▲ This year, the Golden Pin Salon made its debut in Bangkok, hosted at the Thailand Creative & Design Center (TCDC), the most iconic creative design hub in Southeast Asia. 

The "Design Perspectives x Golden Pin Salon," organized by the Industrial Development Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Golden Pin Design Award, is restarting its overseas journey and embarking on an Asian tour this year, aiming to stimulate more design exchanges. 

In May, two salons were held respectively in Bangkok, Thailand, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The events featured four outstanding designers and creatives who have won the Best Design Awards, including NK Kuo, founder of Forest-Wood Archi-Tect.; Ocean Ou, founder of Duolog Design; Varudh Varavarn, an architect and recipient of the Silpathorn Award in Thailand, and Vivian Toh, co-founder of Tsubaki Studio in Malaysia. 

They gathered together to discuss design perspectives and cultural observations. The salons attracted nearly a hundred attendees both online and offline, making it a significant international design exchange event held for the first time after the pandemic.

▲ Vice President of TDRI, Oliver Lin, representing the organizers, delivered a speech at the Golden Pin Salon in Bangkok.

The theme of the Bangkok salon was “Power of Design: How to Exercise Sustainability through Design.” The salon has invited Varudh Varavarn, founder and principal architect of renowned Vin Varavarn Architects (VVA) in Thailand, to speak at the event. 

Thai architect Varudh Varavarn took the stage and presented his award-winning project, the "PANNAR Sufficiency Economic and Agriculture Learning Center," which received the Best Design Award at the 2021 Golden Pin Design Award. With the theme "The Possibilities of Transformation," Varavarn discussed how the project leverages local craftsmanship and indigenous materials to create durable and environmentally harmonious modern architectural spaces. He also highlighted the center's role in revitalizing and fostering community cohesion.

▲ Thai speaker Varudh Varavarn shared his design philosophy.

▲ The 2023 Golden Pin Salon in Bangkok.

The theme of the Kuala Lumpur salon will be “The Value of Design: Exploring the Economic, Social, and Cultural Impact of Design.” The salon featured Vivian Toh, co-founder of Tsubaki Studio and co-organizer of the event, as one of the speakers. Vivian Toh is a famous design professional in Malaysia who specializes in branding and design, curation, and media marketing. She is best known as the editor-in-chief of the independent graphic design magazine CUTOUT.  

She began by sharing her personal journey of founding "CUTOUT" with her father's encouragement. She generously shared her 13-year experience in running the magazine, including how they infused design meaning and direction into each issue, making it uniquely distinct. Their goal was not only to create visually engaging content but also to provide readers with a meaningful reading experience.

▲ Vivian Toh, the Malaysian speaker, shared her journey of founding a magazine and their design thought process.

Additionally, she shared branding and packaging design cases that were completed during the pandemic, discussing how creativity can embody brand value and adapt to the rapidly evolving e-commerce market. Lastly, she emotionally expressed her belief that despite the challenges designers face in the rapidly advancing technological era, their role will become increasingly indispensable due to their ability to create unique visual narratives and brand identities. She encouraged fellow designers in attendance to inspire and support each other.

▲ The 2023 Golden Pin Salon in Kuala Lumpur.

Two Taiwanese designers also participated in the salons held in Thailand and Malaysia, contributing to the design dialogue and exchange. Ocean Ou, the founder of Duolog Design, returned to Taiwan from the United States in 2020 and has since been dedicated to circular design. In 2021, he established the circular lifestyle brand "Hibāng." The brand's very first product, the "Hibāng RE-fishing Net Circular Eyewear," made from recycled fishing nets, received the prestigious Best Design Award at the 2022 Golden Pin Design Award.

Ou presented on the topic of "Designer’s Role in Circular Economics." He shared how they transformed discarded fishing nets, which could have become marine waste and environmental hazards, into lightweight and durable eyewear products. Furthermore, he discussed designing a circular business model to support sustainable goals. The audience, both in-person and online, were engaged and actively participated in discussions, delving into details about material transformation, practical applications, and even asking for the purchasing channels in Malaysia.

▲ Ocean Ou shared his experiences and case studies in circular design at the Bangkok event.

▲ The audience at the Kuala Lumpur event had the opportunity to experience the "Hibāng RE-fishing Net Circular Eyewear."

NK Kuo, the founder of Forest-Wood Archi-Tect., was another Taiwanese speaker. His projects, "vortex@EMBERS" and "Maker Space - Popop Taipei," received the prestigious Best Design Award at the Golden Pin Design Award in 2020 and 2021 respectively. 

Under the theme "I Design & Make & Build with Steam in Forest Tree in Eco-Friendly Architecture," Kuo led the audience from both countries on a journey into Taiwan's forests. He shared his experience in utilizing domestically sourced timber and friendly construction techniques to create unique and environmentally friendly wooden structures, including forest classrooms. The audience showed great interest and actively posed questions, seeking a deeper understanding of his creative philosophy, process, and technical intricacies.

▲ NK Kuo shared his design philosophy of coexisting with nature through timber structures at the Kuala Lumpur event.

In addition, the two salons joined hands with "Ideathon" and specially invite Sanitas Pradittasnee, a renowned landscape designer in Thailand and founder of Sanitas Studio, as well as Alan Fong, design director of Millimetre Design Sdn Bhd, an interior design company in Malaysia, to share and exchange their experiences. 

Sanitas Pradittasnee showcased her installation art, based on the concept of "Khao mo" (artificial hills), in various exhibition contexts. Her imitation of nature not only paid homage to nature but also served as a medium for herself to communicate with the universe.

▲ Sanitas Pradittasnee was invited by Ideathon as a speaker at the Bangkok event.

Alan Fong shared the rapidly changing landscape of interior design from a technological perspective, discussing visible trends shaping the future. He also shared his own design cases, demonstrating how they employ technology as an aid to meet diverse needs such as transparency and remote collaboration, ultimately achieving more user-friendly spatial utilization.

▲ Alan Fong was invited by Ideathon as a speaker at the Kuala Lumpur event.

▲ Group photo of the speakers at the Bangkok event.

▲ Group photo of the speakers at the Kuala Lumpur event.

The 2023 Golden Pin Salon in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur concluded successfully with enthusiastic interactions with the audience. Looking ahead, the Golden Pin Salon will be held in Shenzhen in June. Stay tuned for the latest updates on the event through the official website or WeChat official account.

Meanwhile, the awards for this year are now open for submissions. The Golden Pin Design Award is seeking entries for commercially available products or completed and operational spatial/integrated design works. Applicants can be either the business owners or design teams. The registration deadline is July 5th at 17:00 Taipei time, with an early bird extension until June 19th at 23:59 Taipei time. Registering and completing the payment within the specified period will enjoy discounted registration fees. 

The Golden Pin Concept Design Award is also accepting submissions until June 29th at 17:00 Taipei time, and there is no registration fee. The top three winners of the Best Design Award will receive a substantial cash prize of NT$400,000. Don't miss this opportunity and make sure to submit your entries on time!