Living Here, Designing Here / Donghai Hospital Design Studio - Xu Jingting

The car drove into the alley, and rows of iron-clad factories were closely arranged, all in blue and green appearance, with white, yellow, and red signboards, "CNC", "plastic injection" and other incomprehensible technical terms cut this place into pieces. a completely different world. Most people don't pass by, but it is one of the important roads that laid the foundation for Taipei's modern society: Sanchong Industrial Zone.

At noon, the sound of metal knocking and the hissing sound of machine jets in the alley were incessant. After passing through the faint smell of plastic, I finally found the yet-to-be-opened "Donghai Hospital Design Studio." The furnishings and industrial-style decoration immediately brought out the unique taste of the owner of this warehouse. At this time, Xu Jingting, the founder of the studio, pushed open the glass door and walked towards us.

What is accustomed to is the necessity of design

After sitting down, she first chatted about the recent itinerary and cases. Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the itinerary to go abroad to participate in exhibitions has almost been cancelled, but staying in Taiwan is not boring. The studio started a cooperation plan that no one had ever thought of: Xiaobei Department Store disaster prevention and shelter kit.

The Taiwan Institute of Design and Research, together with the professional disaster prevention information provided by the Taiwan Disaster Prevention Industry Association and the Fire Department of the Ministry of the Interior, and hired Mr. Nagata Hiroka of Kobe Creative Design Center as a consultant, contributed to the birth of this simple and practical evacuation bag. The dazzling yellow and blue color scheme is buckled with the logo of Xiaobei Department Store. In Taiwan, a country that faces disasters and escapes at any time, it is as safe as carrying the entire department store supplies on the body. Even an item that strives for survival and practicality, such as an evacuation bag, cannot be cheap in terms of aesthetic design.

Xu Jingting said that the first time he cooperated with Xiaobei Department Store was the 2017 Cultural Expo, and he kept thinking, "What is wrong with Taiwan's design beauty? Is the design not good enough? Or is the design too far away from the public, It seems that you can only afford to spend a lot of money?" In the end, she came to the answer, perhaps because of the lack of aesthetic choices in daily shopping. Therefore, she takes shopping as the starting point, hoping to make the design go from the boutique rack to the daily and necessary life field. "That is Xiaobei Department Store."

Xiaobei Department Store, a place that sells everything is not surprising. It is precisely because of the ordinary and everyday that the goods sold actually silently affect the aesthetics of the people. "Moreover, the products sold by department stores will be adapted to local conditions. For example, the branches near the city will sell less farm implements. This also reminds us that the disaster situation that each region needs to face is different, so we have adjusted plans and proposed this part. It is suggested to keep this work connected to the place." Xu Jingting's pragmatic requirements make user experience an important part of his works.

In fact, in addition to product design, curatorial can also find her traces.

We are writing history with objects

"Sit down and do it. The exhibition vision of "Doing the Seat Exhibition" won the Golden Pin Design Award for the best design of the year in 2020. The exhibition venue collected from early rural to industrial modular production and environmental protection conscious large and small seats, including the famous Bauhaus red The blue chairs are all waiting for visitors.

"Sitting is a posture, a seat is a symbol, and doing is an action!" Xu Jingting, who turned from a product designer to a curator, explained that Taiwan's exhibitions are rich in variety, but she, who was born in engineering, wanted to focus on the theme. on industrial products. Therefore, the exhibition is divided into three parts around three "ㄗㄨㄛˋ":

Sit - how to sit? Who will sit? Let's look at posture and ergonomics.
Seat - what status? Where? Let's take a look at how field affects styling.
Do - what material? How to produce? (Also, how can the audience participate?)

The whole exhibition seems to dissect the core of industrial design: do you want to develop new products? Well, let’s examine the three key points above. In addition, through the exhibition lined up like a memorabilia, she brought to the audience the production process of objects that were rarely organized in the history of product design in Taiwan. Here, you can get a glimpse of the living habits, styles and conditions of different periods. "In the early days of the countryside, chairs were made of rattan and wooden boards. Later, times changed. With afternoon tea time, there were more comfortable sofas. From such a list of items, we can see changes in lifestyles."

Seeing love in places from the Taoyuan Cultural Expo is the driving force for maintaining beauty

Last year, the studio of Donghai Hospital was invited by the Taoyuan Cultural Expo and had the opportunity to learn more about Taoyuan's industries. During the collection process, I became more and more appreciative of Taoyuan's rich agricultural and industrial resources. However, when she started to help find local crafts, design or creative industries in Taoyuan, she found that there was a lot of blank in this part, "I don't mean to change anything, Taoyuan already has a lot of great things that should be done. How to dig it out. Everyone has to like this place and build confidence in this place. After you appreciate it yourself, the people next to you will appreciate these things.”

She further pointed out, "Although the appearance of stations and buildings is also an important part of the design, the design is not only for the sake of good-looking, but it is only basic; the urban landscape needs to be changed every household to make the beautification lasting." Power, in addition to introducing these buried beauty to the public, can also consolidate the identity of residents through innovation (transformation).

Don't wait until the sun goes down to find the sun - let manufacturing be seen

Everyone waited for the roaring truck outside the studio to drive away, and then remembered that this is the triple industrial area, where black hands are densely gathered. Donghai Hospital takes the "Triple Black Settlements" project as its core, and has been activating the manufacturing industry here through interviews, factory map construction and workshops, etc., and brings designers with manufacturing needs through the streets to find factories that can cooperate. . We are curious, what is the model of Donghai Hospital Studio's reactivation of Taiwan's industrial factories? Are there really more designers to discuss and place orders for production in the future?

"As you can see, we are only a small studio in Sanzhong, and we cannot promote the revival of the industry alone. But at least we see more people paying attention and telling everyone that 'traditional industries are the basis for supporting industries'. If These factories have moved or disappeared, and we have to go abroad to find relevant resources. We will only revitalize them after they disappear like craftsmanship, and then it will be difficult to bring them back.” She said that what she wants most is to make Everyone pays attention to the factories around them and the people who work there; when the design and the factory are connected, they can understand the seemingly rigid and cold manufacturing industry from a different perspective. In fact, the soul of each master is like these working boilers. Just as enthusiastic.

Products start with human nature, human nature comes from life

So how does she view the gap between the industry and the academic world? Xu Jingting believes that no matter which generation, there will be gaps. The main reason is that students have too little life experience, but this is very important for product design. After all, products are always based on the situation of life use. Whether it is an office or a mountaineering, the product can be said to be the place where life is concentrated and gathered. She believes that self-awareness is important.

"From a young age, everyone would say that you should focus on your studies first, and then think about your interests after you get into college, but I think this concept should be adjusted gradually. The senior high school will always think about what kind of person you are? Do you usually have any passions? What happened?" She didn't mean to make students have fun in college, but what she wanted to express was that designers must live a good life. When there is no class, it is a good time to explore. Who knows if your "like" really likes it enough to be willing to overcome difficulties?

To some extent, the industry should adapt to each other, she said, to see young people's new ideas on work. As for students, don't take setbacks too seriously, and look at them with a normal heart. "When you encounter a bottleneck, it means that you have officially entered the field. Don't jump off easily!" Xu Jingting recalled the students he taught. Many people gave up solving problems when they encountered problems, and simply chose to think about new topics from scratch. The essence is to solve problems. Maybe some problems are too big to be solved, which may be an opportunity for thinking to change direction, but after all, turning is built on the basis of every attempt to solve. Whether it goes well or not, it will not go in vain, it must be passed through Road. If you have a passion for design and try your best to do every step, I think you will get a lot of gains.”

So, will the design field work better after the gap between industry and academia is eliminated?

Xu Jingting thought about it and said that on the premise that the object of the gap is "college students", the university is not 100% obliged to be a vocational training system, it also has the function of academic research, "Academic research should guide college students to more Thinking, not for assignments or assignments, but also to understand where technology is going now? How does the epidemic affect life? Current events or trends in life. Universities exist to allow people to observe, understand and distinguish these environments. I myself look forward to college students having this kind of learning.”

Waiting for a heart-pounding moment

When talking about what she wanted to say to the students who participated in this year's competition, Xu Jingting said with a hearty smile: "Of course I hope to see great works!" She is looking forward to finding some unexpected new ideas this time. "However, going back to what we talked about earlier, if the work is based on your life experience and thinks deeply and sincerely, we will feel it. No matter the material or manufacture, the most important thing is the relationship with people."

She picked up the beaker and turned it into a student's submission this year, asking two big questions:
1. Who uses the cup? How to get it?
2. What is the cup used for? Are manufacturing processes and materials environmentally friendly?

Thinking about the environment means thinking about the people who live here, and designing products to make life better for people. "Look, we're back on people again."

In the end, she concluded with Marie's "Pumping Heart Arrangement". Does this work make people feel that "suddenly heart-pounding" feeling at first glance? The two points just mentioned are all conditions, but after the integration, it will make people excited. It is the most important thing. I hope to see people-oriented, problem-solving, design that suits the needs of modern people and a friendly environment. "

SyndAvant brings together creative people who are willing to apply their creativity and expertise to transform and advance society. We call them Avantists. This series of interviews will show you how these Avantists manage their professions, use their talents and influence, and then form a positive influence on society.

Editor: Guo Ke Interview: Zhang Yujie Photography: vvaynelinn
Review: Vera