Market Report: Taiwan

Traveling around Taipei to our scheduled appointments was an adventure that allowed me to see a variety of neighborhoods. Even for our TAITRA host, it wasn't always easy to find our destination, as was the case with the factory showroom of Sum Plus Enterprise Co., which is tucked down an alley-like side street.

At the Sum Plus showroom, we met with Fan Wei-Chan, artist and founder, along with general manager Jason Fang and Miranda Lin. This small, family-owned business produces high-end wall art, room screens, and boxes using the Japanese lacquer art technique known as Makia. Makia is the highest level of lacquer art, distinguished by three-dimensional, sculptural quality in the artwork. Wei-Chan is a master of the artform, and his talent is evident in the finished pieces displayed around the room.

Each piece is handmade, hand-painted and embellished with real gold leaf. The handwork of the Makia lacquer art process is labor-intensive and very time-consuming. Smaller pieces such as decorative boxes take approximately one month to complete; large wall pieces can take up to six months. One of the key factors is the amount of time required for the lacquer to dry. Each layer of lacquer must dry completely before the next step of process can proceed. But once a piece is finished it has a lasting quality, with colors bright and details sharp for years to come.

Up until now, the main market for Sum Plus has been Japan, but the company is trying to branch out.

“Realizing that we are part of a global village, we are now trying to reach out to new markets, and take our beautiful art to new audiences all over the world,” said Wei-Chan.

Because of their labor-intensive handmade process and the large amount of gold leaf used to embellish these pieces, each comes with a high price tag for a very specialized audience. But for the interior designer or gift importer looking for precious, unique pieces, Sum Plus artworks are certainly worth taking a look at.

Next up was Whale Marketing, in a bright, contemporary showroom that stands out from the neighboring storefronts. Its appearance is much like a boutique store, with displays of handbags, totes, umbrellas and other items. Manager Jenny Wu introduced us to the company's main product line, iCute, which consists of stationery, and home and fashion accessories, including handbags and totes, luggage and umbrellas, curtains and cushions, notebooks and photo albums and even lampshades.

The company specializes in reproducing photo images on textile, which then gets made into different items. The strength of her company's offering, Wu notes, is its ability to produce multiple or repeated images on different parts of the same item, a technique she claims that others do not, or perhaps cannot, utilize. The company also has its own unique, copyrighted image library that allows it to offer exclusive photos for reproduction. Around the showroom there was an appealing array of kittens, puppies and teddy bear images on the displayed items.

>> For the complete Taiwan Market Report, visit www.giftsanddec.com and click on “Direct From Market.”