Italy’s representative to Taiwan talks design ties

Italy’s representative to Taiwan talks design ties

2023-03-29

For the first time, Taiwan and Italy have jointly organized an exhibition in Taiwan to showcase Italy’s latest award-winning designs. FTV reporter Stephany Yang spoke to the Italian Representative to Taiwan Davide Giglio to learn more about the latest design exchanges between Taiwan and Italy.

The Italian Compasso d’Oro Design Award was established in 1954. It is the oldest and most prestigious in the design industry. So far, there are only 379 works that have won this top honor.

Now some of those award-winning masterpieces are on show at the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park. The exhibition will be held till April 5. It was organized by the Italian Economic Trade and Cultural Promotion Office, the Italian Industrial Design Association, and the Taiwan Design Research Institute.

Stephany Yang
FTV reporter
Aside from the exhibition, they are also showcasing Italian books at the "Not Just Library." The library was once a public bathhouse built in 1937.

Davide Giglio
Italian representative to Taiwan
Last year in December, the Taiwan Research Institute and the Italian Association of Industrial Design signed a memorandum to promote exchanges and create a platform for partnership and cooperation. Taiwan has a famous award which is the Golden Pin Design Award. Italy has the Compasso d’Oro. The two associations are working together and inviting eachother to create opportunities to exchange visits and also exchange experiences in the field of design. We want to create objects together in Italy and Taiwan that are functional and that are sustainable. I think that is a challenge that everybody in the design world is interested in meeting.

The Italian Representative to Taiwan Davide Giglio says both Taiwan and Italy are among the largest manufacturing countries in the world. Taiwan is a leader in semiconductors, while Italy is a leader in the automotive sector. Therefore, he sees great potential in cooperation between the two countries.

Davide Giglio
Italian representative to Taiwan
Italy is very strong in the automobile sector. Taiwan is also developing a line of production. There are companies in Taiwan such as Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn). They have entered into joint ventures with Italian companies. They are starting to produce electric vehicles. The design is made by Italian companies. This is an area where there is clearly a success story between Italy and Taiwan. In areas such as robotics for instance, Italy and Taiwan are also developing fast. We can can find other opportunitites to cooperate. Biotechnology and electric mobility. I think these are all areas where Taiwan and Italy can all do together.

Giglio says that Taiwan and Italy’s relationship has been flourishing despite the pandemic. He sees lots of potential for more cooperation.

Davide Giglio
Italian representative to Taiwan
Italy has a tradition in that it has an artisan, history, and universities that are catered toward design culture. But, with Taiwan, I think we have a lot to do. It is robust. It is $5.6 billion. It is a very balanced exchange. There is no deficit on both sides. They are very equal. It is a healthy relationship that we have with Taiwan. It keeps growing. Not only in traditional sectors such as machines or chemicals or fashion. But also agri-food, and recently also pharmaceuticals. Taiwan is of course very strong in ICT. Taiwan exports a lot to Italy. I think it is a very healthy relationship and balanced trade relationship and it has been growing also during COVID. It looks very promising also in the coming years.

The annual Milan Design Week is the largest annual design event in the world. It will take place in Milan from April 17 to 23. Davide Giglio invites everyone to visit if they happen to be in Italy during that time.