Spring "Giftionery'" show highlights local creativity

This article was written by Allen Hsu and published by the Taiwan Journal on May 12, 2006. It features the 2006 Taipei International Gift and Stationery Spring Show (Giftionery Taipei 2006), which took place at the Taipei World Trade Center from April 23 to 26, 2006. In recent years, the show has become one of the most favorite trade shows among members of the public in Taiwan.

The show was jointly organized by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, the Taiwan Gift and Houseware Exporters Association, the Taiwan Association of Stationery Industries, and several other trade organizations. In 2006, the show features more than 320 local and international exhibitors, who occupied 520 booths. More than 2,000 buyers from more than 50 countries, including the United States, Canada, France, India, Japan, Australia and Hong Kong, attended the show.

The giftware industry is one of Taiwan's major labor-intensive, export-oriented industries. Most local giftware manufacturers are small or medium-sized enterprises, some of which operate close tot heir sources of raw materials. For example, Taipei County's Yingge Township has developed as a center for ceramics manufacturing in recent years, thanks to nearby supplies of superior clay. The bamboo forests near Miaoli County's Sanyi Township have also enabled the town to become a center for the production of bamboo products. Finally, Hualien City and other towns close to marble quarries in Taiwan's east coast are known for their production of marble vases and other paraphernalia.

Taiwan's giftware industry began to take off in the 1970s, when Taiwan focused on developing export-oriented industries. At that time, major retail stores across the United States were full of made-in-Taiwan giftware and household products, while Taiwan-made ceramic figurines and other knick-knacks were also popular in Japanese and European markets.

However, in the 1980s, after China opened up to foreign investment, many small and medium-sized Taiwanese companies that made labor-intensive products began to move their manufacturing operations to China. Those that stayed behind found it increasingly difficult to compete with China's cheap labor.

Taiwan's giftware and stationery industries experienced similar problems. Specifically, stationery products may be divided into a number of general groups according to the materials used, such as plastic products, metallic products, wood pulp products, and chemically concocted products. These general groups of products may be further classified as those for everyday use, those for professional and commercial use, and fashionable gift items. This is why the manufacturing of stationery products developed at a relatively late period in Taiwan when compared to other manufacturing sectors.

For example, in 1949, there was only one pencil maker in Taiwan. During the 1950s, small, family-run factories started to set up and produce ballpoint pens, watercolors, crayons, inks and a wide variety of papers. In the 1960s, when the local demand for stationery products reached a saturation point, Taiwanese manufacturers began to turn to export markets. Thanks to a 44-percent import duty that protected their domestic market, and to a favorable exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the New Taiwan dollar that stimulated exports, makers of stationery products in Taiwan enjoyed steady growth.

Later, the lowering of tariffs and appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar had a severe impact on Taiwan's stationery industry. People also began to buy large quantities of high-quality, previously high-priced foreign products, mostly from Japan and the United States. Worse, over the past decade, the volume of Taiwan's exports to the United States has been declining, due to the fierce competition of cheap goods from China and Southeast Asia.

According to this article, in recent years, manufacturers of stationery products have been facing other challenges in their attempt to survive. One such challenge is to make their products environmentally friendly. Manufacturers have to use nontoxic inks, as well as recycled and recyclable materials, which has increased costs.

Another challenge faced by Taiwanese manufacturers of stationery products is to face the reality that customers now demand more than superior quality and environmentally friendly products. In order to survive in the market, stationery products need to be genuinely creative so that they can stand out among all the competitors. Indeed, people are willing to pay good money for something they really, really like.

As a result, Giftionery Taipei was established by trade associations in Taiwan to show the world how creative Taiwanese manufacturers can be. In 2006, the show features three special pavilions, which are the Brand Licensing Area, the Taiwan Creative Core Area, and the Galaxy of Rising Stars.

At the Brand Licensing Area, holders of more than 100 well-known brands licensed their brands for use in all types of products. For example, Michelin, a leading supplier of car and truck tires, aimed at licensing Asian manufacturers to use its trademark for automobile accessories, various types of gifts and daily-use articles. Speedo, a sportswear giant, also aimed to promote its brand among manufacturers of consumer electronic products such as waterproof watches, digital cameras and MP3 players.

A number of Taiwanese-produced cartoons, media and video games were displayed at the Brand Licensing Area for overseas licensing. Representatives from the National Palace Museum were also there to offer a great variety of licensable copyrighted images from its vast collection of Chinese art and artifacts. Specifically, the museum displayed gift items that are superior-quality replicas of traditional Chinese artifacts, as well as products whose designs were inspired by the museum's antiquities. The museum's primary intention is to bring traditional culture into the mainstream, so that young people can benefit from the aesthetic sensibilities of their ancestors by using old things in new ways.

At the Taiwan Creative Core Area, a variety of Taiwan-made products were displayed in three categories - utensils, ceramics and souvenirs. They were judged by the National Taiwan Craft Research Institute to be particularly outstanding products.

All the products in the utensils category were winners of the National Taiwan Craft Research Institute's "C-Mark" certification, which stands for "Taiwan Good Craft Mark" for creative design. Meanwhile, the ceramics products were selected for their combination of aesthetic beauty and functionality and mainly consisted of tableware and tea sets. Finally, products in the souvenir category were made from local materials and reflected the distinctiveness of various Taiwanese cultural traits.

In recent years, local governments across Taiwan have been working hard to promote products that make creative use of Taiwanese cultural heritage. According to the National Taiwan Craft Research Institute, these products stand for not only the creativity of their designers, but also the vitality of Taiwan's artistic crafts industry. It is hoped that these products can serve the purpose of attracting international buyers while boosting Taiwan's image to the whole world.

At the Galaxy of Rising Stars area, new products that are in a pre-commercial stage of development were displayed, in order to attract foreign buyers who would like to offer these new and unique items in their respective markets. The establishment of this area was prompted by the remarkable growth of patent applications filed by Taiwanese manufacturers in recent years.

Indeed, according to the Intellectual Property Office under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, a record number of 79,437 applications were filed in 2005, including those for invention, utility model and design patents. This was a significant increase from 72,082 in 2004, and 47,055 in 1996, and represented a growth of 69 percent over the last decade. Also in 2005, the number of Taiwanese applying for invention patents reached 20,093. This was a 20-percent increase from 16,747 in 2004. Meanwhile, foreign parties filed 27,746 applications for invention patents in 2005.