Department of Urban Development, Taipei City Government

In order to preserve Taipei’s diverse characteristics as well as to promote the regeneration of the old street area, Urban Regeneration Office Taipei City had commissioned HAN Gallery to organize “Local Works, Global Touch – Xingcheng Street Creative Blacksmith Workshop” on January 9th, 2013. This workshop will be led by Taiwan’s well-known industrial designers: Zhongtang He, Chou-Yujui and Baiqing Liao. These designers will be proposing their design concepts or making simple model during the workshop. In the workshop, the participants will have a chance of combining the traditional blacksmith techniques with creativities, reconsidering the possibility of Xingcheng Blacksmith Street and experiencing the hidden aspects of the traditional area by understanding the techniques that Xingcheng Blacksmith Street owns.
Xingcheng Street is the most unique “Blacksmith Street” and the only remaining one in Taipei. Xingcheng Street was known as the “Blacksmith Street” since the Japanese Colonial Era, and it has contributed its blacksmith’s techniques to Taipei City since then. It used to be a popular street with its own special characteristics. Yet due to the changes of lifestyles, blacksmith’s techniques have been gradually forgotten and Xingcheng Street has started to decline. However, nowadays blacksmiths in Xincheng Street are still competing with each other to improve their techniques and they have also collaborated with designers from different places, and thus they have conceived many creative designs.
“Local Works, Global Touch – Xingcheng Street Creative Blacksmith Workshop” is planned to be held on January 9th at URS21 Chung Shan Creative Hub (No.21, Sec.1, Minsheng E. Rd., Zhongshan Dist., Taipei City). In the morning, the participants will be separated into three groups, and each group will be led by one of the three designers mentioned above to carry out the on-site visit in Xingcheng Street. The Creative Blacksmith Workshop will be carried out at URS21 Chung Shan Creative Hub in the afternoon. The outcomes from the workshop will be evaluated by Gijs Bakker, the creative director of HAN gallery, and three designers. The winner will have the opportunity to improve his/her design with the assistance of the creative director and other designers, so that he/she can present his/her design in Milan Furniture Fair. (The result of the evaluation will be announced in a week after the workshop, and Gijs Bakker retains the right of deciding whether the design can be presented in Milan Furniture Fair or not)