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Thinking Outside the Box

• Byline:JIM HWANG
• Publication Date:02/01/2009

Chin Tang Paperware uses paper in creative new ways in products such as this paperboard "snowball lamp." (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)

Chin Tang Paperware has established a strong position in the packaging market by emphasizing creativity and innovation.

To the residents of Taichung City in central Taiwan, the Dakeng Scenic Area in the northeastern corner of the city serves as an extended backyard, the perfect place for a morning or afternoon's recreation. After hiking along one of the well-planned trails, enjoying the view and perhaps taking a hot-spring soak on a cold day, most visitors hit the road. However, those willing to linger a bit after their hike may discover that the Dakeng area has something more to offer--the landmark structures of the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Hotel Burj Al Arab in Dubai.

Of course, these are not the original structures, but replicas ranging from one to two meters tall. Nevertheless, they draw visitor interest because of the unique nature of their construction. "They are made of paper--waterproof and fireproof paperboard," says Xue Sheng-yi, deputy general manager of Chin Tang Paperware, the company that operates the Carton King Creativity Park. "Take a look around--you'll be amazed by the diverse uses paper can be put to," Xue says.

After they have wandered through the park's garden, with its replica structures, small ponds, green grass and beautiful plants, Xue leads visitors to the gift shop, where many of the interior furnishings--including the display shelves and a miniature "post office" that sells postcards--are constructed of cardboard. And, as one might guess, most of the items displayed on the gift shop's shelves are also made from paper or cardboard. The shop sells some "normal" paper products like file folders and notebooks, but for most of its other items, paper or cardboard have been used to construct products that are normally made of other materials. These items include paper models of miniature locomotives, historical buildings and famous landmarks that buyers can assemble themselves. Some of the other popular offerings include paper Christmas trees, clocks, decorative paper lamps featuring images of famous local and international landscapes, and small stools made of cardboard. Xue is particularly excited about a paper model of the Hotel Burj Al Arab and a paper lamp that bears its image, as both have been selected by the hotel as souvenirs for sale at its own gift shop.

Rolling the Dice

The Carton King Creativity Park gift shop's best-selling item is a huge die--a cardboard cube with one to six holes cut into each of the surfaces. Xue put a few of them in front of the shop and almost every visitor gives them a few rolls, with some even taking one home. "Kids play with them for fun and adults use them to bet against each other, with the loser buying lunch or something--we Chinese just love to gamble," Xue says. "Seriously though, we turned a plain box into a toy by punching a few holes in it. That's a good example of how a little creativity can add value to a product."

The next stop on Xue's tour is a showroom where the walls, shelves and even the door to the storage room are made of cardboard or cartons. For the most part, the items on display consist of a variety of shapes and sizes of boxes designed by Chin Tang. The showroom also doubles as a DIY classroom, where showroom staffers help visitors assemble the items they have just purchased from the gift shop, or where students on field trips can try their hand at making paper items such as card lamps or locomotives. Xue notes that these DIY products are pre-cut to eliminate the need for scissors or box cutters, so putting them together is safe enough even for elementary school students. The products are also designed to avoid the need for adhesives during assembly, ensuring that visitors do not go home covered with glue.

After spending some time in the gift shop and showroom, the next stop on the tour is the park's restaurant, where visitors can enjoy a meal or cup of tea. The food is fairly standard fare, but the furnishings certainly are not. In addition to the serving trays, bowls and cups, everything else in the restaurant--from dining tables and chairs to lights and the shutters on the windows--is made of paper or cardboard. "People often wonder if the tables or chairs are going to fall apart," Xue says. "We bring out our chef, who weighs more than 100 kilograms, to sit on a chair. Then one of the waiters sits on his lap. After that, there aren't any more questions about how strong they are."

The idea to build Carton King Creativity Park, as well as the designs of many of the items displayed within, came from Huang Fang-liang, Chin Tang's founder and general manager. After graduating from high school in Taichung County, Huang spent several years working for paper manufacturers and printing companies in central and northern Taiwan to learn about the market and industry. In 1984, he returned to Taichung, his hometown, and began to consider setting up his own workshop.

Structured correctly, cardboard tables, chairs and lampshades can be as strong and durable as those made of conventional materials. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)

Bold Move

Huang knew that doing so would be a bold move because a small startup would be no match for either the large companies manufacturing commercial and industrial paper products or for the older paper mills in Taiwan that dominate the market for craft and handmade paper. After careful thought, he decided to give paper and cardboard packaging a try. Although he knew that the sector also saw fierce competition, Huang believed his startup could survive by providing creative, unique products.

Huang explains that at the time the local concept of packaging products consisted of little more than putting finished goods in common square paper boxes or cartons, which left a window of opportunity for what he calls "creative paper packaging." "Those who had been in the trade a long time said to me that they had seen more paper items than the number of grains of rice I had eaten," he says. "They told me paper products were only good for printing, drawing and wiping up messes. I wanted to use paper in the same way as plastic or wood is used to create dimensional packaging, but to them it was pretty much a joke."

Huang paid little mind to this kind of "advice," and in 1984 he opened a workshop dedicated to turning out creative cardboard and paper packaging designs. One of his earlier offerings was a gift box for a company that made star-fruit juice. Instead of using a typical square box to hold the gifts, Huang came up with one shaped like a star fruit. It took him a lot more time to design than a conventional box, but it netted him a happy customer and began to establish his reputation in the trade.

Huang's business and reputation grew, enabling him to launch Chin Tang in 1999. The Carton King Creativity Park followed in 2007. Although he is now running a larger business operation, his ability to design unique containers remains strong. One of his more recent designs, for example, is an incense box for a temple devoted to Matsu, Taiwan's most popular folk deity. "An ordinary paper box would have served the purpose, but you can get that kind of box just about anywhere," Huang says. "Customers come to Chin Tang for something different, so we need to deliver something to meet their expectations." After thinking it over, Huang came up with the idea for an incense box resembling one of the palanquins used to transport statues of Matsu around Taiwan during annual pilgrimages. Made out of cardboard and paper, the body of Chin Tang's replica palanquin contains the incense, the palanquin roof serves as the lid, and there are two drawers at the bottom for small items.

With this kind of "outside the box" thinking, Huang has become known as the go-to person in the packaging trade when creative, pioneering designs are called for. "We call him the 'godfather of paperware,'" says Zhao Nian-feng, chairman of Global-Ace Corp., a Taichung-based printing company. "What makes Huang so good is that while others use the same approach on different products, he uses different approaches for the same type of product."

Zhao, who has worked with Chin Tang for more than a decade, says that Taiwan used to be a major supplier of paper and related products in the 1970s and 1980s. The rise of competition from overseas suppliers with lower production costs, however, meant many of the local companies either went out of business or were forced to relocate abroad. "Creativity and innovation are what have enabled Chin Tang to stay here and stay strong," Zhao says.

A model of the Eiffel Tower made of waterproof paperboard at the Carton King Creativity Park (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)

Time and Effort

While customers are usually quite pleased with the unique designs Chin Tang comes up with, they seldom see the investment in time and effort behind them. Currently, there are about 30 employees at Chin Tang's headquarters at the Carton King Creativity Park, with about a third designing and developing new products. On average, the team comes up with 40 to 50 new designs for customers each year. The designers also develop new packaging concepts on their own that have not been commissioned by clients. Team members range from designers who have worked in the trade for decades to those who are fresh out of school. "The younger employees come up with brilliant and unconventional ideas and experienced senior staffers make sure the ideas don't get too wild to be commercialized," Huang says. "Their joint effort represents a perfect combination of creativity and experience."

In addition to gaining uniquely designed packaging, customers often benefit from Chin Tang's lower production costs. Xue Sheng-yi explains that the company's sophisticated, computer-aided cutting machines allow it to create precisely cut parts for complex designs very quickly. With this reduction in the amount of labor required to create the parts for a new design, the bulk of the production cost for most items is based on the type and quantity of paper and cardboard used. It often turns out that most of Chin Tang's designs actually require fewer raw materials than normal square boxes, thus cutting costs further. "We make it hard for customers to turn us down because our products are designed to meet their specific needs--and the ones we make are also usually cheaper," Xue says.

Over the years, Chin Tang has created more than 1,000 packaging designs. In 2006, the company set up an online database containing all of its designs, including their blueprints. For an annual NT$600 (US$18) fee, members can log on and choose one of the packaging designs. They can also request price quotes, place orders or request authorization to have an outside manufacturer produce a given design.

Even though many of Chin Tang's designs are patented, maintaining an online public database of product blueprints would appear to make the company vulnerable to copycats. Huang, however, dismisses such fears. "I'm not worried about it and quite frankly, we don't have the manpower to deal with such issues," he says. "We've learned that our best solution is to keep on creating innovative new products, and to do so at a speed that keeps us way ahead of pirates."

Breaking New Ground

As more and more Chin Tang designs entered the market, Huang began to notice that many consumers kept the boxes, using them as containers or simply as decorations. This kind of use affirmed his thinking that cardboard and paper could be put to many creative uses outside their normal role in packaging. With Chin Tang generating a steady income, Huang has enjoyed the freedom to pursue these possibilities. Basically, his approach is to try to make just about everything he sees in daily life out of paper or cardboard. He explains that compared with the materials normally used to make such everyday objects, paper and cardboard are often cheaper and more environmentally friendly, and they are also very durable. Moreover, after developing paper and cardboard materials that are waterproof, fireproof and tear-proof, Huang is now confident that he could build and furnish a complete house with them.

Sales of such paper and cardboard-based items, however, have not been very encouraging thus far. "There isn't any problem with the materials, structure or technology," Huang says. "The big thing we need to overcome is people's mindset." He explains that in ethnic Chinese societies, people are accustomed to burning paper replicas of items such as money, houses, furniture and cars as part of funeral ceremonies. This is done out of the belief that the ashes will reach heaven and provide the deceased with a better life there. Because of this association of paper goods with funerals, many feel uncomfortable with sleeping on a cardboard bed or sitting on a cardboard chair.

But Huang has reason to be optimistic about the future of such products, as younger generations do not associate them as strongly with funerals as their elders. Over the past year or two, cardboard furniture products have begun to generate some income for Chin Tang, with local customers requesting them to furnish booths at trade shows. The company has also received a few orders for cardboard furniture and cardboard showroom shelves from foreign buyers.

Most days, Huang and his design team surround themselves in paper and cardboard, working on customer orders or creating new designs to tap new markets. "Packaging, boxes, furniture, toys--you name it and we'll come up with a solution made out of paper," Huang says. "The only thing we are not interested in is repeating our own designs."

Write to Jim Hwang at jim@mail.gio.gov.tw