Pushing up daisies

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‘Blooming shoes’ amongst many peculiar items on display at Taipei World Design Expo 2011

CREATIVE DISPLAY: Tour guide Jade Chang explains to the group on some of the items on display at the expo.

EVERYONE is always in need of a good pair of shoes.

Sadly, like most good things in life, they don’t last forever. So what happens once you wear them out? To many, it’s the garbage bin hereafter for those dilapidated sneakers that used to be your favourites.

But what if I tell you that with the advent of environmentally-conscious technology, shoes now can have a more ‘organic’ afterlife? Not only that, they’re able to ‘sprout’ new life, not long after they’re gone?

Perhaps it may sound too eccentric, but ‘shoes-that-bloom’ are not exactly a ridiculous notion – at least not to OAT Shoes, a Dutch-based online retail company, specialising in manufacturing and marketing their proprietary bio-degradable sneakers.

The organic footwear line was one of many interesting – as well as quirky – items on display at Taiwan’s first international inter-disciplinary design exhibition, the Taipei World Design Expo 2011, held throughout last month here.

Sited at the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park as one of the expo’s three primary venues, the theme for the inaugural event focused primarily on advocating environmental consciousness and embedding ‘greener ideas’ into practical usage, be it in daily lives or in business – a concept very much embraced by OAT Shoes.

“The future of fashion lies in a reconciliation between nature and industry, between mankind and nature,” wrote OAT Shoes’ founder, Dutch designer Christiaan Maats in the company’s blog.

“We have to close the loop, come full circle and realise we’re an integral part of the whole thing. And now, up to our knees in waste and with Mother Earth losing her temper, it’s time for some spring cleaning. And that starts with making greener choices. OAT Shoes strives to lead the way to that future.”

Indeed, they are.

At a glance, OAT Shoes may look just like any other sneakers you can purchase anywhere. The fact that they’re designed to break down completely when buried in the ground won’t surprise many people since each pair is made from bio-degradable materials such as hemp, paper-based cork, bio-cotton, certified organic plastics and non-toxic, eco-based fabrics.

What makes them so ecologically desirable is that within each pair of sneakers, seeds of flowers – mostly red wildflowers – are embedded in the tongue.

So rather than just discard these worn-out shoes in the backyard garden, with a little bit extra effort, you can lay them to rest in the ground – say your epitaph, if you wish – and leave it for a few days, after which flowers will grow from the ‘burial site’.

In saying this, OAT Shoes definitely break the cliché by ‘pushing up daisies’ once they’re gone – literally.

 

INTERESTING ITEM: A coat hanger, made up of discarded wooden sticks and chips, attracts visitors’ attention at the expo.

‘Salt of the Earth’

 

While being ingeniously out-of-the-ordinary, OAT Shoes weren’t the only notable curios on display during the expo. A further walk inside the exhibition brought me to a small cubicle where there were a few overhanging lamps glowing with soft, orangish-red light. Just like the OAT Shoes, nothing appeared immediately striking about these upside-side-down, tulip-shaped lamps.

“Can anybody guess what the lamp shell and light-bulb casing are made of?” expo tour guide Jade Chang asked visitors.

After seeing lots of headshakes, she smilingly uttered one word, “Salt.”

Trademarked as SALT Pendant Lights, these asymmetrical lamps were the creation of Maltese-born designer Roberto Tweraser, combining only sea salt and a synthetic binder.

Just imagine putting these lamps in a restaurant – apart from giving a very contemporary, organic feel to the dining atmosphere, they can also double as a quick option for diners to season their meals!

 

Retro rattans

 

Notwithstanding all the exquisite items on display during the Taipei World Design Expo 2011, many visitors found it quite challenging to digitally capture the beauty of each nature-friendly design, with all of the exhibition area being enveloped in a crimson hue – much like the inside of a dark-room.

“Most of these items are very light-sensitive. So we advise visitors who want to take photographs of the items, not to switch on their flashes,” Chang said, adding that some rooms even prohibited any form of photo-taking activities.

In this respect – and with much embarrassment – I disobeyed that very instruction.

I committed this aesthetic ‘crime’ during the tour to the ‘rattan room’ in which, one particular item really caught my attention.

It was a simple couch made up of over 700 pieces of rattan balls – or locally know as ‘bola takraw’. It was so genuinely striking that I couldn’t resist setting my smartphone function into a camera mode and carefully position it to take photos of the couch without anybody noticing. While not having superior digital quality, I was guiltily happy that I managed to ‘steal’ some shots.

It’s just like the saying “a picture’s worth a thousand words”. In my case, however, it could have been worth a “thousand reprimands” if only our tour team leader found out what I did.

 

The green concept

 

Overall, the expo was a surprisingly interesting exhibition, one that I mistakenly expected to be ‘boringly’ educational. It seemed that Taiwan was very serious to establishing itself as a greener, more eco-technologically advance member of the global society.

It also mirrored the strong emergence of young designers taking up the call towards preserving the environment through creative and practical approaches via a multitude of media.

“With this expo as the highlight, we strive to make this year as the ‘Year of Design’ for Taiwan in conjunction with the 100-year celebration of the republic,” remarked Linber Huang, the deputy chief executive officer of Taiwan Design Centre – the executive organiser of Taipei World Design Expo.

Huang added that previously, there had been four design exhibitions held under the umbrella of Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs as well as that of Taipei City Government.

“This year, however, the event goes international. Just like the logo for the expo that incorporates a strip of the bamboo leaf, which conveys the image of the Oriental culture; and a feather, which is a representative of a quill pen of the western culture, the overlapping of these two elements symbolises the convergence and interaction of global human cultures, as well as demonstrating the exchange and interplay between different design disciplines and thinking,” he explained colourfully.

More than 6,000 pieces of creations by over 1,200 designers from 34 nations were exhibited throughout the one-month long event this year. Besides the exhibition, the event also organised various workshops and seminars, as well as forums amongst many design experts and scholars.

Apart from the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park,

the Taipei World Design Expo 2011 was also held concurrently at the Nangang Exhibition Hall, which mostly displayed industrial designs; and Taipei World Trade Centre that featured mostly artistic works.

l   This is the first of a two-part series on Taiwan. The writer was in Taipei during a media familiarisation trip, organised by Taiwan’s Government Information Office last month.