The Flavour Dragon
The Huannan Fresh Food Market in Taipei's Wanhua district is one of the city's great sensory environments — over 1,059 vendors, a wholesale hub that moves fish, meat, vegetables, and spices through every hour of the day and night. At the heart of its recent renovation stands an 8-metre ceramic dragon, the largest commission in the market's history.
The dragon is a culturally loaded symbol in Taiwan — power, protection, abundance, transformation. Coenen's version runs with that energy while adding a fifth element: flavour. The name is literal. The sculpture tries to embody the full sensory spectrum of the market in a single form: the shock of umami, the pull of caramel sweetness, the warmth of smoke, the cold brine of the sea. Tradition meets futurism in the form; the materials are ancient, the design tools are not.
The ceramics were realised in Taiwan in collaboration with Blue Dragon Art, Yullin, and local ceramic artists — a cross-continental process in which Dutch digital design was handed to craftspeople working in a tradition centuries older than the Netherlands itself. The project extended into a series of conceptual fragrances developed with AnotherHuman Algorithmic Perfumery: Azure Tide Dragon, Verdant Flame Dragon, Silver Rain Dragon, Neon Chaos Dragon — each one a different sensory reading of the same work.
📍 Huanhe S Rd, Wanhua District, Taipei
