The Misused Ironmongery Taiwanese & British Hardware

London Design Festival: 12 - 20 September 02/09/2020

Taiwanese industrial designer Liang-Jung Chen first started paying a great amount of attention to
hardware when she was living in the countryside of Taiwan. ‘It all started with designers’ geeky
habit of observing in things what others might overlook. I find it especially interesting when I
spot people using things in unconventional ways and beyond their intended purpose’ People do
it mostly out of thriftiness, yet often they are improvising in a very clever way, and sometimes with
unexpected humour. She finds the vernacular design methodology behind this behaviour
intriguing; the design approach based on local needs, local materials, and local traditions.

Objects designed by Liang-Jung Chen in 2018 using hardware collected in Taiwan. From left to right:
Jewel box made with butt hinge, glass vase made with drain cover, and magazine rack made with braided hose.

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‘Back then, I was working for a Taiwanese manufacturer in an industrial estate, where I had
access to product archives in factories of all kinds.’ The experience opened her eyes to the coun-
try’s rich history of manufacturing, especially hardware products, and gave her a new perspective
on hardware as a modern invention. ‘The popularization of affordable hardware was once a sign
of the specialization in mass-production. In some way, hardware is a very democratic product
that allows people to build things they need on their own and allows an interoperability between
both objects and solutions.’

Since moving to the UK in 2018, Liang-Jung has continued her hardware study. As the project
develops, she turns to the material culture research approach in anthropology to further investi-
gate what hardware can tell of the local culture. ‘By constantly asking why this hardware is preva-
lent in the UK, I learned something new about the culture.‘ One of the characters she found
relevant about hardware culture in London is the many “territorial” hardware items whose pur-
pose it is to prevent people from doing certain activities. For example: skateboard deterrents,
anti-climbing spiked collars for CCTV, anti-slide devices on handrails, folding parking posts… etc.
’For me, it shows London is a densely populated mega city of tension. People are trying to pre-
vent others from evading their own territory, where the needs and desires of different groups can
be in conflict.’

Objects designed by Liang-Jung Chen & Will Laslett in 2020 using hardware collected in the UK. From left to right:
Squeegee made with sash lift, namecard holder made with rim latch pull, and scale tray made with cleat hook.

‘Some other interesting hardware items I found include: the rim latch pulls on almost every front
door, the floor-mounted boot scrapers in front of old Georgian and Victorian houses, the pull
cord switches used in bathrooms due to the special regulation here in the UK... I also spotted
many unusual items to serve the needs of narrow boats along the canals in London.’

After collecting hardware items in London for two years, this summer, Liang-Jung collaborated
with British designer Will Laslett to create a collection of 10 objects with a unique juxtaposition of
familiarity and novelty, both in use and materiality. The objects will be showcased in the Kiosk
N1C in Coal Drops Yard.

For the exhibition during the London Design Festival, Liang-Jung named it ‘The Misused Iron-
mongery. ‘In Taiwan, we call hardware items 五金 (Wu-Jing), which means ‘five metal’, due to the
fact that historically, hardware items were made out of gold, silver, copper, iron, and tin. The
terminology is coincidentally similar to the traditional British name of ‘Ironmongery’, which I
found very lovely.’

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The exhibition also features a range of utilitarian hardware collected in Taiwan, including the
wall-mounted incense holder, mosquito coil holder, night market screw and more. Each of them
offers a glimpse into characters of Taiwanese culture, be it the cityscape, religion, recreational
habit, history, and more. ‘Even in this globalised world, it’s still a highlight for me when travelling
to visit foreign hardware stores, notice the unique local hardwares and to have a guess at what
their functions are. Some might find this odd, but for me a hardware store can be like a
museum.’ With the display of Taiwanese hardware, Liang-Jung is looking forward to sharing this
sense of curiosity with the local London audience.

What are these hardware items for? How can they tell us about the culture from the other side of the globe?
From left to right: Corrugated sheet bracket, wall-mounted incense holder, and outdoor tap key.

Exhibition Details
The Misused Ironmongery Taiwanese & British Hardware
Date: 12th - 20th September
Time: Mon - Sat 10am - 6pm, Sun 11am - 6pm
Location: Kiosk N1C ( 108 Lower Stable Street, Coal Drops Yard, London N1C 4DQ )
Website: www.misused.work / www.kioskn1c.com

If each item of hardware presents a solution to a problem in daily life, then a local hardware store provides a
collective display, reflecting the life of a community it serves.
Industrial designer Liang-Jung Chen turns Kiosk N1C into a pop-up hardware concept store, offering ideas of
‘misusing’ daily hardware. The exhibition features a range of utilitarian hardware collected in Taiwan where
the project was founded on observations of the local often humorous but intentional misuse of hardware. The
project explores the notion that certain subtleties of a parent culture are revealed in the design and use/mis-
use of hardware around the world.

The exhibition also presents the third iteration of the project, in collaboration with designer Will Laslett, a new
collection of 10 objects made with British hardware exploring alternative contexts for these semi-finished
products.
Together with Kiosk N1C, a special edition product will be launched during the festival, ‘misusing’ the stall
clip that can be spotted everywhere in the markets of Coal Drops Yard.

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Taiwanese Hardware List

Outdoor Tap Key Night Market Screw Rotoframe Sprinkler

Wall-mounted Incense Holder Corrugated Sheet Bracket Magnetic Door Holder

Drain Basket Rubber Strainer Water Tank Handle

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The Misused Work List

Sash Lift X Squeegee (2020) Pull Cup X Valet Tray (2020) Cleat Hook X Scale Tray (2020)

Caster Wheel X Tape Dispenser (2020) Anti-luce Fastener X Coaster & Trivet (2020) Rim Latch Pull X Name Card Holder (2020)

Stanchion Hook X Bell (2020) Door Knob X Pepper Mill (2020) Rope Thimble X Brush (2020)

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Quadrant Stay X Book Stand (2020) Drain Cover X Glass Vase (2018) Braided Hose X Magazine Rack (2018)

Handrail Bracket X Watering Can (2019) Butt Hinge X Jewel Box (2018) Hose Clamp X Rattan Stool (2018)

Grill Mesh X Notebook (2018) Pole Hook X Tray (2019) Bead Chain X Pottery Container (2018)

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