Taipei, Thursday, December 11, 2014 - ASIATODAY.COM - The Golden Pin Design Award announced its 21 Best Design winners for 2014 in a stunning award ceremony held at Taipei’s Songshan Cultural and Creative Park tonight. At the ceremony, which was hosted by Taiwanese-American TV presenter Janet Hsieh and Taiwanese entrepreneur and “daymaker” Chu Ping, founders and representatives of the award winning companies stepped on stage to accept their Best Design trophies in front of local and international design world luminaries.
Chu Ping, who hosted the Golden Pin Design Award for the first time this year, hopes more young people can join this competition in the future "because the day you receive this award, is the the day you get seen by the world," he said. Jury Chairman Naoto Fukusawa shared his thoughts on the award via a pre-recorded video. "If the aim of design is to design for a lifestyle or a way of life, then the submissions for architecture and interior design this year are of a high standard," he said.
As they collected their Best of Golden Pin Design Award trophy, winning company, China Airlines, said, "[Award ceremony host] Chu Ping says that everyone should have dreams. Working in your favorite job is not necessary, but at least that job should be your favorite city. As an airline company, we have our dreams, too. We want to bring out the best of Taiwan through our airlines." Ray Chen, the designer behind China Airlines 777-300ER Cabin Interior Design, says, "Designs that are easy to create on the ground becomes very difficult when they're translated into the air. However, through perserverance, I overcame the challenges." Another Best Design winner from Taiwan, Gearlab, who won the award for their espresso urban bike, said, "A bike is a combination of aesthetics and engineering. This is the biggest challenge for designers. Taiwan is a huge bicycle manufacturing company, but not many people ride bicycles. I hope our product can have the power to change this situation."
Hong Kong company HOUR25 Production talked on stage about their Best Design winning book project, HOUR25: HKU Architecture Papers Vol. 1: "Three years ago, when we were making this book, we were still architecture students at Hong Kong University. Now, we are architects in the industry. I hope next time we will have new creations to share with all of you." Jay Lim of Malaysia's Tsubaki Studio, who won a Best Design award for their design magazine, CUTOUT, said, "It took us six years to produce this magazine. We put a lot of effort into this project. It's possible to say that CUTOUT is the only dedicated Malaysian graphic design magazine, and we're grateful that the jury members appreciate the Malaysian design industry."
The 21 Golden Pin Design Award 2014 Best Design winning projects and products are (listed in alphabetical order by project name):
Project | Companies | Country |
777-300ER Cabin Interior Design | China Airlines; Ray Chen International | Taiwan |
Cardiac Rehabilitation Monitor System | Taiwan Textile Research Institute In-house Design; Nova Design Co. Ltd | Taiwan |
Characters Font Test | HUATHINK | China |
COOK FOR LOVE | Seed Design | Taiwan |
CUTOUT Magazine | The Kraft Store; Tsubaki Studio | Malaysia |
espresso urban bike | Gearlab Co. Ltd | Taiwan |
Five Rings Tea | Beijing Lao She Tea House | China |
FO-1103-P | Wow Energy Saving Lighting Ltd | Taiwan |
Golden Moon | Laboratory for Explorative Architecture & Design Ltd | Hong Kong |
Heartwarming in VVG Lifestyle Village | VVG International Co. Ltd | Taiwan |
Here I Am Sticky Note | Miccudo | Taiwan |
Hong Silk | Sophie Hong | Taiwan |
HOUR25: HKU Architecture Papers Vol. 1 | Regal Printing Limited; HOUR25 Production | Hong Kong |
I’MPERFECT | CoDesign Ltd / CoLAB | Hong Kong |
Lucky Shophouse | Chang Yong Ter; CHANG Architects | Singapore |
Modelshop Wooden ARToy- Panda | Evergreen International Corp.; Keith Newstead | Taiwan |
Smart Projector | Quanta Computer Inc.; Quanta Innovation Center | Taiwan |
Soil Cave House Preservation and Transformation Design Project for Farmers in the West of China – Public Benefit Project by Four Universities | Central Academy of Fine Arts; Taiyuan University of Technology; Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts; Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology | China |
SYL958 Loader | Sany Heavy Machinery Limited | China |
VIP Halls of the National Museum of China Interior Design Project | Zhang Yiman Environmental Art Studio; Beijing Truebond Building Decoration Engineering Co. Ltd | China |
Zenbook UX301 | Asustek Computer INC.; Asus Design Center | Taiwan |
This year, in a world first, the Taiwan-based Golden Pin Design Award opened it’s entry criteria to accept products and projects from countries and administrative regions across the huaren (Chinese-speaking) world. After attracting a record 1901 entries from countries and administrative regions in Asia, North America, and Oceania across four award categories (Product Design, Visual Communication Design, Packaging Design, and Interior Design), judges convened for primary and secondary selection sessions in both Taiwan and China. The Golden Pin Design Award 2014 Best Design winning products and projects were decided in a final selection session held in Taipei on October 8, which was chaired by acclaimed Japanese designer Naoto Fukusawa and attended by local and international design industry leaders including Good Design Australia CEO, Dr. Brandon Gien (Australia); and renowned graphic designer Tommy Li (Hong Kong).
“What makes the Golden Pin Design Award unique is that it attracts and showcases projects that are really unique to this part of the world. Award programmes that operate at a regional level have a frame, a context around which to build a design dialogue. People can then start pointing to the Golden Pin Design Award as being representative of what Chinese and Greater Chinese design actually represents, rather than all the projects being thrown into one big soup bowl. I walked away from the judging process with a real feel and taste for what is happening in this region of the world, and that really impressed me,” says Dr. Gien.
Pioneering Taiwanese motion graphics company JL Design directed this year’s red carpet ceremony and produced the unique graphics and videos that inspired audiences. Celebrated Taiwanese dancer and choreographer Huang Yi performed Huang Yi & KUKA- 1st & 2nd Movements, a performance in which he dances with an industrial robotic arm, at the event. The Golden Pin Design Award also collaborated with TEDxTaipei, one of Taiwan’s leading bilingual knowledge sharing platforms, to hold TEDxTaipei Salon: Design Transformed. The salon took place ahead of the award from 10am-4pm on December 11. Among the eight speakers that gave TEDx talks were Eric Pan, CEO of Seeed Studio in China; Jung-Ya Hsieh, Founder of GIXIA Group in Taiwan; and Japan and San Francisco-based George Arriola, Founder and COO of Monohm Inc.
Members of the public can experience all Golden Pin Design Award 2014 Best Design and Design Mark winning products and projects first hand in the Golden Pin Design Award Exhibition at the Taiwan Design Museum in Taipei’s Songshan Creative and Cultural Park. The exhibition opens on December 11, 2014 and closes on March 1, 2015. Members of the public can visit for free until December 31.
For media enquiries, please contact Kate Nicholson, International Media Liaison, DDG, on +886 2 2772 5850 x 180, or kate.nicholson@ddg.com.tw.
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