【Sunday Slow Moments】VVG Something Bookstore Workshop

“I always feel it’s not us who found these vintage items, but that they found us,” say Yang Ge and Liao Yixian from Waiwai Design Studio. And perhaps the story unfolds the same way: not that people choose to meet stories at the bookstore, but that stories choose to happen there. People meet at the bookstore, the bookstore sells stories, people hope to find stories there and also create them. Eventually, stories are passed on through human encounters, collide and spark, evolving into new narratives. Reading, and creating. So turning the bookstore into a classroom feels almost natural—and that’s what makes this class unique: we don’t just learn, we also share.

 

Before asking why there’s a “Waiwai Fun Workshop” in the bookstore, you should ask: why open such a bookstore in the first place? VVG Something Bookstore, which was named one of the “World’s 20 Most Beautiful Bookstores” by U.S. arts and culture website Flavorwire.com earlier this year, has, in just four years since opening, transcended being merely a space for reading and information exchange to become a second living realm. It’s not just beautiful, but beautifully elegant, with traces of daily life everywhere—just as the website described: beyond practical value, it has the grace of the old world, like the ideal ship cabin we imagine. Speaking of this honor, Grace Wang Liqin, founder and person-in-charge of the VVG Hao Yang series, laughed and said, “We didn’t even know we were interviewed. We only found out when we got the congratulatory call.” As mentioned repeatedly during the interview—going with the flow. Faced with applause and encouragement, Grace just smiled lightly, in keeping with her usual style. Opening a restaurant or a bookstore, for her, is all about letting things happen naturally.

“I love books and collect them. Opening a bookstore isn’t just about fulfilling a dream—it all just fell into place,” Grace says. Beyond her own joy, she’s eager to share her love for books and life, a spark ignited by the 2008–2009 financial crisis. “Back then, Taipei felt so downcast and lifeless. But the more that was the case, the more I wanted to do something impulsive and fun,” Grace recalls. And so, with the simple thought of “fun,” VVG Something Bookstore was born. Reading can show us sights we don’t normally see, hence the fun. Running a bookstore lets you go book hunting around the world openly and proudly, hence even more fun. Opening a book is a journey; opening a bookstore is one too. Take a closer look at the store’s selection: mostly art and design books from around the world, paired with various quirky goods the owner has gathered globally, filling the space with her personality and taste. “At first, I wasn’t entirely sure about the direction of the bookstore. I just felt the ideal bookstore should be small but cozy, so the book selection leaned toward my personal likes and strengths—focusing on design books, those with originality, especially those with uniquely bound covers. Small in quantity but high in quality, new or old, many were treasures I dug up in second-hand bookstores abroad,” Grace says.

As for the store’s name, after much deliberation, it was inspired by a stage play Grace watched—Eddie Peng and Sylvia Chang’s “In Love We Trust”—which triggered memories of going to the cinema with family as a child. “In the old days, there used to be stacks of ‘story synopses’ in front of cinemas—what we called ‘ben shi’—which were important references for moviegoers, tied to the excitement and emotion of going to the theater. But you don’t see those anymore.” Some things remain only in memory as time passes, and perhaps that’s why people are so attached to printed words. Hence the name “Hao Ben Shi”—“Good Story Thing.” Or maybe it’s the kind of “ability” referred to as “ben shi,” or simply “book-related matters.” There are many interpretations. And VVG Hao Yang, of course, stands for “very very good,” or even a hearty “you did well!”

 

Just as the English name of VVG Something implies—hoping that something happens or unfolds in the bookstore—Grace had already incorporated workshops into the plan from the beginning. With a frequency of once or twice a month, weekend afternoons are reserved for hands-on activities and sharing. During these times, the books on the large wooden table in the center of the store are cleared away, and everyone pulls out the various chairs Grace has unearthed from storage—each one unique, but all sharing one certainty: the more wooden, the comfier and more characterful they get with use.

Most of the instructors are Grace’s friends, such as teacher Yang Zhongming who runs paper roll lead stamp workshops, or teacher Shen Zhaoliang who hosts STAGE photography talks. On the day of our visit, we met Yang Ge and Liao Yixian, connected through the 2012 Taipei International Book Fair’s “Beautiful Day” project. As if bound by a shared love for books, their exhibition piece was a reading lamp made from an old camera. What used to be the lens now emits a warm glow, having once observed the world and now accompanying a new owner into the new worlds within books.

 

The pair are industrial product designers by trade and co-run Waiwai Design Studio. In early 2012, they started the “Reborn 重华” project, a mini revolution among youth. Though trained in mass-production industrial design, both are fascinated by old things and hope to redefine their value and find new roles for them through renovation and reuse—like career counseling for aged objects.