Story by Briana Leong. Alan Gregory (left) and Allie Wu (right). Summer days in Taiwan are hot and humid, and many are not entertained by the idea of leaving their homes. But hidden in a small alley along Roosevelt Road Section Four is an apartment that will surely be a surprise visit for many. Decorated with soothing colors and lined with comfy furniture, the apartment known as The Common constantly smells like a blend of vanilla and coffee; it also gives off a cozy homey vibe, as if each individual who walks in is not a customer but a guest who has arrived at a warm and welcoming second home instead of yet another café in Taipei. Although they’re known as “The Common”, The Common is unusual in many ways. On a fine Monday afternoon, I met up with owners Alan Gregory and Allie Wu to talk more about this revolutionary space.
Hi, can you tell us a bit about yourselves? Allie: I’m Taiwanese, I moved to Japan with my family when I was 14. After graduating from high school, I went to Hong Kong to study journalism. That’s where I met Alan. After Hong Kong, we moved to Beijing and I helped Alan with a project in educational tourism. Later we moved to Taiwan, where I did some freelance work. Currently I’m managing a photo-studio called Selfio in Xi Men Ding. Alan: I’m from the UK. After graduating I went to Hong Kong to study economics and business. I went traveling to North Korea when I was 18, after returning I started organizing programs that support meaningful exchange between students from different countries and cultures. They were really popular, and it eventually grew into an NGO, Delegations for Dialogues, which organizes programs for university students to travel to places like North Korea, Myanmar, and Iran for educational exchange. After that, we decided to move to Taiwan because we didn’t like living in Beijing much, plus Allie and I both have family here, my mom’s part Taiwanese and Chinese. I also do some economics-related freelance writing. Please tell us about The Common. Allie: The Common is different from other coffee shops in the area because we charge guests by the amount of the time they spend in the apartment instead of items they order. Each guest is charged 2 New Taiwan dollars (NT) per minute; once the amount goes up to 180 NT, they are welcome to stay for as long as they want without further charges. During their time in the apartment, we have a wide range of snacks and drinks that are free flow. We’re trying to promote a new kind of space that is organic and dynamic, so we really want people who visit to create and imagine what this space could be. Unlike many cafés in Taipei, we allow outside food, we have a rooftop that people can use for barbecues and other stuff, a private room for gatherings, also board games, books, a guitar, a piano for leisure, and loads of natural light and a spacious tatami area for rolling around. Alan: This kind of concept where you pay by time doesn’t exist in Taiwan, and I personally like to do things that are new. So we decided to try and see if it works or not. We also want to experiment and observe how people create some kind of new behavior. Also, we’d like to encourage people to share things. Paying by time is growing in popularity in Europe, there’s a place in London that I’ve been to a few times. But it’s a very different culture in Europe, so these things are more easily accepted. Doing this in Taiwan is definitely a challenge; we’re trying to understand how it can fit into Taiwanese culture. Even though it has only been one month, we’re learning a lot! We want to encourage people to be more open with one another but it has been quite difficult so far, we find that Chinese people are a little bit shy. People are really shy huh? Alan: There was a guy who made a cake and we said yeah, that’s great, you could share it with everyone; and he was really happy to do that. So he left it on the table and we told everyone who came that they could take it, and a lot of people did eat the cake and really liked it. So I told them, that guy over there made it, if you like it you can go over and say thank you. But no one said thank you, no one was brave enough to go up and say ‘Oh I like the cake you made, thank you.’ That was really surprising for me, because for me it was an easy thing to do. I think there’s this kind of barrier thing in Taiwan between people you don’t know; I mean you don’t have to be an extrovert, change your personality or be outgoing all of a sudden, but maybe you can be more connected to people, not just people who you’re friends with, but people generally. So what do you do to encourage people to share and connect with each other? Alan: We don’t know. We’re still trying to do different things in different ways. We want The Common to be an inclusive space; we don’t want just a certain kind of people to come and to scare other people away, which is why we introduced a menu. Before, it was an open kitchen where you were meant to do your own thing or make things for other people. But people just weren’t adapting to that. So we’re trying to find a balance. Allie: I think it’s about finding the balance between what’s easier for people and educating them about sharing. We need to find a way to promote our core concept of space without freaking the normal people out. What we tried to do in the beginning was too extreme for local Taiwanese so they got scared. They have this pressure thinking that if I come to this place I have to interact, and that’s unnatural for them. And also the concept of sharing, unless you have a very tight community that already exists, the idea of going to a new place, not knowing anybody and sharing would be quite difficult. Did you know it was going to be that hard? Alan: I have an understanding of Taiwan but I’m not Taiwanese. It’s good for me to learn. That’s why I came to Taiwan, so that I can understand more about where my family is from. So it’s kind of a learning experience for me. But no I didn’t know exactly what we were dealing with, nor did Allie, she’s been gone for a long time. Allie: I always thought it was going to be difficult. But we just decided that it’s worth the try because it’s something interesting to do. Whose idea was it to start The Common? Alan: It’s usually more me pushing these things, but then Allie has a lot of ideas within my idea. Initially, we were looking for a good place for the photo studio, which is why we rented the apartment, but later on we moved the studio to Xi Men Ding. Thus we had a vacant apartment lying here for a few months. Allie: Alan was talking about the kind of space that The Common is for some time, and we’re like well we have the space now, so let’s give it a try! What motivated you guys to actually make The Common happen? Allie: I think in general, it takes a lot of stupidity to do what we’re doing right now. Alan: You have to be really stupid to do something that’s not safe, but then you have to be even more stupid to do something that’s really safe. It must be very hard to manage both your own jobs and The Common. Allie: It’s what we signed up for and it’s good to take responsibilities for your own decisions. We have no rest. It’s what we signed up for. But then it’s a privilege; when do you wake up, when do you go for work, when do you meet your friends, when do you relax, when do you resume work; it’s a luxury to be able to manage your own time. It’s something I really cherish even though it’s probably more tiring than working as a salary man somewhere. I think it depends on people; some people are more suitable doing things that are stable, something safe, whereas some people are more able to cope with uncertainties. Does The Common have a target audience? Allie: Because the location is just right next to NTU, so we do think about the stuff students would be interested in. But generally we want the space to include people from diverse groups and personalities. How do people respond to The Common so far? Allie: I think we’re too new to say or judge. We do have people who are really supportive though, people who really like the idea and are trying to help us to further develop the concept of sharing. But we haven’t got enough exposure so it’s difficult to say how people will adapt to it. I do think that they think the place is cool though. Anyway, it’s too new, and we’re too hidden. I think it’s interesting that our space is open to everybody. But eventually we want to have a group of people that are constantly sharing and exchanging to make this place homier, like a community. We still have customers who come in just to study but we don’t really know how these different people, different ideas will interact, so we will just have to experiment, I think it’s very experimental what we’re doing right now which is why we can’t give you a lot of feedback. What do you need most from people right now? Allie: We need more people who are willing to use new ways to exchange ideas and services and goods. But generally, what we need now is for more people to know about us. We have people who come in and understand what we’re doing and said, ‘Oh this is a place that I never knew existed before. The idea is interesting!’ What can we expect from The Common in near future? Allie: Goods and service exchange that’s less conventional! I’ve been talking to a yoga teacher; I’d like her to offer yoga classes in exchange for using our space to work for a certain amount of time. I have another plan with a Japanese who’d like to teach language classes. We’ll be promoting creative ways of exchange. Usually for exchange we use money; for example 300 NT for a yoga class that lasts an hour. But what we want to do is something like a Yoga class of 5 people, maybe 3 of them can pay 300 NT each and then the other two have options for things we want to exchange. For example, one of them might love baking, so he or she can bring food instead of paying that 300 NT. We’re still trying to work around that concept, but yeah, definitely more used-clothing markets, dessert-sharing parties, and other events. So yeah, we’re really looking forward to people coming up to us and offering us their ideas for events or exchange. a
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May 2024
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