Smangus - Wendy Yun-chia Lo

Chapter 2: Literature Review
Smangus - A backpack honouring Aboriginal Taiwanese Culture
Regardless, some designers still use the traditional way of producing beautiful
crafts, such as the Bamboo chair (Figure 20-23), which is handmade in Jhushan,
Taiwan, and designed by Hong Kong designer Milk Design (Lei, 2015).
Although the chair still has the nail heads which do not belong to nature,
Bamboo chairs demonstrate the natural beauty in a bamboo’s shape and show
the feeling of cultural meaning. This case shows the great opportunity of
designing camping equipment using natural materials and Taiwanese traditional
crafts skills.
2.8 Taiwanese Aboriginal Crafts
Those traditional Taiwanese crafts with natural
materials might have started with Taiwanese
Aboriginal people (Figure 24). Stainton (1999) stated
that Taiwanese Aboriginal peoples are identified
as Austronesian people and speak the languages
most archaic of the Indonesian branch. Although
there was nothing but only the natural environment
when the Indigenous arrived in Formosa (named
by the Portugese which means the beautiful island),
they developed their ways to coexist with nature
by creating the objects with natural materials. The
Taiwan government has officially recognised 16 ethnic
tribes: Ami, Atayal, Bunun, Hla’alua, Kanakanavu,
Kavalan, Paiwan, Puyuma, Rukai, Saisiyat, Tao,
Thao, Tsou, Truku, Sakizaya, and Sediq. They all look
similar, but they have a difference in their ‘traditional
cultures’. Their cultures aim to follow ancestral spirits
and respect to the land they rely on, such as hunting,
festivals, apparels and tattoos. The most distinctive is
their weaving skills, which can be recognised in their
clothing (Figure 25). They not only weave by using the
natural material ‘ramie’ with complex processing, but
also engage in dyeing with plants or minerals.
Figure 24: Taiwanese Indigenous people.
Figure 25: Weaving by Taiwanese Indigenous.
Figure 20-23: Bamboo Chair by Milk Design.
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