About Taiwan Design Expo

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Since its inception in 2003, “Taiwan Design Expo” has become one of the largest annual design exhibitions in Taiwan. Executed by TDRI, the Expo collaborates with different a municipal governments every year through call for submissions; targeting local lifestyle, culture, and unique industrial features, the Expo utilizes design thinking to reinterpret the meaning of the new age, and presents the present and future of local design and industries through exhibitions and diverse activities, hoping to explore domestic and international issues of design and industries by curating thematic exhibitions.

2022

twdesign.tw

2021

City as Home

2020

CHECK in HSINCHU

2019

Super South

2018

Future Beyond Imagination

2017

Design For Happiness

2016

Adaptive City

2015

Makers Boom!

2014

Open Design

2013

Adaptive City

2012

passion Design

2011

Design at the Edges

2023 Theme

To design is to create something out of nothing. It is an undercurrent hidden in the city. It is a challenge to the status quo.

The 2023 Taiwan Design Expo in New Taipei City takes a human-centered approach, choosing the symbol "○" as the recurring image of this city. "○" embodies the concept of "circle". It is both an adjective and a verb. It represents the circular cityscape of New Taipei City, the interconnected elevated roads looping various nodes of the city, the posture ("khut-sè") of a driver controlling the steering wheel, the constantly rotating axises in factories, and the connection between the two ends of the city's spectrum.

The curatorial theme closely revolves around the image of "○" and explores its diverse forms and definitions in New Taipei City. We delve into topics such as landscape, folklore, ethnic groups, industries, arts, life, urban governance, and social design with design thinking, trying to scrutinize and comprehend the local context. By uncovering the latent potential of various trades and industries, we aim to reconstruct this city through arts and designs and showcase its personality: practically grounded yet tirelessly aspiring for transcendence. Such an attitude nurtures the inner drive behind everything from the smallest details to the whole city.

The 2023 Taiwan Design Expo in New Taipei, themed "○ Up," embodies connection, surrounding, and invitation. By merging design with local dynamics, we desire to involve every sphere of influence in New Taipei City, embracing the power of "○ Up," and showcasing the spirit of collaborative design.

Key Vision Concept

New Taipei City is massive and boasts of a circular cityscape that reflects openness and inclusiveness.

""○"" serves as both a verb and an adjective, defining the city's structure and daily life. It embodies the image of a ""circle,"" symbolizing interconnected elevated expressways that loop around various city nodes. It is also the blueprint for New Taipei City's future: a circular urban landscape supported by an MRT network consisting of three circles and six lines.

As a city for all, New Taipei City is more than a singular outlook or voice. It becomes an all-encompassing mixtape, converging diverse elements and opinions.

Key Vision Design

Ultra Combos

Ultra Combos is a digital immersive art team composed of passionate professionals from various disciplines who love experimenting with new possibilities. They believe that excellence in the arts arises from the chemical reactions among inputs from different domains. Therefore, they blend aesthetics, creativity, concepts, visuals, technology, space, installations, and sounds with digital tools to create an unparalleled digital experience, aiming to open up new horizons of the digital world for the audience.

Chief Consultant

Shu-Chang Kung

Professor of Graduate Institute of Architecture at the National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University

Shu-Chang Kung is currently a professor at the Institute of Architecture, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University. Kung has a long-standing interest in urban design governance, architectural tectonics, and interdisciplinary service thinking and emphasizes the connection between space and humanistic development.

Kung is the recipient of the 8th Taiwan Outstanding Architect Award in 2007 and the 24th Taipei Culture Award in 2020. He has also served on the panel for renowned design awards such as the Red Dot Design Award and IF Design Award in Germany, Good Design Award in Japan, and Golden Pin Design Award and ADA Awards for Emerging Architects in Taiwan.

Consultant

Wei-Jung Huang

Chief editor of New Taipei City Culture

Wei-Jung Huang has long been active in the content development of various magazines in Taiwan. In 2006, Huang served as the founding editor-in-chief of Shopping Design magazine. In 2012, he participated in releasing One Day magazine and then assisted in publishing On The Desk magazine for Eslite Bookstore in 2013. Later, in the second half of 2016, Huang helped debut the AAA: Art, Architecture, A Better Tomorrow magazine for JUT Land Development Company. Since July 2020, he has been the chief editor of the quarterly magazine New Taipei City Cultural.

Han Wu

Co-Founder of Social Design Consulting

He is a long-term promoter of a design revolution in Taiwan, and has coordinated international art fairs and exhibitions in the past. He was Chief Coordinator of 2022 Matsu Biennial, one of the authors of The Power of Design, and the recipient of 2020 Good Design Award Best 100 and 2019 Design for Asia Awards (DFA).