Day 4-6 - Cultural Hacking

UW x SCU Cultural Hacking

And just like that, we wrapped up our first week in Taiwan and our cultural hacking project with our Shih Chien University student partners. After a couple of days of exploring the greater Taipei area and learning about Taiwanese culture and history, my group drew inspiration from the ceramic breezeway tiles and modular roof tiles from the Yingge Ceramics Museum and traditional Chinese cooking. We designed a set of modular spice containers shaped like houses that attach to each other and to surfaces magnetically, with five unique frontal shapes inspired by each of the five spices in Chinese five spice seasoning - cinnamon, star anise, fennel seeds and cloves. It was awesome seeing every group's projects, how differently they turned out, and the creativity poured into each result. I personally really enjoy teamwork in the design process because I believe that design should not be done in a vacuum but in a way where ideas get built upon others' ideas amalgamating into a great design. I think my group successfully achieved this and I feel fulfilled in this design workshop experience.

Dot Design Studio

We visited Dot Design Studio which focuses its designs heavily on repurposing waste materials into new and beautiful items. There were impressive stools made of recycled plastic in interesting shapes, a fiber and fabric made of recycled pineapple stem fibers, plates made of upcycled bamboo, bags made of recycled airplane life vests, marathon trophies made of broken stones resulting from earthquakes, and more. As I felt a glimmer of hope for sustainable design with these products, I couldn't help but reflect on some impending questions. What happens with plastic materials after its second life? how the issue of over production and consumption of new plastic goods can be disrupted to reduce the need in the first place to displace plastic waste. Plastics cannot be continually recycled as the material’s strength decreases with processing.

Some Personal Notes

My childhood best friend is from Taiwan. I remember as a child, she and her mom would tell me about Taiwan and they would always bring back for me origami paper and other art supplies from their annual visits home. I always asked them to take me with them the next time. I finally ended up joining them about a year after I finished my undergraduate studies.

Taiwan is wonderful as I remember it. The people are friendly, the public transportation is convenient, and the food is delicious and affordable. Besides my nostalgic memory, sustainability has been a consistent theme on this trip. I am continually impressed with the organization and care out into recycling and the cleanliness of the streets. Professor Meichun mentioned that people likely feel more pressure to care because Taiwan is a small island versus in the expansive United States where the impact may be less immediately palpable.

While it has been nice being here, it feels a bit embarrassing to be unable to converse with people in Taiwan or read signage or menus. I would say this has been my biggest challenge being in a Chinese speaking country where I physically blend in but lack the language skills. For context, I grew up speaking both Cantonese and Mandarin, stopped speaking Mandarin after age 10, can read only a handful of basic Chinese characters, and started learning English at age 4 in school. It has been rewarding thus far immersing myself into this cross-cultural experience and I hope to be able to connect more deeply with and to learn from my Chinese cultural roots in the future.