Inspiring Interview With Michael Wolff

If you have a few minutes to spare, this interview with Michael Wolff is definitely worth your time. As one of the founders of design firm Wolff Olins, Michael Wolff shares his insight on how he views the world around him and how he keeps his passions alive by his observations.

I love the shots of the ordinary things around us, like the pots, umbrellas,  and supermarkets. Most people may take them for granted but Wolff guides his passions with his curiosity and appreciation for everything. This idea is the central theme I had when I created this blog and the last few posts, and it’s great to see an interview that is aligned with my thoughts right now.

Taipei: The Stimulating City

It’s been about a month since I’ve moved back to Taipei. Although Taipei is technically my home city, the amount of time I have lived abroad far outweighs the time I’ve spent living here. The culture shock is always there when I come back; the small apartment-style houses, the sheer amount of people and the fact that people immediately pinpoint me as a whitewashed Asian foreigner. When I came back from the States about 10 years ago, I thought it was dirty and cramped. If you didn’t watch your step, you might unexpectedly set foot on a fresh pile of dog poop. The humidity was unbearable during the summer and caused buildings and things to erode at light-speed. As a result, the buildings always looked dirty and old.

The first few weeks back, I spent a lot of time just walking around the city and paying my due to various bookstores and Starbucks. It was a nice change to not have to drive anywhere and walk a few steps to get to a 7-11. After the first few days, I started getting adventurous and took long walks to nearby neighborhoods.

Coming back now, I got the feeling that the city is hungry for an aesthetic makeover. Everyone is on the market to find the hottest new apartment buildings. Bookstores are stocked with architect and interior design magazines. All around the city, new fancy buildings sprout up from nothing. This change didn’t occur overnight but these thoughts seemed to have spread like a virus in the past decade.

The biggest change however, is probably my mental attitude. Instead of constantly comparing Taipei to other metropolitan cities and focusing on its faults and blemishes, I started focusing my attention on the differences and characteristics that sets Taipei apart from the other cities. Looking at everything with a fresh set of lens and taking pictures along the way. Not taking for granted each details and structure but in fact, thinking about why they’re there and how these things are reflective of the culture here. Like people watching, I put together the pieces of my observation and created short stories of what Taipei is about.

Here are just a few of the pictures I have taken:

I’m rather impressed with the street art I’m seeing around the city. 10 years ago, you might see the occasional tags that weren’t very exciting. Now I find hidden gems in the narrow alleys around the city:

my slightly failed attempt to create a panoramic photo of the alley graffiti i found

Temples in Taiwan are rarely treated as a sacred holy site. When I was younger, I didn’t understand why the temples weren’t more beautiful and isolated but now when I think about it, I prefer them the way they are now. Visually, it’s quite bizarre to see them next to a KFC but when you think about it, the temples are really integrated into the people’s daily lives. People don’t have to travel far to connect with their gods. Isn’t that kind of what religion is about? Having God with you at all times? A place of comfort within a few steps away? You see temples and shrines of all sizes everywhere in the city.

a KFC next to a temple. of course

 

 I never understood why people willingly put metal bars on their windows and doors. It looked like everyone in Taiwan lived in a bird-cage. However, I learned that people have those metal bars not just to keep thieves out but to buy themselves a peace of mind. In the past, theft was a real problem and people didn’t feel safe in their homes. The metal bars aren’t a cage per say but a protective barrier.

the cage

 The newer buildings don’t have cages anymore so slowly, these will probably disappear from the city.

 When I went to Beijing 2 years ago, I saw a lot of these ‘forbidden signs’ everywhere. It seemed quite unnecessary for me since it never occurred to me to litter or spit in public. I realized quickly that I was probably the rare few that didn’t need the reminder. People spit like crazy over there! Trash was also everywhere on the streets. 

I see less ‘forbidding’ signs in Taiwan but when I do come across one, I find them hilarious. They get really creative with how they represent different prohibited actions, that’s for sure! Guess it never hurts to remind people that they need to clean up after their dog…dog poop was always a big problem. Though, I think it’s not because owners don’t pick up after their dogs but because there use to be a huge stray dog problem in the past. That’s another story though.

these types signs are everywhere...when nature calls...hehe

 

During one of my walks, this building stuck out among all the other apartment buildings. I loved the colors and just snapped the shot on the spot.

unexpected building, stuck between a cluster of apartment buildings

 

I tried to come up with a word or a phrase to sum up Taipei but I haven’t been able to a suitable one yet. So right now, I just dubbed it “The Stimulating City” because it’s such an oddball place of sights, smells and sounds. It’s not uniformed nor can you easily categorize it as one thing or another.

But for right now, it’s home and it’s good to be back.

“Traumgedanken” by Maria Fischer | conception and design of a book on the topic of “dream”

It’s unbelievable how lazy living in the Caribbean can make you. The sun, the sand and the lazy breeze – it’d make an insomniac fall asleep in a jiffy. Being the heavy sleeper that I am already, I’ve been racking in at least 10 hours of sleep in the past few days. I feel so incredibly lazy and slightly relieved (but mostly sad) that I’m not staying in Belize for an extended period of time.

Lots of sleep means lots of dreams. Lots of long, weird, random-ass dreams. But mostly I’m just impressed with my imagination and how real my dreams have been. Inception was such an awesome movie to me because they got all the aspects of dreams and dreaming correct. It’s so easy to watch and relate to all the different things in that movie, from the ‘kick’ to the compound passage of time. Dreams are fascinating.

I stumbled on Maria Fischer’s “Traumgedanken”, a book that contains a collection of  literary, philosophical, psychological and scientifical texts which provide an insight into different dream theories.[1] What makes the book unique though, is the design. The whole book is woven and tied together by a web of different color threads. Each color connects to a specific key word and touches each page that deals with that topic. There are several pages that sports beautiful thread illustrations. The design is a model of the nature of dreams; its complexity and fragileness.

george lee: tie tea

'tie tea' photo by joseph hsu image © le mouton noir & co

10 hands are not enough to figure out how many times my tea bag string has fallen into my mug. Simple and effective design by designer george lee founder of le moutin noir & co solves that problem with this simple design. I wonder where they have this for sale?

'tie tea' detail photo by joseph hsu image © le mouton noir & co

Now I just need to file a customer complaint to Lipton and tell them that their teabag sucks. Has anyone had the experience of the little paper tag separating from the actual string? So bloody annoying.

 

(via Designboom)

Nike Print Pack: Shoes Made from Old Magazines

Nike just released the Women’s Premium Print Pack, a limited edition set of three shoe styles, all made using shredded magazines.

awesome!

These shoes are wearable, with regular soles, strings and padding. The recycled magazine material is laminated.  Currently only available in Europe, China, and “select emerging markets.” (Via Co.Design)

What a fantastic idea to reuse unwanted material! They look really awesome too, not at all cheap or anything. Total win Nike. Any guesses on how much these will be? My cousin says $400 :]

10 Design Quotes Visualized (FreshBump)

FreshBump commissioned 10 different designers to create visualized quotes.  They take the essence of the quote and create some major eye candy prints.  Here are a few of my favorite ones:

Moxy Creative X Pablo Picasso

Gordon Reid X Paul Rand

Moxy Creative X Leonardo Da Vinci

I really like Moxy Creative works.  I wrote about their Ensemble: The Style of Music here

Check out the rest of the quotes here

Tron: Legacy [merchandise edition]

I am really excited for the up-coming movie Tron: Legacy, which will be released in theatres Dec. 17.  I never seen the original Tron, so I can’t say I’ve been a dedicated fan since the beginning.  However, the trailer for the movie have raised my expectations to unbelievable heights.  When I watched the trailer, it left me hanging and wanting to know more.

I wish I knew enough about the original movie and story to write a full blown analysis.  However, I will spare myself from embarrassment and just highlight some of the coolest Tron-inspired toys/arts/design out in the virtual web:

Shi Yuan’s Reactive Paint

Random find off the internet – wall paper designs that alters its appearances when the temperature changes!

when the radiator is off...

when the radiator is on, the flowers around it begin to bloom!