Designer Walter van Tuijl recently visited Spark's old and new business partners in Taiwan. This included Van Tuijl, together with a client, handing over a new compact electronic product to the Taiwanese hardware producer. In addition, Van Tuijl visited diverse producers involve in, among other things, plastic manufacturing, metal casting and assembly. This was both to manage the production of existing products and to develop new relations. In this way, Spark can continue to expand the network of suppliers it can call on.

Taiwan recognisable to the Dutch
Taiwan is an attractive trading partner for Spark. The island off the coast of China is a little bit like the Netherlands: it is about the same size and the majority of the population are packed into a large rim city similar to the Dutch Randstad. ‘You see that Taiwan is searching for a new role. In recent years, cheap mass production has shifted to China. Taiwan is trying to distinguish itself by focussing on quality. Something very familiar to the Dutch'. What's more, Taiwan offers an interesting opportunity for a variety of Spark's clients in terms of the advantages of combining lower production costs with high quality and knowledge.

But alongside work there was time to see the country's rugged east coast, an oasis of peace and nature that you don't expect to find barely 50 km from Taipei. ‘You think, wow. They've managed to keep that secret!'