This project is featured as part of the D5 Digital Design Week: AI & Sustainability. To learn more, click here.
Adam Hunt is the kind of creative you hear about in passing—an “ideas guy” who’s shaped visual narratives across Sydney, Singapore, Amsterdam, New York, and even Nepal. With a portfolio spanning roles as a writer, art director, creative director, graphic designer, interior designer, and photographer, Hunt’s journey has won him international awards, a place in the permanent collection at MOMA, and even mentions in Random House and Vice Magazine. For Hunt, ideas are sacred, and protecting them is essential.
But sometimes, great ideas emerge from the most unexpected places.
Stranded in Taiwan during the pandemic, Hunt was struck with an idea to transform a forgotten space in an old alleyway near Taiwan’s historic fish markets into something entirely unique: Bad Mama Keelung, a bar crafted from an abandoned fishing boat and situated near a temple dedicated to the powerful goddess Mazu, patron saint of seafarers.
The journey, however, was anything but solo. Adam’s designs come to life with his wife and creative partner, Gemma Lin—Owner, Head Chef, Artist, Co-Interior Designer, and the original Bad Mama. Gemma’s story is just as striking as the spaces they create together. At 18, she left her tiny Taiwanese fishing village to study fashion design in Japan, only to find herself running bars for the Yakuza. Together, Gemma and Adam share stories that are as layered and raw as the materials they salvage.
Without a plan, Adam and Gemma’s interior design began to form from the detritus of Taiwan’s coastline, a makeshift “supply store” filled with beach wood, rope, and rusty metal. While design often starts on a blueprint, for them, it unfolded with each salvaged piece they found.
“Anyone can have a crazy idea, but you need to be a little mad to believe in it,” Hunt explains. Guided by this spirit, Gemma, Adam, and their team spent months scouring the fishing village, collecting driftwood, plastic toys, and net floats to fill Bad Mama’s eclectic interior. “It’s a steampunk work of art,” Hunt says with pride. This bar isn’t just a bar; it’s a living, breathing testament to sustainability’s creative potential.
The bar counter is an eye-catching mosaic of beachcombed plastics and discarded treasures—a leg from a toy Barbie next to lightbulbs and baseballs—an intricate collage that tells the story of its recycled origins. Antique frames with portraits of “Bad Mamas” adorn the walls, honoring the legacy of strong women like Mazu, while an old oil drum table features Betel Nut Girl packaging, remnants from the bustling fish market next door.
Hunt knows the importance of fighting for an idea. He once hired a junior team whose TV script was excellent, only for the executive creative director to veto it. But Hunt presented it to the client anyway, backing his gut instinct. That same fearless approach inspired him to take on the unconventional and transform an abandoned fishing boat and an old alley into something extraordinary.
Bad Mama Keelung stands as a monument to the resilience of creative ideas. “The future,” Hunt believes, “is best served by reimagining the past.” For Gemma and Adam, sustainable design is an art form, each recycled piece contributing to a greater story that can be functional and aesthetically striking.
Sometimes, the most profound journeys start with nothing more than a power saw and the spark of a mad idea.
Adam Hunter is a globetrotting creative who has worked across Sydney, Singapore, Amsterdam, London, New York, Los Angeles, and Nepal as an award-winning Advertising Writer, Art Director, and Creative Director. With his work featured in MoMA’s permanent collection, Adam blends storytelling, strategy, and style to craft ideas that sell, inspire, and sometimes even change the world.
Image credit: Courtesy of the designer.
