Bringing Art to Life——Ohno Studio

As Taiwanese, food culture plays an important role in our life growing up. The reminiscing rooted the foundation of our adulthoods. Ohno Studio founder- Wu Chia-Hsun, amalgamated gourmet and art; she opened a rice cake eatery in Tainan named “Oh-o”.  To shape what we love with rice cakes. This is a fun corner for everyone who comes in here and we will continue to create everyday.

My name is Nine-One, I graduated from the School of Art and Design of Saint-Etienne. I enjoy the uncanny things that happen in the daily, they stimulate and exceed my own understanding of this ordinary life. My freelancing path was built in 2019 after relocating from France, and I started Ohno Studio in Taiwan. Ohno Studio provides services in animation, graphic design, and soundtrack dubbing. 

And then, something unexpected happened in the year of 2021. Me and my family opened a rice cake eatery - “Oh-o Rice Cake Eatery”!

I started getting into art when I was taking an Art Appreciation class in high school. The instructor introduced us to a work by René Magritte called “Golconda.” It was the first time I learned about Surrealism, it was also the beginning of my perspective shift about art: It turns out that art can bring us such a vast and infinite world and it can make an impact on us so organically. 

Currently, we’re planning a fun project related to Oh-o Rice Cake Eatery. Stay tuned!

I believe that we can find inspiration everywhere, but it also relies on a good fate, you can’t force it to happen. Haha! 

I like to go online shopping when I’m free, these sites are some of my personal favorites: Sight Unseen and It’s nice that. 

I started paying more attention to food-related creative content, this is a field that I’ve never touched on before. It is an intriguing new discovery for me!

Grandma makes the best rice cakes; mom wants to open a store; my brother and I are interested in art and design. Our story is simple, we created Oh-o because we each have a different component to construct this unique eatery. Oh-o contains all sorts of things that we love. 

I truly believe that every store owner has a desire to share what he/she loves with others, and we do, too.

“Why rice cakes?” the most asked questions.

Rice cake is a traditional local street food that is so familiar to everyone. We want to use rice cake as a medium to invite all walks of life to enjoy a traditional eatery and incorporate art into the scene without restraint.

Oh-o is a space where potential creative bonding happens! We’re looking forward to more collaborations in the future!

Many saw our shop sign and thought “Oh-o Rice Cake” is a design studio that does NOT sell rice cakes. 

The fact that people assume we don’t serve rice cakes is unbelievable because our sign literally says “Oh-o Rice Cake.”

Oh-o is designed by OH DEAR design studio. The main components are metal, ceramic, glass, cement, and rock. These elements are perfect as they are original, so we kept the natural form and ornamented them with the design concept.

In this space, you can see various architectural elements: Pierre Chareau’s “La Maison de verre”, the balance and peace that stones and colors from Alvaro Siza’s “Taifong Yuchia House” bring, and SANAA’s architectures that symbolizes air-like structure.

OH DEAR has great aesthetics, we communicated our concepts and desired elements with their designers, and then simply trusted the process!

When I was a freelancer, my day usually began with a good night’s sleep. I wouldn’t feel inspired if I didn’t have my sleep, everything else is fine as long as I have my sleep. (Laughter) 

Ever since the rice cake eatery opened, my day began with getting coffee, with little sleep.

I thought inooknit was very considerate! Everything is well-designed, from the moment I saw the packaging to opening the package, it makes the customers smile. The overall image is so well-created. 

The shoes were surprisingly comfortable. The insoles are very soft, and I didn’t feel any rubbing on the back of my heels while I was walking in them. 

inooknit shoes are both comfy and adorable!

I don’t usually plan ahead, I like to explore the possibilities while being in action. 

Just like when I travel, I trust my instincts, I’ll know my next step when I know. 

However, if I were to talk about my ultimate goal; that would be to create my own home decor brand. Having my own showroom, and the most important thing is that I can manage the store with minimal pressure, hahaha! 

As for Oh-o, I hope to collaborate with more creators, artists, and pâtissiers in the future!

Photographer/ Chang Yu Hsuan @shotbyje9_3

About Ohno Studio

Ohno Studio was founded by Wu Chia-Hsun. Ohno Studio provides services in animation, graphic design, and soundtrack dubbing. 

Instagram: @ohno_o9

Oh-o

Address: No. 300, Dongning Rd, East District., Tainan City 701