we were exhausted from the countless field trips, lectures, workshops, and projects, we were more grateful to have experienced so much of Taiwan within a short window, thanks to the hard work and consideration of our professors and mentors. 

    Quite literally before we got into our taxis to the train, there was a little caterpillar blocking our way out. We learned a lot about symbolism in Taiwan, so I wondered if this was a sign for all of us–caterpillars metamorphosize into beautiful butterflies. 

    At the airport, I really wanted to have a meal there as my last meal in Taiwan. Even with airport food, Taiwan really doesn't disappoint. I had this sour soup from a Thai restaurant which was very good, very delicious.     

    This is my last blog, but not the last time you'll hear from me! If you ever think about studying abroad or traveling to Taiwan, do it! I highly recommend studying abroad, it feels more purposeful than traveling for pleasure imo. Or, if you're a UW student I would look to see if the Art + Art History + Design department is running a Design in Taiwan program! 

    Thank you for reading this and sticking with me til the end! See you next time!

Design in Taiwan - Blog Post #5 - Capybaras and Snails

    Hello blog! Today is 09/16/2024 which marks the 16th day of our study abroad program. I can't believe it's already almost over, I'm not ready...Anyways, I'll get to yapping about my past few days. 

    On the 14th, we went on a wetland boat tour in Anping which was definitely wet since we also happened to get rained on during the ride. But, my highlight of the boat tour was when we pulled oysters from out of the floating farm contraption because I did not expect them to look like rocks, and they were much bigger than I expected. 

My Classmates Pulling Oysters at the Floating Oyster

    Then, we went to Anping, and during our break my classmates and I found this cute cafe called Meller Cafe with these amazingly soft and tasty chiffon cakes. I would definitely recommend if you're ever in Anping. 

    Then, we visited the Anping Tree House, and pictured below is a view of the house from outside on an outlook that was connected to the house. What a big tree! Also, I was told by one of the professors that every year, a fashion show is held in the tree house, so the models walk through the tree house which I thought was so interesting because it seems like a extremely challenging venue to walk through since the ground is uneven. 

    After Anping, I had dinner with my roommate, Kayla, and we ate at Is Yi Shi Restaurant near the NCKU campus. I had the truffle and mushroom steak pasta which was amazing, but I was unable to finish it which was upsetting :(

    The next day, a couple of my classmates and I visited MOGU KAPI, a capybara cafe near the campus! I hope heaven looks like this because the capybaras were sooooooo cute and round-they looked like sweet potatoes! They were very chill as I expected, but they were much bigger than I expected, they're like the size of a Saint Bernard dog. 

    After the capybara cafe, I visited one of the biggest temples in Taiwan, Tainan Grand Mazu Temple which is an "Ancient landmark honoring a sea goddess...17th century place of worship, dedicated to a Taoist water deity," quoted by Google Maps. My highlight of the visit was seeing the baddie herself, Mazu, and completing the soulmate-finding fortune ritual. To prepare, I prepared a list of twenty attributes of my type, and in my prayer, I had to state my name, address, date of birth, and the list I mentioned before. I don't think I completed it correctly, but the god still allowed me to draw my fortune and take a red string. I was told to store it inside of my wallet or pocket, and that, when it disappears, that means the red string is finding my soulmate and will pull them to me when found. 

    After the temple, a bunch of us went and visited Yuguang Island which is famous for its sunset view. We almost missed it, with a couple minutes to spare as pictured below. The water was surprisingly warm, and I saw lots of people surfing. I was sad that we couldn't swim in the water because the waves are dangerous to swim in-you need a surfing license to get in the water. 

    For dinner, we had Maodon, a Japanese-American-style restaurant. I had the 16-kind fish donburi bowl meal, which came with shrimp-head miso soup, fish roe steamed egg, and a glass of Calpis. I was filled to the brim, but one of the workers came and told that if we took a picture of us eating and send it to them, we would get free dessert. And, I couldn't refuse, so I scarfed the red bean milk pudding down with the last bit of space I had in my stomach. 

    The next morning, my group met at Bottoms Up, a cafe near the campus, in the morning to finalize our concept for our design project (will share about it when we finish (hehe)).

    Later in the day, when we had free time, a couple of my classmates and I visited the famous Snail Alley, which is quite literally a network of alleyways with cute, fun, and tiny snail statues/motifs scattered about the alley. Although, when we were walking through it, it seemed barren and quiet-a lot of the shops were self-service which was interesting. 

Snail Door Handles!

    Ending the night, some classmates and I visited the Hayashi Department Store which had the first elevator in Taiwan, but I didn't know that until one of my classmates told me in front of the elevator. When I tell you my jaw dropped, it DROPPED! It's a weird feeling casually standing in front of a historic piece of technology that's still in service to this day. 

That's all for today folks, thank you for reading and will see you again in the next blog!

Design in Taiwan - Blog Post #4 - Tea and Chocolate

     Hello blog! Today is 09/13/2024 which marks the 13th day of our study abroad in Taiwan. More than halfway through our trip and closer to my senior year start date. Anyways, let's jump into the blog!

    To start off, I wanted to share this interesting set up for the hand sanitizer dispenser near the hotel elevators. I never really noticed the metal bumps on the floor near the feet of the dispensers until this moment when I rubbed my shoes against the bumps to test its grip. My feet didn't slip, so I assume that this was placed underneath where the stray hand sanitizer would shoot out from the dispenser, so people wouldn't slip walking near it. I think the design could have been executed a bit more thoughtfully, so that it would blend into the ground a bit more or at least be shaped in an elegant way. 

        The next day we left for Nantou and Taichung. In Nantou, we visited the Yoshan Tea store and did a tea bag workshop where we made these cute little bags filled with tea leaves that we can use as air fresheners, aroma for baths, clothes fresheners, etc. 

    Then we had lunch at this restaurant that had a giant grass yard with yoga balls and a giant inflated soccer ball that people can play around with. I thought this was a fun addition to the dining experience-a fun exercise after eating a full meal. 

    After lunch we visited one of two bamboo workshops. This one in particular had a bicycle with a structure built with bamboo which held up when a couple of us took it for a test ride. I don't think I've seen this in the U.S. so, this was definitely a surprise for me. I love designs that have a mix of naturally-derived and manmade materials.

    We encountered another one of these bicycles at the storefront of this workshop but the grips are shaped like chocolate bars. This is the kind of design I love: small things that are practical and cute. I honestly can't believe I found this because it's a small object and from a distance, you'd probably assume it was a regular bike grip. 

    After visiting the bamboo storefront, we arrived at our hostel in Taichung. At the hostel, we had to switch our shoes for these slippers pictured below when entering the hostel. The public seating area had this shoe rack with a sign that said, "Worried about losing your slippers? Use the shoe rack and remember the number!", which I didn't catch at first until I found myself losing my slippers, mixing them with others, and thought, "I wish there was some way to keep track of my slippers,". Then, in the corner of my eye, there it was, the god-given shoe rack I asked for. After this discovery, I thought about how well-designed the hostel was. On top of a cozy and sophisticated atmosphere the experience itself was well-thought out for the guests.

    That's all for today, thanks for reading!

Design in Taiwan - Blog Post #3 - Indigo Dye and Influenza

    Hello blog! Today is 09/11/2024 which marks the 11th day of our study abroad, also meaning that we are halfway through it already. Time flies so quickly when you're not paying attention to it. Anyways, let's get into it!

    The picture below was taken during a break after our lecture at NCKU, my group members and I went to the nearby FamilyMart to get some refreshments. I thought the packaging was so clever-using the texture and color of the rice ball to serve as the shape of the dog's head (the dog is Shiro from Crayon Shinchan, a popular children's cartoon back in the day), and then using the plastic packaging to add the dog's face. 

    After the lecture, we went to Indigo Dye and completed a workshop on dyeing cloth with real Indigo from the plant. The first picture was taken in a bookstore that you have to walk through in order to reach the workshop area, and I took it because I thought it was a cute moment to share (my classmate translating the text of a children's book). 

    During the workshop, we were shown different folding techniques to achieve different patterns after dying the cloth. I chose the flower method (pictured in the second picture) which requires one to fold the cloth like a fancy napkin in a radius around the center, in order to get a circular pattern (pictured in the third picture). Also, in order to keep the whiteness of the cloth after dying it, you'd have to fold it in a certain way with popsicle sticks or clothing pins to cover the parts you didn't want to get dyed. 

    After dying our individual cloths, we walked to the nearby city temple, but on the way there, I noticed that the residential areas had these grates on the outside of the windows. They differ in their pattern for every grate we see, but I don't quite know the significance-I will ask one of my Taiwanese classmates for more information! 

    Next up, is the temple frieze. I first learned about these in a class about ancient art, so it was surprising to see it at a Taiwanese temple. In that class, I learned about how different cultures blend parts of other cultures into their own through the use of art. This topic is similar to our current project goal, so this is something I'll keep in mind for later. 

    When we got back from visiting the temple, we went up the stairs to the second floor of the bookstore and noticed the light fixture in the corner of the first floor was shaped like a bird. I thought it was cool to see how it was designed to light up underneath the bird, through its belly. The bird is also perched on a little ledge like how it normally would in nature. Although this is an objectively purposeless design, it brought joy to me and my classmates when we noticed it, so in my eyes, it's purposeful. 

    The next day I wasn't feeling too great, so I went to a clinic with a kind classmate to see a doctor and get some medicine for whatever was making me sick. Turns out I had the flu, so the doctor sprayed some medicine in my mouth (the device looked like an airbrush tool which I though was interesting) and prescribed me this medicine to take after every meal. I noticed that each of these packets had popular cartoon characters printed on them, which made sense since the clinic I visited was a pediatric clinic. I assumed that these were to excite the children to take their medication, so that they're more likely to take them. 

That's all for now, thanks for reading and talk to you soon!

Design in Taiwan - Blog #2 - Farewells and Sweet Potato Birds

    Hello blog! At the time that this post was written and posted, it would have been the seventh day of our study abroad, Saturday, 09/07/2024. I will be updating you all on what had happened in the past four days-spoiler alert, a lot has happened! 

    First things first, we wrapped up our cultural hackathon with Shih Chien University design students where we were tasked with taking an object (or material) that is culturally tied to Taiwanese culture and creating something new with it. We designed an up-cycled light fixture that mirrors Taiwanese love temple motifs to simulate the ambiance one would experience at those love temples. I was in a group with three other University of Washington students (pictured below), Astrid Huang (far left) and Winghi Li (far right), and two Shih Chien University students, Vivi Chen (second to far left) and Shanny (squat in the middle), then me squatting, second to the far right. This was a short but fun project only lasting two days, and I'm pretty proud of what we were able to accomplish. 

(Another picture of us :D)

    Also, it's really difficult to see, but we were gifted stamps with our Chinese names on them after the cultural hackathon (pictured below)--such a sweet gift!

    The night before the last day of the cultural hackathon, some of my classmates and I did our laundry, and we came across this part of a barricade that said, "NO KISS". This, I thought, was extremely funny, not only to look at but to think about because you can kind of guess the story behind this spectacle pretty easily. However, if you weren't able to, one could guess that this spot hosted a lot of make-out sessions for couples, and one unfortunate tenant who would've had to witness such passionate displays of love, had enough and wrote this on the barricade to scare off the perpetrators. Picture below is my roommate almost about to kiss the barricade (oh, the irony). 

    Oh! I forgot to mention but before the end of the cultural hackathon, our class and a couple of other Shih Chien University students went on a tour to the Dot Design studio, a well-known design studio dedicated to sustainable design, specifically packaging. We learned a lot about the different processes that occurs when creating sustainable packaging from conception to shipment, and we were exposed to various sustainable materials native to Taiwan, such as those derived from pineapple leaves and corn kernels. Before this, I didn't realize how achievable sustainable designs can be, in terms of manufacturing. This visit definitely opened my eyes to the power of design and technology. 

    After the cultural hackathon, we had a farewell dinner with SCU student and faculty and left for Tainan for National Cheng Kung University the next day after. Pictured below is our wonderful program director and industrial design professor at UW, Meichun Liu next to the Department of Industrial Design building at NCKU, her alma mater. 

    Kind of off-topic, but this is a stack of stools that I saw on our way to our hotel in Tainan that I thought was beautifully designed-look how they cascade and nest! 

    After introducing ourselves, students from NCKU gave us a tour around campus. My first observation were these really adorable birds that I unfortunately didn't grab the name of, but they were interesting because they moved like chickens but had a similar anatomy to kiwis and storks. I called them "bowling pin birds", but upon further discussion with NCKU students, I found out that they called them "sweet potato birds", since they're similarly colored and shaped like sweet potatoes. It's interesting to see different perspectives on topics like the naming of birds since it makes you think, "huh, there's no one way to look at things". Pictured next is a stair rail that is composed of metal bars, shaped around the staircase where one rail is split off to serve as the rail handle which I thought was an elegant design solution to balance aesthetic with usability. 

    That's it for this blog! Thanks for reading, I'll report back to y'all soon!

Design in Taiwan - Blog #1 - Different Yet Similar

    Hello and welcome to my awesome blog! My name is Jennifer Han, rising senior (at the time that this was written), at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, currently completing a bachelors in Industrial Product Design. Today's date is 09/03/2024, which marks the third day of our study abroad program in Taiwan. We are in Taipei, specifically staying at The Tango, a pretty cool hotel in Shilin. 

    My first impression of Taiwan was the stark contrast of the climate to Seattle. Upon leaving the plane, a classmate and I were hit with a hot blast of air, and we immediately said, "dang, that's hot". The humidity also surprised us, it was so humid compared to Seattle, it was as though we were eating the moisture from the air. 

    The theme of this blog post is Different Yet Similar. Information was the first thing I noticed when thinking of differences between the U.S. and Taiwan. For example, when I landed and walked through the Taipei airport, I passed by a restroom, and outside of the restroom there was a lit-up sign that displayed a bird's-eye view of the restroom stalls. Each stall contained a light bulb that lit-up neon green or red to signal to those in line the availability of each stall: green representing an unoccupied stall, red representing an occupied stall. This is a very niche, and almost unnoticed issue because no one talks about it in the U.S., but I never realized how inconvenient it is to walk to every stall before getting to the one that isn't occupied. I unfortunately wasn't able to photograph the signage, but here's a picture I got off the internet below. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/8c6rl3/this_taiwan_subway_station_bathroom_has_a_live/

    Leaving the airport, my classmates and I encountered our next mode of transportation, the MRT. As we approached the platform, we noticed these white lines pointing towards the entrances to the doors of the train. We saw people standing inside of the lines, so we copied them, and stood in line as well. This made me think of another difference between Taipei and Seattle: organization. When you walk towards the platform for the Link (Seattle slang for the train), there is just a yellow line painted along the edge of the platform, alerting those to stay behind it. People are usually spread out inside the line, so there's a lot of crowd congestion that happens at the entrance of the train when it arrives at the station. I thought this was an issue that was quite simple to resolve and implement, given that the solution is some white paint and common sense. I also forgot to take a picture, so for now, here's one I got off the internet below.

https://www.dreamstime.com/passengers-waiting-train-transportation-platform-taiwan-underground-station-mass-transit-taipei-image143620830

    However different Taipei and Seattle may be, there is one similarity I noticed: standing on the right side of the escalator, so that those in a hurry can quickly pass by the people standing. Since this is also the norm in Seattle, I instinctively stood on the right and didn't put much thought into it until one of our classmates pointed it out. I thought it was interesting to see a similarity in two locations that are on opposite ends of the earth. 

    Reaching the end of this blog post, I wanted to do a quick reflection. I didn't really have any expectations coming into this trip besides the excitement of eating authentic Taiwanese food and two-dollar boba. However, just three days in, I can confidently say that it has been a great time--I mean what else can you ask for other than meeting with your close friends, new design friends, exploring design in another country, eating good food, witnessing wonderful sights, and getting some steps in?  

Here are some highlights from the past three days: 

• Visiting the Shilin Night Market 

(Photo taken by me)

(Photo taken by me)

• Visiting Taiwan Design Research Institute (TDRI)

(Photo taken by me)

(Photo taken by me)

• Visiting the Trash Kitchen and witness how they turn discarded recyclables into sunglasses

(Photo taken by me)

(Photo taken by me)

• Visiting the National Palace Museum and me(a)ting the Meat-Shaped Stone and Jade Cabbage

(Photo taken by me)

(Photo taken by me)

• Meeting with another design friend and taking pictures at a cute photo booth shop in Shilin Night Market