Taiwan Colored Glasses and Bikes

April 12, 2012

We recently returned from Taiwan where I did a color training program for Giant Bikes. They were marvelous hosts and their design teams outstanding in the presentations they did in their workshops. The design director is Edward Chiang and when I had first met him I told him that I thought he had a very famous family name, as in the name of Chiang Kai-Shek, Taiwan’s venerated former political leader. Edward informed me that this was his great-grandfather and that his great grandmother was the famous Madame Chiang Kai-shek.

Many of you will know the Giant brand. They build sturdy and handsome bikes that are sold internationally, so they were most interested in international trends and the psychology of lifestyle in making color decisions. Another specific interest involved their Liv line for women and it too is a quality product.

Liv/giant Avail Inspire – News | Giant Bicycles | United States.

They are very thoughtful and conscientious about their color choices and it was a real delight to work with them. While in Taichung, we also got to see James Soames of Subkarma, co-owner of a fabulous branding company we have worked with in the past. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to connect with his alter-ego and partner, brother Tony Soames, but I had just seen them at the International Housewares Show in Chicago where I do a keynote every year and had asked them to join me on the podium the next day to discuss cultural differences (or similarities) between Asian markets and U.S.

http://www.subkarma.com/lan_en/index.php

As always, we were gifted with some wonderful goodies (that is such a lovely Asian tradition) including a beautiful glass piece from an amazing glass artist name Loretta H. Yang.