Paper Organs has created innovative funeral experiences filled with blessings and respect for organ donors in Taiwan. According to traditional Taiwanese culture, organ donors are seen as "incomplete beings who cannot reach heaven," leading their families to hold simplified ceremonies known as "unblessed funerals.”

Paper Organs has innovated within the traditional funeral experience - “Joss Paper Burning” by allowing families to burn Paper Organs, completing the donor’s body and sending them to heaven. The innovative experience crafted by Paper Organs has been integrated into organ donor funeral scenes across Taiwan, effectively overturning negative perception of organ donation in Taiwanese society.

Similar to the Egyptians preserving organs in jars for eternal life, many Taiwanese strongly adhere to the traditional Chinese culture that having a complete body is essential for reaching heaven. The concept of 'body must remain intact' has repeatedly subjected donor’s families to self-criticism.

There's a real story about a wife who agreed to her husband's wish for organ donation and faced disapproval from her mother-in-law and relatives, hearing comments like 'You don't love my son enough!’, 'How could you be so ruthless!', and 'He's missing a heart because of you; now he can't go to heaven!' This caused immense psychological torment for the wife, leading to multiple suicide attempts.

The long-term goal of Taiwan Organ Sharing Registry & Patient Autonomy Promotion Center in executing the 'Organ Donor's Family Care Program' is to alleviate the psychological burden on families in such situations.

Taiwan Organ Sharing Registry & Patient Autonomy Promotion Center, a registered foundation, is the sole official organization in Taiwan responsible for organ donation. In the current process, organ donation requires final approval from family members, often leading to significant psychological trauma, with statistics showing that 56% of family members of organ donors experience mental health issues.

Consequently, the center has been implementing the 'Organ Donor's Family Care Program' for many years. This program includes regular gatherings, music events, hosting support groups, and providing psychological counseling.

However, despite these efforts, the psychological trauma experienced by family members has not been fully addressed, leading many to overlook or unwillingly participate in the program.

Paper Organs is an innovative product designed to allow donors to adhere to the cultural practice of "body must remain intact". Collaborating with Taiwanese artist Chen Wen-tai, traditional paper art techniques are employed to craft organs such as heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, corneas, and more. This enables the donor's family to conduct a burning ritual for Paper Organs after the donor's passing. Following the funeral custom of "Joss Paper Burning", these paper-made organs are sent to the donor in the afterlife.

Paper Organs become a cultural symbol for breaking taboo in organ donation. The design aims to provide reassurance to organ donors, comfort to their families, and shift the public's attitude, eliminating the fear associated with organ donation. Beyond functionality, we prioritize user experience, incorporating "emotional design" in the design process. By aligning with local culture and public perception, the product ensures readability and accessibility for users.

We use cultural customs to eliminate the pain caused by cultural customs. Utilizing the tradition of ‘Joss Paper Burning’, we create Paper Organs to break ‘body must remain intact’ taboo. This genuinely soothes the grieving feelings of the donor's family, aiding many relatives who find themselves in profound pain to break free from such thought patterns.

After the launch of Paper Organs, we assisted our client in negotiating collaborations with 11 organ transplant hospitals. We persuaded these hospitals to allocate budgets from their Donor’s Family Care Programs to produce and distribute paper organs to the donor's families. Families of organ donors from these 11 hospitals, regardless of the past or future, can apply for Paper Organs free of charge.

We are currently assisting our client in implementing the Paper Organs program with a total of 42 organ transplant hospitals in Taiwan. Meanwhile, in order to ensure that all families have access to the product, we also collaborated with local funeral item stores to make it available for purchase. Additionally, the product is available on Pinkoi, one of Taiwan's largest e-commerce platforms, further ensuring accessibility for families of organ donors in need.

After introduction of Paper Organs, Taiwan Organ Sharing Registry & Patient Autonomy Promotion Center received numerous messages of gratitude from the families of donors. This project has inspired countless family members of donors to overcome the guilt associated with signing organ donation consent form.

- 332 sets of paper organs were distributed within six months. This includes 42 hearts, 15 lungs, 113 kidneys, 69 livers, and 93 corneas. (Annual number of organ donors in Taiwan in 2023: 416 )

- 56% of family members experienced psychological issues in the past. We decrease the proportion of seeking counseling rate by 12%. 76% found comfort in their grief from interviews.

-Participants in the Family Care Program increased by 42%.

-The annual organ donation consent signing rate increased by 28%, the highest in the past five years, with over 3,400 forms collected.

-Positive discussions about "organ donation" on social media increased by 411%.

In Taiwan, there is a custom of ‘Joss Paper Burning’ to bless the departed. The concept involves burning 'similar objects' for the deceased, believing that they will receive identical items in the afterlife. For example, burning a 'paper car' would grant the deceased a 'car to drive in the afterlife,' and burning a 'paper apartment' would provide them with a 'place to live in the afterlife.'

This traditional burial custom remains popular, and Taiwan has a mature 'traditional paper artistry industry' where various customized paper items are created for the surviving family members to commemorate the departed.