Pumice Coffee x Light Island Shared Base Introduction
This place hopes to provide a solid cultural base for young people visiting Hualien, allowing them to experience the local culture together and encouraging them to stay or become valuable resources elsewhere in the future. The base has three stages of development. The first stage revolves around "Taiwan's first independently operated local publication" — "o'rip." Founded by Wang Yuping, who previously worked as a director at Eslite's planning department and understands the importance of local discourse, "o'rip" was created after she moved to Hualien and gathered partners. The publication is a bi-monthly magazine with a print run of 5,000 copies, distributed for free to hundreds of unique stores in Hualien and Taiwan without applying for any grants. Since its launch until 2016, it has received significant feedback, attracting travelers from other counties, cities, or even foreign countries to explore Hualien's local culture. Some readers visited the base "Pushi Cafe" seeking information about relocating, making it a cultural window for many travelers to learn about Hualien. "o'rip" also received invitations from Yuan-Liou Publishing Company and Global Views Magazine to compile and publish works such as "Paths to Hualien," "Railways, Valleys, Friends' Homes," recommending Hualien's cultural background and lifestyle. The second stage is cultural talent empowerment. In 2014, Wang Yuping established the "Writing Studio," where she offered free classes called "Writing and Editing School" on the second floor of Pushi Cafe, teaching 10 local young people annually skills in reporting, writing, and publishing, focusing on one local theme each year, such as organic farming, marine industry, natural ecology, ethnic migration history, and local literature. The co-created works have been published across various channels. To date, 14 works have been published, and 110 young people have been trained with editing experience. Editing has also become a medium for these youths to gain a deeper understanding of their locality, with works like "Island People of the Sea" selected as one of the TOP100 by Shopping Design in 2019, "Being One with the Land, Starting from Food" recognized as a good book in four channels in 2020 and included in Openbook's SDGs 100 recommended reading list in 2024, "Urban Stream Meilun River" also selected for Openbook's SDGs 100 recommended reading list in 2024 and nominated for Openbook's annual Good Life Books. The third stage is the more proactive construction of a "Cultural and Arts Support Platform in Hualien." Aware that many young people who love Hualien and the arts still have to leave for jobs elsewhere, Wang Yuping invited partners who cherish Hualien's cultural industries to form a board and established the "Island of Light Cultural and Arts Foundation" in 2022, rebranding "Pushi Cafe x Island of Light Shared Base." Over the past two years, they have regularly held public "Freedom Gatherings" to empower fresh artists, along with "Adult Writing" workshops for about 50 local amateurs to learn writing and photography, creating various performance events in collaboration with local artists and engaging with external creative groups, producing works such as the "Youth Gathering Point" 2022 and 2023 outcome book from the Youth Development Administration, establishing a base to promote artistic vitality and talent exchange in Hualien.
Status Notebook Exhibition Taiwan Tour
The Corner of the Light Island Book Wall
