DAMn magazine # 24 / GIJS BAkker

Change and Transformation

Gijs Bakkers Tales from Taiwan
Gijs Bakker has high hopes for his Yii-project. My aim is to prove that a conceptual approach generates different products when placed in a new context, he says. In general, conceptuality is independent of context. But when you link it to local skills and culture, thats when it becomes really interesting.

text Anneke Bokern

In the case of Yii, the new context we are talking about is Taiwan. With jewellery designer and co-founder of Droog Design Gijs Bakker as curator and in collaboration with local craftsmen, 15 Taiwanese designers created 47 products, which will be presented for the first time at the Milan furniture fair in April. The Taiwanese Craft Council invited me to do this project, Bakker recounts. Theyve known me since 2006, when I developed a line of products for the gift shop of the National Palace Museum in Taipei together with some young Taiwanese designers. We tried to steer clear of tacky souvenirs - no Nightwatch cake tin and that kind of stuff. Instead, the question was: how can you distil the real value from the historical artefacts and translate it into contemporary products? I think it resulted in some interesting objects.
Skype & Souvenirs

Apparently the Taiwanese Craft Research Institute, an agency of the Council for Cultural Affairs, thought so as well, as it hired Bakker again for the creation of its new design brand Yii. The starting point is quite similar: its again about combining contemporary design and traditional Chinese crafts without slipping into the banality

of souvenirs. Its not about showing to the world how beautifully the Chinese can lacquer, carve and engrave. We really wanted to create products which everyone can use. The Craft Research Institute made a shortlist of about 30 designers, from which Bakker picked 16. In May I spent a week in Taiwan, doing workshops with the designers and craftsmen, where we developed the first ideas. After that, we communicated via Skype. In fact, it was an intense coaching process, which went much further than just curating, recalls Bakker. The designers had no precise briefing, but could design freely whatever they liked. With these products as a first collection, Yii, which means change and transformation in Chinese, is supposed to become a real design label. Of course the fact that its entirely financed by the Taiwanese state makes it a marketing tool rather than a commercial brand. But one has to give an affirmative nod to the Taiwanese in that its a very well-timed marketing tool, entering the stage just at the moment when the design world has rediscovered the value of traditional crafts as well as the charms of the authentic and the local. The biggest challenge was the difference in mentality. I didnt want to involve any Western designers, because

Bentboo Tripod: laminated bamboo (top) Designer: Chen-hsu Liu Craft maker: Kao-ming Chen Gijs Bakker at workdiscussions during masterclass (above, b&w images) Brick Plan: tray, brick (facing page, top) Designer: Rock Wang Craft maker: Pei-ze Chen Ikea Plus Tertial: silver, plated gold (facing page, bottom left) Designer: Pili Wu Craft maker: Jian-an Su Panlong Vase: koji pottery, rubber (facing page, bottom right) Designer: Chen-hsu Liu Craft maker: Shi-ren Lu

40

41

DAMn magazine # 24 / GIJS BAkker

that always results in a kind of colonialism, Bakker says. But Taiwanese society is very hierarchical, and people dont just say what they think. It took a while, but I think in the end I managed to make some of the designers open up a bit. The results of the collaboration are real hybrids: at first sight, they appear quite Chinese, due to their aesthetics and the crafts involved. But as soon as one hears the stories behind them, it becomes clear that theres also a big influence of Dutch conceptualism, and in some cases even Dutch humour. How else can one explain the series of Starbucks-cups recreated in porcelain, silver or bamboo and decorated with delicate silver dragons and tiny frogs? In some cases, such as a series of cups with predetermined break-

just a one-project theme for Bakker. I just read Richard Sennetts book about craft with my students at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, he says. Its fascinating: he defines craft as a repetition of actions that generates skill. It applies to all professions, but our society completely disesteems it. In this context, one cant help but think of Hella Jongerius and her Ikea-vases, which are cheaply mass-produced in China thanks to the affordability and high quality of manual labour. After all, thats another Dutch designer gone East and working with local craftspeople. Yii has nothing to do with that! Bakker exclaims when asked. For a start, Taiwan isnt as cheap as China. We do want to have some affordable items in the collection, but there will also be one-offs

World Cups: silver and plated gold (left) Designer: Idee Liu Craft maker: Pei-ze Chen Ikea plus Vika: wood (right) Designer: Pili Wu Craft maker: Wei-win Lan

ing points as a pattern, theres even a whiff of Droog Design, although Bakker doesnt really like to hear that. Well, maybe theres a bit of Droog about them. But I would never have done that consciously, he says.
repetition of Actions

and limited editions. Then again, I have to admit that Hella was among the first to rediscover the values of craftsmanship, long before anybody else did. In an ironic twist that might be the Taiwanese answer to Jongerius, Ikea does appear in the Yii-collection. Designer Pili Wu has pimped standard Ikea-products with craft elements. One leg of a cheap table is replaced by an elaborately carved wooden sculpture, a plastic folding chair is decorated with lacquer flowers, and the inside of a cheap lampshade is covered in finely wrought silver ornaments. This type of ornament is normally produced for Buddhist temples, Bakker explains. Temples are the main commissioners for most

of the craftsmen who worked on the products. In fact, I could have done this project in any Asian country with a vivid temple culture.
Dry Humour

Every item in the collection tells a story, from the bamboo seat that will disappear entirely under silk, spun around it by silk worms, to the black bowl with a very cute rabbit-shaped handle, which relates to a Chinese legend about the rabbit and the moon. The leitmotif, however, seems to be the combination of conceptualism, craftsmanship and an aesthetic that balances between the ornamental and the minimal. And its not

One of the Taiwanese designers, though, seems to refer just as much to Dutch as to Asian culture with his product. With the help of stonemason Pei-ze Chen, designer Rock Wan created an undulated and incredibly smooth tray out of brick. It wouldnt be Bakkers project if there wasnt a good story behind it: Did you know that the Dutch introduced bricks to Taiwan in the 17th century? he asks. Before the Dutch came, the Taiwanese built their houses out of clay blocks. For his

tray, Rock Wan made a block of bricks, let the stonemason cut the tray out of it and then polish it. I never knew that brick could have such a beautiful, smooth structure! adds Bakker, visibly fascinated. So even though Bakker refused to add a product of his own to the collection (I didnt want to disturb the picture), his presence can clearly be felt from the conceptual approach to the dry sense of humour, right down to a brick tray that even teaches the Dutch something about their favourite material.

Cocoon Plan: sofa, bamboo (top, left) Designer: Rock Wang Craft maker: Kao-ming Chen Lace Bowls: porcelain (top, right) Designer: Ching-ting Hsu Craft maker: Tsuan-Jen Lee World Cups: wood (above, left) Designer: Idee Liu Ikea plus Herman: plastic, metal, lacquerware (above, right) Designer: Pili Wu Craft maker: Li-shu Huang

Yii, 14-19 April, Triennale Design Museum, www.triennale.it www.gijsbakker.com

42

43