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DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?

: It is possible to recycle Earth starting from recycling umbrellas. This installation uses recycled ribs and stretchers from broken umbrellas to draw people’s attention of environmental pollution. The arrangement of rib sets creates scenes in two-way interlacing mechanism with a new description of order.

DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?

: Recycled umbrella parts were used to create an installation to draw people’s attention of environmental pollution. I have collected broken umbrellas of mine for a while. Each type of umbrella may have slightly different designs of color, finish, material, section configuration, and joint mechanism. The diversities make this installation an exploration and contribution to the green environment.

DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?

: Promote it, sale it, or keep developing it in different scales, materials, or under different themes.

DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?

: I started to make use of linear members of broken umbrellas for design pedagogy purpose a few years ago. The architectural design studio is located in Taipei. Part of the earlier collections was deconstructed for this installation. There still are several shafts and five broken ones waiting to be decomposed.

DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?

: This design is not commissioned and acts as a pursuit of an inspiration.

DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?

: This design was not produced or used by another company. To sell or lease related production rights are welcome, although I prefer to produce this work myself.

DI: What made you design this particular type of work?

: I would like to make the best of the broken ones by recycling them. Another inspiration comes from the image of bag opener that stores something memorable out of wastes. People can walk around this installation to explore the tension of linear members from different angles. Some rib sets can be stretched to form a slightly different boundary. The arrangement of rib sets creates different orders around the installation.

DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?

: No other designs and designers that helped the influence the design of my work.

DI: Who is the target customer for his design?

: The potential target customers include interior designers and architects to be added as part of design or decoration, or for private collectors for personal collections.

DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?

: There might be design with similar concepts, but it’s the manner of interpretation in terms of configuration that makes difference.

DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?

: The name came from the recycled umbrella parts that were used to create an installation to draw people’s attention of environmental pollution.

DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?

: This design was manually done. It is time-consuming to decompose umbrella and interlace all sets as a whole. To deconstruct an umbrella has to remove canopy and untie the steel wire in the notch and runner.

DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?

: The diversities make this installation an exploration and contribution to the green environment.

DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?

: Nobody collaborates with me for this design.

DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?

: This design was manually done. The role of technology in this particular design was very limited.

DI: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?

: Research shows the metal parts of umbrella can be recycled but not the canopy. How many umbrellas do we ever use in entire life? Where did those umbrellas go? Researches reveal that umbrellas are difficult to recycle because different types of materials are used and each of them has to be handled under specific category.

DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?

: The first challenge was to relate the image after a hurricane hit the ground and the subject to be recycled. It is also challenging and time-consuming to separate all parts in a proper sequence and to manage the folding and unfolding mechanism interlaced in a two-way composition. Rib and stretcher are two perfect linear components. The hinge in between creates a dynamic folding and unfolding mechanism to enable a more versatile interface The application of pin was very helpful because it offered space and tolerance for turns up to ninety degrees.

DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?

: It is a self-promoting or self-evolving process to become part of an international design competition.

DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?

: A design work was improved through stages of development in a recursive loop of examination under different scales. That’s why some design works were made more than one year.

DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?

: There is always issue to be addressed. Let’s keep it open for next year or next competition.