Six students, Chi-Leng Chang, Yen-Feng Lu, Chi-Wei Shih, Nien-Yang Li, Yu-Cheng Lin and Yi-Cheng Chan, from the Creative Product Design (CPD) Department at Asia University (AU) with their works entitled “Series Gifts from Asia Museum of Modern Art” were granted an iF Concept Design Award recently. The vice dean of the Creative Design College and the chair of the VCD Dept. at AU, Prof. Sheng-Min Hsien, mentioned that the German iF Design Award is regarded as the “Academy Award” in the design circle in the world, and that students and expert designers from 41 countries with a total of 2000 artworks participated the contest this year.
 

The award-winning works ”Series Gifts from Asia Museum of Modern Art” designed by Chi-Leng Chang et al. of an AU student team from the CPD Dept. are based on the ideas behind the architecture of the Asia Museum of Modern Art (the Asia Modern) designed by the world-famous architect Mr. Ando Tadao from Japan. These ideas include the clear water mould method for building construction, the triangular shape of the building, as well as the identity image of the museum. And the award-winning works includes four different gift products  a present box, a plant pot, a bookmark, and a magnet. The present box, which is an incense stick case, comes from the idea of a sophisticated art of Zen, matching the spirit of Mr. Ando Tadao’s architecture. It is hoped that people can find comfort and peace for the weary hearts while using the incense. The handmade concrete plant pot depicts Mr. Ando Tadao’s blueprint of the Asia Modern, leading users to experience the relationship among plants, fair-faced concrete and the appliance, feeling the warmth of humanity within. Finally, the designs of the bookmark and the magnet was inspired by a feature of Asia Modern’s Architecture, three staggered layers into a scene of harmony.
 

The Advisor to the student team from the VCD Dept., Prof. Pang-Soong Lin, said that the four award-winning products have been transferred to the industry and massed produced for market sales. Except being available at the bookstore of the Asia Modern, they can also be purchased in international markets, such as the Macau Design Centre and the Teda Creative Shops, both in Macau.
 

The students of the Creative Design College have won 65 Red Dot Awards so far, including 13 Red Dot “Best of the Best” prizes as well as 5 iF Design Awards in Germany, and two G-Mark Good Design Awards in Japan. In addition, totally 339 metals of international invention competitions were granted to AU students in 8 years, which was an outstanding performance. One of the works entitled Luggage Scale gained a total of technology-transfer royalty of NTD 940,000, and some of them have already been mass produced for sale on the market. Furthermore, AU has received the No. 1 Award of International Art and Design Competitions given by the MOE for 4 straight years.