05: days 14-17

 09.05-09.08

The past few days we’ve been working hard on our final project with NCKU, going through various circular design exercises while simultaneously doing group work and field trips to further our designs along. In between work, my design team has been meeting up for meals to enjoy our last bits of time together and finish exploring the area around the school before we leave. It’s been busy and kind of exhausting, but I think our group is in a great spot right now and I’m so excited about our project.

yay sillies

We’re currently making a brand that gives new life to old or broken furniture or infrastructure by implementing recycled aluminum materials. We are basing our designs off of Taiwanese 窗花 (chuang hua), or window flowers, in order to tie in cultural aspects to our American selling base. I really like our designs so far and the visual identity I’ve gotten the chance to work on, and our team works so well together that I feel super passionate about our project. 

circular design exercise #2

Outside of this work, we got the chance to try indigo dye on the 5th and learn a bit about its significance in Taiwan! Learning about color sciences and the processes in which indigo dye is made was a completely new experience for me, and I’m really happy with how my dye turned out. We dipped our fabric into the dye-mixture three times, letting it oxidize after each round, and got to watch the dye turn from a swampy green into a deep blue. The transition was so quick and impressive that it made me want to try different ways of dipping and exposing the material each time—hopefully I can try that in the future!

indigo dye results

pretty shennong st!

Today was our final free day of the program, so Maya, Ai, and I all visited a couple of cafes to work on our group project. It ended up being relaxing and productive since we got to sleep in and then take our time working on our portions of the project, and by the evening we had enough time to go to Shennong Street to see the lanterns at night! This was something that I’ve been wanting to do for the past few days and it was more beautiful than I could have imagined. Despite many of the shops being closed, the street is still slightly busy and lit up by the multicolored lanterns that cover the alley. It was a really peaceful way to end the day, and we decided to walk all the way back to our stay to enjoy the cooler weather. I think when we leave Taiwan, I’ll definitely be missing things like this the most. 

Today I was feeling especially sad about the program ending in just a few days. Being in Tainan has been such a sweet and unforgettable experience, and I don’t think I’m quite ready to go back to Seattle and feel the stress of school while missing my friends and experiences here. I’m really excited to completely enjoy my last bit of time here, but it's so easy to begin to grieve this trip and I’m already thinking about the next time I can come back. Hoping it’s soon!!

ncku at sunset