Designing “ChiangsTalk” – Cultural and creative industry with a smileUsing humor to help Taiwan keep pace with international trends 設計蔣堂 搞笑文創 以幽默感接軌國際潮流
The cultural and creative industries can be funny too! As “ChiangsTalk” founder Wu Sung-Chou sees it, design and culture are closely interrelated, but that doesn’t mean they have to solemn or serious; integrating the cultural and creative industries with tourism can help to create new value.
文創也可以很搞笑！在蔣堂創辦人吳松洲的眼中，設計與文化息息相關，但不必然是沉重、嚴肅的；文創結合觀光，更能加值。
In 2008, when the dispute over the renaming of the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall in Taipei was at its height, A-Chou (Wu Sung-Chou) proposed “bringing Chiang Kai-Shek and Chiang Ching-Kuo back into the Memorial Hall”; he won the tender to operate a souvenir shop in the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, which he named “ChiangsTalk.” A-Chou, who had previously only worked as a designer, now found himself running a souvenir retail outlet too. A-Chou threw all of his energy, and his life’s savings, into ChiangsTalk. However, the first year of the store’s operation coincided with the global financial crisis, and ChiangsTalk lost around NT$300,000 a month for 10 months in a row.
2008年在去蔣爭議中，阿洲（吳松洲）提出「將兩蔣放回園區」的概念，而標到中正紀念堂紀念品專櫃，定名「蔣堂」，原來只做設計服務的他，因而跨足經營紀念品零售業。他投入了絕大心力和畢生積蓄打造蔣堂，但首年便遭逢金融海嘯，長達10個月的時間，每月倒貼30萬元。
When he examined the consumer behavior of the people who visited ChiangsTalk, A-Chou noticed that many of them were looking for something “special.” A-Chou rethought the way products were displayed in the store, aiming to create an environment in which the store would actually be selling “memories.” The idea was that visitors to ChiangsTalk would be able to find products related to Chiang Kai-Shek and Chiang Ching-Kuo, distinctively Taiwanese products, and products that embodied outstanding design; the store would “cover Taiwan from end to end within an area of just 26.4m2.”
阿洲重新觀察消費者行為模式，發現很多客人都是來尋寶的，於是將櫃位陳列方式重新思考，企圖塑造一個販賣「回憶」的情境，讓旅客從兩蔣文化議題、台灣特色，到發掘具有設計感的商品，能在「僅僅8坪的空間，從台灣頭逛到台灣尾」。
Stories of things that have happened at ChiangsTalk are posted on the store blog every day. One day, an elderly Japanese couple came to ChiangsTalk. They said that their son had visited the store the previous year, and that the store manager had slipped a postcard into his bag (as a free gift) without him noticing. Their son didn’t discover the card until he had arrived home in Japan; he was both pleased and slightly embarrassed. It was this that gave them the idea of visiting the store. “We are ‘selling out’ Taiwan,” says A-Chou with a laugh. “We sell beautiful memories to people, and hope that they will bring those memories back again in the future.” Over the last two years, thanks to the hard work of the ChiangsTalk team, the store has seen an improvement in its sales performance, and is now growing steadily.
蔣堂把每天的故事發布在部落格，某天來了一對日本老夫婦，說他們的小兒子去年來蔣堂，店長「偷放」了一張卡片給他，回日本發現後備感窩心，引起他們造訪蔣堂的興趣。「我們就是『賣台』份子，」阿洲笑著說：「我們把美好的回憶賣出去，也希望同時再把回憶帶回來。」這兩年靠著團隊夥伴努力，終讓業績谷底反轉，扶搖直上。
文創也可以很搞笑！在蔣堂創辦人吳松洲的眼中，設計與文化息息相關，但不必然是沉重、嚴肅的；文創結合觀光，更能加值。
In 2008, when the dispute over the renaming of the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall in Taipei was at its height, A-Chou (Wu Sung-Chou) proposed “bringing Chiang Kai-Shek and Chiang Ching-Kuo back into the Memorial Hall”; he won the tender to operate a souvenir shop in the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, which he named “ChiangsTalk.” A-Chou, who had previously only worked as a designer, now found himself running a souvenir retail outlet too. A-Chou threw all of his energy, and his life’s savings, into ChiangsTalk. However, the first year of the store’s operation coincided with the global financial crisis, and ChiangsTalk lost around NT$300,000 a month for 10 months in a row.
2008年在去蔣爭議中，阿洲（吳松洲）提出「將兩蔣放回園區」的概念，而標到中正紀念堂紀念品專櫃，定名「蔣堂」，原來只做設計服務的他，因而跨足經營紀念品零售業。他投入了絕大心力和畢生積蓄打造蔣堂，但首年便遭逢金融海嘯，長達10個月的時間，每月倒貼30萬元。
When he examined the consumer behavior of the people who visited ChiangsTalk, A-Chou noticed that many of them were looking for something “special.” A-Chou rethought the way products were displayed in the store, aiming to create an environment in which the store would actually be selling “memories.” The idea was that visitors to ChiangsTalk would be able to find products related to Chiang Kai-Shek and Chiang Ching-Kuo, distinctively Taiwanese products, and products that embodied outstanding design; the store would “cover Taiwan from end to end within an area of just 26.4m2.”
阿洲重新觀察消費者行為模式，發現很多客人都是來尋寶的，於是將櫃位陳列方式重新思考，企圖塑造一個販賣「回憶」的情境，讓旅客從兩蔣文化議題、台灣特色，到發掘具有設計感的商品，能在「僅僅8坪的空間，從台灣頭逛到台灣尾」。
Stories of things that have happened at ChiangsTalk are posted on the store blog every day. One day, an elderly Japanese couple came to ChiangsTalk. They said that their son had visited the store the previous year, and that the store manager had slipped a postcard into his bag (as a free gift) without him noticing. Their son didn’t discover the card until he had arrived home in Japan; he was both pleased and slightly embarrassed. It was this that gave them the idea of visiting the store. “We are ‘selling out’ Taiwan,” says A-Chou with a laugh. “We sell beautiful memories to people, and hope that they will bring those memories back again in the future.” Over the last two years, thanks to the hard work of the ChiangsTalk team, the store has seen an improvement in its sales performance, and is now growing steadily.
蔣堂把每天的故事發布在部落格，某天來了一對日本老夫婦，說他們的小兒子去年來蔣堂，店長「偷放」了一張卡片給他，回日本發現後備感窩心，引起他們造訪蔣堂的興趣。「我們就是『賣台』份子，」阿洲笑著說：「我們把美好的回憶賣出去，也希望同時再把回憶帶回來。」這兩年靠著團隊夥伴努力，終讓業績谷底反轉，扶搖直上。
