Taiwan: Crafting an Identity

There was a time when "Made in Taiwan" was synonymous with cheap trinkets and plastic toys. Taiwan has since reinvented its economy, focusing on technology and computers. But alongside the high-tech industry, the Taiwanese have also been re-emphasizing their craft traditions as a way to construct a national identity-an identity complicated in recent years by political power struggles.

With the exception of a short period of colonization by the Dutch in the 1600s, the island of Taiwan was ruled by mainland China from the 1400s to 1895, when control was ceded to the Japanese. Control went back to the Republic of China (ROC) in 1945, and in 1949, when Mao Zedong's forces took over on the mainland and established the People's Republic of China, the roc government fled to Taiwan and established its seat there. Today, China claims Taiwan as part of its territory, and Taiwan, whose capital is Taipei, has struggled to establish itself as an independent nation in the face of the mainland's increasingly powerful international influence. With such political turbulence at the forefront of Taiwan's world presence, many in the international art community may be unaware of the exciting craft movement happening there.

The Taiwanese craft artist with perhaps the most international acclaim is Ah Leon, whose exquisite trompe l'œil ceramic teapots, are in collections all over the world. Ah Leon has set up a studio in the village of Pingxi, Taipei County, where he can produce his latest works, large-scale installations, most recently recreating, life-size and entirely in clay, the rustic desks and chairs of his childhood schoolroom. "I grew up in the south of Taiwan, in a time when traditional crafts were everywhere," Ah Leon reflects. "The new time did wash out many good crafts, and plastic took over. We lost many craft aesthetics, but the foundation was still there, along with old masters showing and maintaining their good techniques. This is the basis of Taiwanese crafts today."

The Yingge Ceramics Museum displays both historical and contemporary works. Located about an hour southwest of Taipei, the town of Yingge has been a ceramics center for 200 years. In addition to industrial production, the city has focused in recent years on artistic ceramics. In 1999 the city developed the tourist-oriented Old Street, lined with galleries selling everything from souvenirs to expensive antiques. The museum opened to the public in 2000, and since then has displayed contemporary ceramics by both Taiwanese and international artists. The museum has a strong educational focus, offering classes in large, well-appointed facilities to children and adults. Classes are often taught by international artists as part of a residency program, which also gives them opportunities to create work and display it. "It is very important to have international artists at the museum," says Wen Hung Cheng, director of education marketing at the Yingge, noting that this project serves as a complement to traditional skills. "They will bring new ideas." The museum also has a spectacular park featuring ceramic sculptures, events, a working version of a traditional square kiln (which bakes bread on Saturdays), and a variety of family activities.

Bamboo, which is native to Taiwan, is another traditional craft material that has been the focus of contemporary projects. While bamboo was used in Taiwan for years as a construction material, artistic bamboo craftsmanship was brought to Taiwan in the 1930s by the Japanese during their period of occupation. Today bamboo has gained cachet as an ecologically responsible material. Jhushan in Nantou County, traditionally a center for bamboo production, is home to a number of artists and designers using the material. Yeh Chi-Hsiang's family operated a bamboo factory in Jhushan, and today he runs a gallery in the town, where he sells his own bamboo carvings along with the work of other artists. Wen-Huang Liu founded Bamboola in Jhushan in 1980, and designs objects ranging from small-scale items to furniture with laminated bamboo. While very much tied to traditional forms and aesthetics, Liu incorporates technology both into his manufacturing process and his products-one of his latest pieces is a bamboo iPhone case.

The National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute is the principal government agency for the promotion of contemporary crafts in Taiwan. Its headquarters is in Nantou, a midsized town about an hour south of Taichung. Its impressive facility includes an education building housed in an old high school, offering four floors of studios, workshops and classrooms in which both children and adults can learn about traditional crafts and make their own objects.

The institute has been one of the forces behind efforts to preserve indigenous crafts such as Atayal weaving. The Atayal people form the second largest aboriginal tribe in Taiwan, and live mainly in the hills and mountains of the north. The women of the tribe are renowned for their intricate, colorful geometric weavings. While aboriginal cultures were largely suppressed under the early years of the Republic of China government, with the gradual introduction of democracy in the 1980s, such groups began to reestablish their identity. Today Ayatal weaving is a source of cultural pride as well as an opportunity for economic development.

In addition to its interest in reviving traditional handicrafts, the institute is looking to update these crafts for the world market. As director Jeng-Yi Lin writes, "In an age of global competition, Taiwan's craft industry must enhance its design capability in order to create sophisticated works with high artistic and cultural values." The Yii Collection is one example of these efforts. The project, begun in 2007, pairs Taiwanese designers with craftspeople in an effort to infuse craft with a more contemporary, sophisticated and ultimately more marketable aesthetic. This year's project is overseen by the noted Dutch designer Gijs Bakker, who explained his process: "I selected for Yii 15 professional Taiwanese designers and the Craft Research Institute selected 20 craftsmen. I refused to bring in Western designers [in order] to make a strong statement. My goal was to create a Taiwanese identity-timeless products with high technical skills that could exist only in Taiwan. I hate to see that mostly Asian design is a bad rip-off of Western design." The institute plans to continue this international collaboration, and is now in discussions with the Parsons Paris School of Art and Design and the Vitra Design Museum for future projects.

Lin stresses the importance of craft as an environmentally conscious method of production, and sees this as a guiding principle: "In the future, based on our concern for people and the environment, we hope to connect craft arts and human needs, to create new values and ways of living." With the combination of craft traditions from diverse cultures, government support and openness to international ideas, it seems that Taiwan is forging an identity for itself through craft. Perhaps the day will come when "Made in Taiwan" will signify both traditional skills and artistic vision.

Jennifer Scanlan is associate curator at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York.