09/04/2024: Today, we visited the pottery museum. It was fascinating to see the traditional pottery made throughout Taiwan's history, though I was surprised by the number of toilets and urinals on display. It must take a significant amount of time and skill to master the craft of making a toilet, which isn’t something most people envision dedicating their career to. When kids talk about their future careers, they usually mention becoming a doctor, teacher, or writer, but rarely "artisanal toilet maker." I wonder what motivates someone to pursue this unique craft and how toilets were produced before industrialization.
Next, we visited DOT Design, where they showcased various products made from recycled materials. While Trash Kitchen had already given us a glimpse into creating modern items from plastic waste, DOT Design demonstrated a wider range of possibilities. They used a greater variety of materials, from plastic waste to old McDonald's crates and even pineapple leaves. It was interesting to learn that they keep their materials at 50% recycled and 50% new to balance costs and ensure stability. I had assumed that using waste materials would make the products cheaper, but I noticed in their shop that prices were still relatively high, even with the 50/50 ratio. One thing I forgot to ask was how recyclable their products would be in the future. The presenter mentioned that manufacturers should design with sustainability in mind, so I’m curious about the steps they take to ensure their own products can be recycled down the line.
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| Original lantern design idea |
After this, we began brainstorming for our project. We had bought the materials yesterday, grabbing a few random items in the 30 minutes we had—choosing things that seemed interesting and unlike anything we’ve seen in the USA. This brainstorming session was challenging. We had bought several tubes and an intriguing rubber tile, but we got fixated on using the tile, which ended up limiting our ideas and making it difficult to settle on a project. We had to learn to stay flexible and not get stuck on one concept, in our case a lantern inspired by traditional Taiwanese red lanterns. Drawing inspiration from the DOT Design and Trash Kitchen workshops, as well as a traditional chair design, we decided to create a comfortable chair using recycled materials. Ironically, the final design didn’t even include the rubber tile we were so focused on earlier.
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| Chair project |
09/05/2024: I biked to class today, which was a nice way to see more of Taipei, though the heat and unreliable navigation made it a bit challenging. Most of the day was spent preparing our product for the final presentation. While I would have preferred to do more hands-on building since that’s the fun part, as the only non-design student in the group, I took on the task of working on the presentation. I left the building to the design students, who clearly knew more about what they were doing. Although it wasn’t as immediately enjoyable for me, it helped the group work more efficiently, and I’m glad I could contribute in that way. We finished just before the deadline, and it was incredibly satisfying to see and hold the completed product. I'm so proud of what we accomplished, and this project brought me much closer to my groupmates.
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| Hakka rice noodles |
09/06/2024: Today was a free day, so I decided to take a cooking class, which was great because it focused on traditional Hakka cuisine. It was a fantastic opportunity to learn more about a culture and its traditions that I previously knew little about, especially through conversations with the instructor. The class was small—just me and a friend from the program—so we were able to learn a lot from her. I also visited the Taipei 101 observation deck and spent some time wandering around the city, which was a nice way to explore the local architecture.
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