2025
International
Craft Forum

How can we create tools that fulfill both functionality and beauty, in order to achieve a more comfortable and beautiful life? That is what craft is all about.
~ Yan Shui-Long (Pioneer of Taiwanese Craft)

Against the backdrop of rapid development in contemporary society, we often overlook the details and quality of life. Craft, however, is an essential way for us to return to our roots and rediscover the aesthetics of living. Yan Shui-Long’s words reveal the deep connection between craft and life, highlighting the core spirit of “slow living through craft.”

This international forum, themed "SLOHAS: Slow Living Is Joyful Living," will explore how craft embodies the values of slow living in our daily lives and how, through the accumulation of time and the application of wisdom, craft can create even more possibilities. By sharing case studies, craft cultures, and life stories from different countries, we will gain a deeper understanding of the connection between craft and daily living. Not only will we discover the beauty of craftsmanship, but we will also come to appreciate its emphasis on life’s details and rediscover the happiness craft brings to our lives. Therefore, this forum will feature keynote speeches and seminars, inviting experts, scholars, and craft practitioners from home and abroad to participate. Together, we aim to promote dialogue between craft and life philosophy, reexamine the relationship between life and culture, and create a unique “art of slow living” for everyone through the beauty of craft.
 

SLOHAS—Slow Living is Joyful Living

The 70th Anniversary of the National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute celebrates the concept of “Living Craft, Craft Living” and, in 2025, will continue promoting “Craft 70+1.” This initiative encourages the idea of “SLOHAS: Slow Living Is Joyful Living,” embodying the philosophy that “craft is the ripple of happiness in daily life.”

SLOHAS merges local wisdom with LOHAS to create a joyful Slow-Living lifestyle. Its core values include Simplicity, Lifestyle, Originality, Health, Aesthetics, and Sustainability, highlighting how SLOHAS represents an infinite, sustainable cycle loop of “benevolent craft” from S to S.

By triggering the social “ripple effect” through SLOHAS, the campaign aims to engage people through craft activities and public involvement, inspiring collective action and the continuous accumulation of positive energy. Ultimately, it seeks to evolve into a nationwide lifestyle movement. Like a stone cast into a lake, creating ripples that expand outward, the integration of smart technology and corporate ESG sustainability actions will naturally foster a “craft movement”—one that starts with a single ripple and grows into waves of participation and influence.