Harmony in the City Through Masterful Eyes: Ultra-Contemporary Design from London Debuts

Text by Li Xinyi, compiled and reported

Coinciding with the grand celebrations of the "2011 Taipei World Design Capital" and the "Taiwan Design Year: Centennial of the Republic of China," the Taipei Fine Arts Museum has specially introduced the exhibition "Ultra Contemporary: Design from London," curated by the Design Museum in London. The exhibition is structured along a timeline of past, present, and future, and features 15 leading figures in contemporary British design. They re-examine public visions through modern thinking—how design can create or improve urban life as a way to give back to the city that once made their names. Through this, the exhibition also reflects their keen observations of London's cultural atmosphere.

When the Design Museum in London planned this exhibition in 2009, it specially invited 15 established and emerging designers based in London to present new design products or concepts. The participating artists are top-tier talents with diverse fields of expertise, including fashion designers Paul Smith and Wayne Hemingway; Zaha Hadid, the first female laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize; Thomas Heatherwick, who recently designed the UK Pavilion for the Shanghai Expo; Industrial Facility, the European creative director of product design for Muji; internationally renowned product designers Ron Arad and Tom Dixon; Paul Cocksedge, who leverages the chemical and physical properties of materials such as thermal expansion and conductivity as unique product features; and Neville Brody, a graphic designer who redesigned the typography and layout for the print and online versions of UK newspapers such as The Guardian and The Observer to establish a new corporate identity. Brody’s typefaces span across pop culture, street style, and commercial domains. He is also the founder of one of the most important cultural publications of 1980s Britain, “The Face,” and is among the exhibiting artists.

How do these contemporary design masters bring new creativity to London, improving both civic life and the urban landscape? Paul Smith’s “A New Bin for London” is a rabbit-shaped bin that lights up its ears when users approach the opening—a concept product reflecting personal taste, responding to the city with humor and playfulness. Other designers chose iconic, everyday objects found throughout London for inspiration, such as bus stops, streetlights, and post offices. Take Thomas Heatherwick’s “Branching Streetlight,” for example—he transformed the ordinary upright streetlights found on every corner into whimsical, seemingly dancing installations.