Connecting businesses
So-called 3C products (computer, communications, consumer electronics) have become part of the modern desktop landscape. Technology has impacted even traditional items like desk lamps, storage boxes, and flashlights by introducing new materials and new looks.
Pegatron, an ASUS spinoff, has moved from contract manufacturing to design services, and established its own upscale design-oriented brand. Called Pegacasa, the brand aims to forge tighter links between up- and downstream firms through materials R&D and design, and to provide Taiwan with opportunities to build on its technological strengths.
Pegacasa’s Renaissance series of products for the home exemplify its design philosophy: integrating culture with technology and finding a balance between natural materials and design aesthetics.
Alain Lee, Pegatron’s design director, says that the Pegacasa team decided to make a desk accessory its first product. Recognizing that people today work long hours and face stringent business-related demands, the team targets its new designs at the experience economy. Lee says, “We try to create designs that not only have a high-end look, but also tell a story.”
The team chose bamboo as the Renaissance series’ trademark material, using different varieties to highlight their natural fibers and lines.
Pegacasa earned the Chicago Athenaeum’s Good Design Award in 2015 for its ma bamboo LED desk lamp. The lamp’s bamboo arm includes only a single node where the power switch is located. The arm also fully integrates the LEDs, making it look as if the light has been grown in the bamboo.
The brand’s “Torch” flashlight is another trademark piece. The flashlight’s moso bamboo body is carbonized, colored, and dried; the contacts in its battery compartment are plated with gold; its beam can illuminate objects six stories up; and it features a switch with a finely crafted rotating lever.
Lee says, “Our search for materials, our design, and our manufacturing processes were all dynamic, with our designers and bamboo craftsmen influencing one another throughout. The end product integrates mechanical and electronic design to great effect, and highlights the skillfulness of Taiwan’s traditional bamboo handicrafts.” This kind of cooperation also enables Taiwan’s master bamboo craftsmen to keep their craft alive.
Pegatron’s designs are driven in part by chairman T.H. Tung’s belief that the objects should embody a moral argument. The company also devotes significant effort to materials research, then looks for small and medium-sized enterprises with the technologies it needs to bring its designs to life. In so doing, it is creating new opportunities for traditional craftsmen to extend their art and integrate it with technology.
Pegatron holds itself to high standards even when designing something as simple as a cellphone case, a project that brought about a partnership with a firm making forged carbon products in Taichung. “This kind of experience enables us to offer clients more extensive design services,” says Lee. “Applying this experience to other IT-related products lets us show clients new techniques that we’ve acquired and demonstrate our R&D capabilities.”
ASUS found inspiration in origami for the design of the world’s first water-cooled gaming laptop. The company has captured 40% of the global PC gaming market by optimizing its gaming line to meet gamers’ needs. (courtesy of ASUS)