Category: Design

Malaysia’s Graphic Design Rebels Join Forces on Politically Charged Posters

When they heard of an upcoming protest in Malaysia, a band of graphic designers rallied to do what they do best: design posters for a cause.

Calling themselves the Grafik Rebel Untuk Protes & Aktivisme (Malay for Graphic Rebel for Protest and Activism) or GRUPA, the hastily formed design collective released 110 protest posters online before a recent rally to push for government reform in Malaysia and the resignation of its prime minister. Organized by civil society movement Bersih (Malay for “clean”), this latest rally is known as Bersih 4.0 and came about amid allegations of a corruption scandal involving 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state investment fund, and the country’s prime minister, Najib Tun Razak.

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From Craft to Industry: Reflecting on Histories of Making in Singapore

Four exhibitions retracing Singapore's craft, design and manufacturing history (L-R): Tools That Built Singapore, Made in Singapore Products, FIFTY Years of Singapore Design and Craft | Singapore.
Four Exhibitions (L-R): Tools That Built Singapore, Made in Singapore Products, Fifty Years of Singapore Design and Craft | Singapore.

“Made in Singapore” has always been a challenging term for Singaporeans. Manufacturers grumble about the high costs of labour and land here. Designers lament the lack of expert collaborators willing to experiment and innovate. Consumers complain about paying a premium for local products that are no better than overseas imports.

Four on-going exhibitions in Singapore coincidentally retrace the nation’s history of making, offering an opportunity to understand and reflect on some of the issues that plague craft, design and manufacturing in the city-state today.

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How One Couple Turned a Graphic Design Hobby into a Major Modernist Collection

Examples of Swiss Style design from the Display collection

They collect books, magazines, posters, and ephemera for inspiration just like many other graphic designers, but Kind Company’s Greg D’Onofrio and Patricia Belen aren’t your average graphic design hoarders.

Their collection of book jackets by American designer Alvin Lustig, ads for Milanese tire company Pirelli, and classic design periodicals like the Swiss Typographische Monatsblätter are just a slice of the mid 20th-century graphic design the duo have amassed over a decade. With over 3,000 pieces of works housed within drawers, archival boxes, and bookshelves stored inside their 650-square-foot home office on the Upper East Side of New York City, the couple have literally built a house for modern graphic design.

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