Taiwan’s pop art hotel launches a food design initiative with an international design team
When W Taipei opened in the Taiwanese capital city’s emerging Xinyi District, it set a new tone that confirmed the area’s reputation as the most vibrant and hip part of the city. Opened on Valentine’s Day 2011, it remains the centerpiece of contemporary art, nightlife and thinking in the area, and this month it launches what it says is a collaborative food design project on a scale that the world has never before seen.
Titled “Food Re-design TDC X W TAIPEI,” and led by Executive Chef Colin Chun, the 4-month initiative seems a team consisting of Dutch designer Annelies Hermsen, Editor-in-Chief of GQ Magazine Blues To (Du Tsu-Ye), Carnival Vice President Stephanie Wen, and Tainaner Ensemble Co-Artistic Director Tsai Pao-Chang lead nine local designers in combining art and cuisine.
Ideas include eatable light bulbs by Colin Chun that were shown at the launch of the project. The red light bulb is made from tomato jello, the green from cucumber and herbs jello, and the white from mozzarella cheese.
“Food Re-design TDC X W TAIPEI” aims to turn the hotel’s “The Kitchen Table” restaurant into a theater, in keeping with the aesthetics of a hotel bursting with modern art, even in its core structure. Chen, who has served the likes of Hugh Jackman, Orlando Bloom, and Miranda Kerr, is aiming to present design proposals for utensils, space and dining style, as well as with the food itself.
W Taipei, designed by G.A. Design International Ltd. of London, was constructed with a panoramic view of Taipei 101, formerly the world’s tallest building. Encased in glass, it is seemingly anchored to the ground by way of a giant stainless steel piece simple called “The Chain,” which supports the entrance roof. With organic plants lining the wall of the lobby, a first step in the hotel immediately alerts the senses – and that’s before ascending to the lobby.
Light pulsates throughout the hotel, including on the open-plan ground floor, used as a meeting point for visitors to the bars and clubs of the area. Here, an installation titled “You Fade to Light” by rAndom International allows visitors to engage with light directly, utilizing custom-made software and several hundred OLEDs.
Notable art pieces in the hotels public spaces include a sculpture made of mirrored plastic and bamboo sheets that hangs from the ceiling, and Taiwanese artist Howard Chen’s “Purple Target,” a circular canvas in silver and purple dotted with thumbtacks that has become the back ground of many guests wishing to capture selfies with imaginative art.
A major feature of the W Taipei is the W Living Room, a space that by day serves as a cozy meeting space with circular day beds, by evening is alight with a fireplace and the illuminations of the outdoor pool seeping in through a wall of windows, and by weekend night turns into a disco, hosting high-profile DJs from around the world at events like Hed Kandi.
Perhaps the hotel’s most luxurious location – for layabouts at least – is the WET pool skydeck, where sunloungers and cradle-style chairs are scattered around a rooftop pool, backed by an open deck and the popular WOO bar. Art is never far way though, and at the waters edge stands a metal bubble sculpture designed to mimic water droplets, with ceramic butterflies hovering above.
With 405 rooms, W Taipei is surprisingly Taipei’s largest luxury hotel, and yet each room very much feels like its own mini-design studio. Lighting is reminiscent of Chinese lanterns, but for the most part its all about providing for the modern jetsetter, with flat screen TVs, wireless networks and charging docks for devices, all in a colorful environment that is both luxury and contemporary in feel. A neat touch is the “Where Are You” deconstructed map hanging on the wall that seems to bring the outside inside – a reminder that hotels are the temporary home of travellers.
For more information: www.wtaipei.com
