British immigrant contributes to Taiwan’s vibrant design field

British immigrant contributes to Taiwan’s vibrant design field

2024-02-19

Today we meet a new immigrant from Britain, who, along with his wife, is serving Taiwan’s vibrant design field. Gideon Lowy is a designer and architect who has lived in Taiwan for over 20 years. After a successful career in Europe, he and his wife decided to make their home in Taiwan, because of its unique and powerful social opportunities. Lowy works with government, business and academia to design life afresh.

Born in Britain and raised in Denmark, with a double masters in design and architecture, Gideon Lowy came to Taiwan for the first time in 1995, to attend a symposium of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design. That’s when he met his future wife, Liao Chia-ling, and embarked on a collaboration with Taiwan that convinced him of the country’s development. In 2002, he decided to settle here.

Gideon Lowy
Designer and British immigrant
Really, what attracted me to Taiwan was this incredible curiosity and openness to learn, to invite people to develop, to move forward, and to open up. Experience in the world. There’s no other country like Taiwan, which has had such an amazing development, so peacefully, so harmoniously, and with such amazing results.

The couple originally worked in Denmark. But eventually, Lowy encouraged his wife to return to Taiwan and contribute to her field here.

Liao Chia-ling
Wife of Gideon Lowy
He said to me, “You’re a talent, like it or not. But as a talent, you’re abroad, contributing to other countries. It’s like you’re watering other people’s fields. Your country is changing, and it needs lots of international talent right now, as well as professional skills. Come back to your country to contribute.”

While working in Denmark, Lowy won many international design prizes. He helped design a telephone set for a historic Danish audio company, incorporating super-thin speakers for interior design purposes. He also designed a pyramid-shaped tea bag for a Taiwanese brand. Lowy often says, “Design is about making life better.”

Gideon Lowy
Designer and British immigrant
We love to design for them because they give us a lot of opportunity, just as Taiwan has given us a lot of opportunity. So we’ve been able to help small companies, big companies, the government, university, industry, business, help to upgrade to the next level. This is really what we do.

Working with industry, academia and government, Lowy’s observation of historical changes and cultural evolution in Taiwan leads him to choose Taiwan as his home.

This story was provided by the program "We Are Family"
Funded by New Immigrant Development Fund

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