Week 8 / GDI @Taipei

Global Design Initiative

This week I had the honour of representing LASALLE at Global Design Initiative (GDI) 2026 in Taipei. Together with designers from globally orientated art and design institutions around the world, we explored this year's project "Rebranding Tamsui to Strangers."

The workshop encouraged us to examine how narrative can shape design interventions, using cultural artefacts, and places as source material for new interpretations.

Experience to Remember for Life

GDI pushed me out of my comfort zone to step into a deeply immersive, intensive, and collaborative design environment that challenged both my thinking and practice. Working on this project made me understand how we can use narrative to operate as a critical framework in shaping design interventions. Tamsui was more than just a site. It functioned as a living archive. Layers of history and cultural intersections revealed new ways of seeing and interpreting "strangeness".

There were many different methods of thinking, discussing, making, and presenting during this entire workshop. Materials like A1 papers, markers, post-it notes gave me the space to just think big, and do. I found this method particularly helpful because it helped to just get in the mood of making and doing. It was a stressful experience because time was extremely tight and we had presentations every other day. I wasn't proud of the outcome my team had as I felt that the work is not polished enough. As we had to constantly prepare for these checkpoints, I was constantly in the environment where I had to make and push forward. Having the important guests view our presentations at these checkpoints allowed them to better understand our progress, and design thinking.

This experience was not only intellectually enriching, but also personally meaningful. I got to navigate unfamiliar perspectives, and reflect more critically. Ultimately, it reinforced that design is not just about creating outcomes, but about engaging with complexity, context, and people in a thoughtful and intentional way.

Thank you to Shih Chien University for hosting this year's programme, and to my extremely wonderful lecturers and dean @ LASALLE who made this opportunity possible.