In the OA furniture parts sector, Taiwanese makers’ attention and devotion to R&D and quality have helped to sustain their businesses for the past few decades. Interviewing the following three OA chair parts makers confirm an inextricable link exists between their gung-ho attitudes toward product innovation and quality, the future and current achievements in the line. Chern Shing Top Co., Ltd....

Despite global economic uncertainties, most of Taiwanese furniture parts makers have yet to slow their pursuit of sustainable development through improving production capability and product quality to win trust from global buyers. The following sums up three manufacturers noted for consistent efforts on sharpening competitive edges differently. Liang Harng One supplier who competes well ...

Outdoor furniture was once generally regarded as inexpensive furnishings with monotonous, frumpy styles and often distasteful tones, but no longer. Today alfresco furniture can have the same features as indoor furniture, mostly thanks to ever more consumers' changing lifestyles and entertaining habits, which inspire them to turn outdoor spaces into living areas as lavish, relaxing as indoor space...

By Michelle Hsu The Tainan Furniture Museum, transformed from an idle furniture factory of Yung Shing Furniture Company, is the first private eco-themed furniture museum in Taiwan. Based in southern Taiwan, the museum's mission is to display and educate the public about Taiwan's furniture industry. Wood furniture maker Yung Shing began to shift the focus of its manufacturing operations to s...

By MICHELLE HSU Lifestyle, a US-registered furniture company, made an inaugural appearance at Taiwan’s furniture show this year. Taiwanese consumers likely have never heard of the firm but its owner William Hsieh is known in Taiwan’s furniture industry. Hsieh's furniture empire in Taiwan flopped to force him to restart his trade in the USA where he prospered, and aims to via the trade fair th...

By MICHELLE HSU Ever since the Japanese management scholar Kenichi Ohmae published his book “One-person Economy,” the social trend toward a solitary lifestyle has received widespread attention. Solitary living was already common before the book was published, but Ohmae compiled relevant data systematically and aroused public interest in the phenomenon. In his book, Ohmae offers this stateme...

By CARMEN LO The annual value of China's furniture market soared from about 10 billion renminbi (around US$1.67 billion) in the 1990s to 780 billion RMB (US$130 billion) in 2010, making furniture one of the top five industries in China. Today the country's furniture industry is continuing to grow at an annual rate of 20%-30%, and hotel furniture is expected to play an increasing role in that g...

By MICHELLE HSU Dutch designer Florentijn Hofman’s Big Yellow Duck became a hot attraction in all of the three Taiwanese harbor cities where it was displayed, and it aroused heated discussion in the cultural/creative industry. What, people asked, gives a simple-looking duck such a much-see appeal? Some designers in the industry said that it was the so-called “creation text” that drew crowds...

The continuing slump in the international market, along with other factors, has caused Taiwanese furniture makers, one after another, to shift their attention to the domestic market. To their disappointment, however, they have discovered that Taiwan is actually part of the weak global market. Some of the companies are now eying China and other emerging markets, but are not necessarily liking ...

Taiwan Mirror Glass (TMG) is setting its sights on becoming a global player and guiding light for local partners to promote their products around the world Taiwan Mirror Glass Enterprise (TMG) is a glass furniture maker that was founded in 1943 as a family-run glass shop. In 2005, the company gained national attention with the opening of the Taiwan Glass Gallery, which was introduced by compan...