Christmas trees adorned with glittering lights are never absent from the blissful December. This year, Taipei Tech has its own special Christmas tree, which is piled up with one hundred and one wooden stools, along with other woodworks displayed at “The Woodworker’s Home (木．作．家)”, the associated exhibition on wooden furniture and decorations.

 “The Woodworker’s Home” is the collaborative presentation among Taipei Tech W. School and other fourteen universities in Taiwan which has woodworking-related majors and courses. More than thirty pieces of works exhibited center on the spirits of home. Since woods are intimately connected to the aesthetics of daily life through its warm-hearted colors and touches, it could accordingly outline the zealous expectation towards what a lovely home is like.

 “The Woodworker’s Home demonstrates the successful outcome of its first attempt to adopt quasi-factor laboratory in the furniture manufacturing education,” said Taipei Tech President Wang Sea Fue. “The early American bed sets, the tall dressers or other furniture elaborately made of woods can best explain ceaseless efforts of Taipei Tech in the cultivation of the skills and the spirits of woodworking since 1912, when Taipei Tech, as well as its carpentry department, was founded.”

The exhibition was especially highlighted by the Stools of Happiness, the one hundred and one stools piled up like a Christmas tree. “It is designed by Taipei Tech designing masterminds and manufactured at the campus factory,” Department Chair of Industrial Design Chen Tien Li said. “These stools are the milestones of the vocational education, and even the projection of Taiwanese local life experience. Connoting these meanings in different ways, the stools are thus named the Stools of Happiness.”

“The warmness, comfort, and harmony of a home are taken as the central idea of the designs,” said Chen. “Many student designers attending would infuse the special regional attributes in their designs, showcasing the local cultures of where their schools are located.” These designs include “the Turtle Island Sunrise” by Fo Guang University, which was inspired by the famous view of Guishan’s Sunrise in Yilan; and “the Powerful Mt. Ali”, the triangle collage of the elms, serves as a metaphor for Mt. Ali in Chiayi by the designers from National Chiayi University.

Other works like “the Guaiacum Wood”, designed by National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology in collaboration with the Taiwanese wood manufacturers in Viet Nam, or “the Embroidery Ruler” made from the recycled materials by the interior design class of Sanmin Vocational High School, all realize the university social responsibilities. These designs at “the Woodworker’s Home” show the connection to the land where people are nurtured, and can be perceived in a more warmhearted, interactive and eco-friendly way.