My Palace in Taiwan: Vicky & Shifty
Welcome to our crib!
“Solitude requires you to move past reacting to information created by other people and focus instead on your own thoughts and experiences – wherever you happened to be”
Hope everyone is doing well during these very weird and dark times, doing what you can to help but also make sure you are looking after yourself too. So as most of you who still follow this project know, I have switched up my home base back to Taiwan for now. With that being said, I have no intention of giving up this series which I can say with pride is my most consistent ongoing creative project! So, to kick off the self-acclaimed spin-off series, I’ve decided to dig deep into the heart of Taiwan and document the amazing homes of interesting individuals. Taiwan as a tropical island has long been colonized, heavily influenced by various cultures, as a result of that, our interior structure and housing situation are vastly different from what was going on in Dallas.
That sounds bleak you may think, but NO! These colorful histories are what makes Taiwan the way it is now: Diverse, tough, vibrant, and much more interesting than you could ever imagine! Taiwan being a small island was lucky enough to slip past the pandemic with minimum damage to our people and more importantly our mental health, however, we did go through a full month lockdown like the rest of the world during 2021. This series allows me to hold conversations with my friends, people I admire and as usual, interesting individuals on what got them through those times and how they felt while being all cooped up … ah y’all know the rest.
Without further ado, allow me to introduce you to Vicky and Shifty. They are a power couple with exquisite taste residing in an amazing home that they built for themselves from scratch, and I hope y’all had as much fun as I did writing this piece. Solitude with attitude as I always say.
Hi Vicky and Shifty! Thank you so much for having to time to sit and talk with me! I’ve been following your home making journey and have always been a fan of y’alls fashion sense and exquisite taste! To kick off this new chapter of this project, could you two tell the readers who are you and what is it that you do?
Vicky: Hello everyone! My name is Vicky and I am a public relations specialist in the fashion industry.
Shifty: I’m Shifty, and I am a professional make-up artist (I Specialized in putting make-up on living people!!)
Now I always ask this for my previous articles, as two well-established professions like you two (in my books), how do you get to where you are now?
Vicky: I’ve always known that media is something I want to work in, so I worked under a newspaper for a while after getting my bachelor’s in journalism. Fast forward a bit, I decided to switch paths towards a more fashion-oriented field and ended up in Conde Nast (Vogue and GQ like you get the gist) as a fashion PR specialist. I then studied and worked abroad in London for fashion business for three years, gained a lot of experience in the industry than made my way back to Conde Nast. Throughout my journey, I think there weren’t a lot of surprises because I was pretty set on what I wanted to do and this is the industry I wanted to work in. The life I am living right now is something I’ve been focusing on ever since I was a kid. I knew what I wanted, and I just kept working on achieving that goal, so yes, there’s a lot of hustling and grinding but nothing super out of my control.
Shifty: There was a lot of falling and getting back up on the horse for me, like many other artists out there I struggled a lot by myself but lucky enough opportunity always comes into the play whenever I was about to give up. I started out wanting to be a part of the fashion industry, but after a turn of events and decisions, I begin to look at the hair and make up side of it all. Back then there were a lot of guys focusing on hairstyling and I wanted to do something a bit different and make-up became the path I set foot on.
Finding a mentor, stumbling along the way while having fun, and kept on sharpening my skills is how I get to where I am now. There is a big gap existing between what the industry needs and what you’ll learn from cosmetic school here in Taiwan, so at least in my case I developed my professional skills and eventually found my niche here through tons of practicing and trying out different things. Very start-up vibe I would say, being your own harshest critique but also your biggest pusher, that’s how I kept moving forward to thus far.
Vicky: I am very much a planner, and he is the spontaneous one. I made it this far with a lot of planning and strategies while with a lot of pure talent and optimism he managed to find what works best for him in the industry which I think is really amazing.
Now I know Taiwan handled the entire pandemic situation really well but I can only assume with the industry you both worked in that relies heavily on social events and face-to-face activities, what was the impact on your jobs and what changes did you two have to make?
Vicky: A lot of changes were made on my side with the restriction being made and the options for real-life events were no longer available. We need to move all our plans and agendas swiftly into digital format which was really difficult, because we are the first set of people who had to deal with this, like, there aren’t any playbook for this so thinking outside the box all the time became more important than ever.
Shifty: Working in a mask, especially when you are on location following around the team, is UNBEARABLE it is so hot and that was no fun at all.
Vicky and Shifty in their beautifully lit living room, Taipei , Taiwan
We are In Taipei*, Taiwan at the moment and because we met here as well, I want to know: Are you two Taipei locals? How do you feel about the city?
(*Taipei is the capital of Taiwan)
Vicky: I grew up here, so I spent most of my life here in Taipei. (Shifty: We need more sidewalks!!) That aside, I am not the biggest fan of Taipei, it is a really small city and I’m not talking about geographically. If you stayed here long enough it is easy to feel like you’re stuck in a bubble, and I don’t think it’s accurate to simply say it is a result of Taipei being a small city because taking Tainan for example, their size difference isn’t all that big but people there are generally more open-minded I’d say. It’s bonkers just to think about 70% of the people who walk past you might share a mutual friend one way or another.
Shifty: Taipei is a really vibrant city, like all capitals in the world it’s where all the best and worst things happen. It is a city filled with opportunities and hope and everything cool but on the other side, there’s just as much struggling and stress and hardship coexisting.
(Nothing to look here just three people who lived in Taipei complaining about this city)
Vicky: I think like all big cities there will always be a love-hate relationship, but what makes Taipei so seducing is, it IS really restricted for all things new, fun, and cool so like for someone like me who works in the fashion industry Taipei is the only city that I can work in. There is this really robust structure that made our activity, I’d say out of the box like people might not have the courage or motivation to start something new, despite this city being the most optimal hub for that. Now for the good part, it’s a really sexy city, the other half of it being really small is how easy it is to make connections if you really put in the grind, and this city will really give back the energy and effort you put in.
If you need to express how you feel about Taipei in one sentence, what would it be?
Vicky & Shifty: WHAT A LIFE!
Editors Note: As someone who spent a huge chunk of his adult life in Taipei, I wholeheartedly agree.
For a city that is filled with big highs and big lows, I think that might just be the perfect sentence for Taipei! Now while living in this city and being two amazing taste gurus, would you mind telling me what inspires you? Or is there any rituals/routine that you do as your source of inspiration?
Vicky: I think most of my inspiration came from the circle we engage in, for one, I like to surround myself with talented people and they all tend to be very inspiring to me. I also love to travel, leave the city and explore different places, beautiful hotels/Airbnb are my favorite things.
Shifty: Hardcore drugs
(Vicky: Dude you don’t do anything what are you even talking about show me your drugs then)
Ok all jokes aside, I think we drew inspiration from each other on a daily basis, and on top of that Instagram is my main source of inspiration. I like to go on Instagram and check out the works or different elements on my feed, what I do is regularly change up the way my algorithm works and explore works across the world. Now, tricking the algorithm is hard but I like to toy around and see what it’ll show me by liking various posts consistently and tricking them into thinking these are what I’m interested in.
Vicky: I think aside from Instagram I am a heavy Pinterest user, I remember during our home building days we hop on there all the time looking for ideas that could help make our home a cozier space for the both of us.
Nothing beats a good laugh with new friends, especially in a BEAUTIFUL living room.
Unlike the United States or literally the entire world Taiwan never really went into full lockdown, however, during May 2021 we had our first breakout and were all forced into lockdown for a short period of time (We are fully open now and steadily having 0 local cases since). What I’m interested in is, for someone who lives in a city where serotonin and activities are mostly outside, what got you through the entire pandemic? I can imagine it wouldn’t be easy over here as well for y’all.
Vicky: To answer you, there were three incidents chronologically that I think were the main factor we made it out of this pandemic in one piece. To start things off, we were lucky enough to have gone to Chiang Mei, Thailand right before the pandemic starts so we get to scratch that traveling itch without knowing we would be saying goodbye to it indefinitely.
The second part would be this house, throughout 2020 and 2021 we have been working really hard on this space from soup to nuts which really distracted us from all the bad stuff that’s been happening because it really is a lot of work. We were really lucky to have found a penthouse-style apartment to stay in while the house is under work during the lockdown in 2021, that’s the third lucky incident as I’ve mentioned earlier! The apartment was spacious, cozy and it’s got something I’ve been longing for forever: A big patio! We got to look at the city view, have friends over and share the scenery in a safe way, and keep working on the house as well as getting ready for our big move.
I think having this big project to focus on was what really got us through the entire crisis because we have something to look forward to and we get to stay in an amazing place where our friends can come hang out safely. We officially moved into this space last summer which was right in the midst of our lockdown so because we don’t really get to go out and do all those things we normally do, we still have something to work on and a space we both feel comfortable in, and we really do appreciate it.
That honestly sounds amazing because having something to focus on when you’re stuck in a place really helps, for me, It is this project and for you, it’s the ongoing décor inspiration trip for the house! Would you mind telling me if you see any difference in your life now that we are semi-at peace with the virus?
Shifty: Carrying heavy stuff in a mask is also extremely unbearable!
Vicky: We stopped working out *chuckles* Nah we switched to home workouts so that was quite a change for us. During the lockdown we became hyper-focus on what makes our house a home, plants, cookware, furniture, and such. Taipei is a really fast-paced city that we’ve established earlier and I don’t think a lot of people, even us included ever really took our time to examine the environment we live in, ad frankly why would we, there’s just so much to do out there. Our circle became tighter and I think mentally speaking we cherish the moments we share more than we used to, we made some wonderful new friends throughout the course of the past few years as well. Without the influence of being out and about, we get to interact with our friends on a much deeper level is a change I cherish a lot as well.
Shifty: I think with our pace slowing down we shifted our focus onto what home is supposed to be for us, it should be somewhere you get to relax, do your favorite things, enjoy yourself, and actually feel excited to go back to.
Vicky: Now that we’ve all experienced being stuck at home and all, we realized that home is so much more than the materials within, you should be able to enjoy yourself and your life there. “Living a good life” isn’t just owning a grand foyer or big shiny halls, it’s something we are constantly working on together in creating a place we both feel cozy in and constantly looking at new things, in a way, is what we took away from this entire experience and how we avoid feeling like this hardship robbed two years of our lives.
*Looks around* I’ve only been able to see your amazing place through snippets of your story but now I am finally here in person! Wow.. like just wow! Would you mind showing me your most prized possession or favorite corner in your place?
Vicky: You know the coolest thing about this house is we actually picked up the majority of our furniture on the street, yes, you heard it right, on the street! Outside of the bigger pieces like our dining table or our couch, we managed to find a lot of good vintage pieces that are In tip-top shape like these cabinets, writing desk, and my favorite thing is this mirror! I just love it and it is big enough to fit the entire body, but it matches our aesthetic perfectly. It’s all thanks to Shifty honestly, he is just too good at finding interesting pieces that we both love!
Shifty: My pièce de resistance here will always be this audio system, which is super expensive I looked it up and you know how I got it? You guessed it! I found it on the streets as well! The fact that it looks new and it works perfectly will forever make this my greatest find!
Now before I actually let you two go, would you mind telling me what advice would you give to the younger generation if they want to join each respective industry? Or it could be something you wish you’d known in the early stage of your career?
Vicky: I think you need to know what you want and really want it. Put more intention into your decisions and actions while you’re at it, understand the WHY behind your motivation is important as it fuels you even when you’re struggling or feeling lost.
Shift: I think for me if I could start over or change my approach in the beginning, I’d be more like Vicky: better planned, well-strategized, I think It would make my journey a lot easier than it did before.
Before I officially leave you two in peace (and scene), is there anything that’s exciting for you or on the horizon that you would like to share with the world?
Vicky: I think I’ll continue sharing our journey with this house and our daily life on Instagram, like the types of furniture we get, our inspiration, and documenting our effort in making this place our home. I really need to post more *laughs*
Shifty: I have a post on Instagram about our home that is still on the agenda before I’m allowed to post anything else * chuckles* so stay tuned for that it’s coming to my grid soon!
The archway is to die for.
Shifty and their gorgeous cabinet find.
