Tag: art4d

Chicken Rice or Pasta?

Singaporean design is beginning to rise with a new generation of creative talents including Creativeans.

They have had stints as designers in Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and Australia, but when they started their design practice, the Creativeans chose to be in Singapore, the country where four of them started out.

Kimming Yap, Yulia Saksen, Khairul Hussin and Sharina Bi, first met in the industrial design programme of Singapore’s Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) a decade ago. In 2011, they created ‘Treasures of the Little Red Dot,’ their debut collection for Milan’s SaloneSatellite, which has won accolades and established the Creativeans as one of Singapore’s up-and-coming design collectives. But it merely started on a whim, when they came together after a class gathering in 2010 to design products for fun. “We didn’t intend to start a company. To be honest, we were quite bored with our work, so we decided to do something on our own,” says Kimming, who has a Masters from Domus Academy and was then working for Studio ITO Design in Milan.

➜ Read the rest in art4d (Issue 200)

Book Review: Lesser Designs

Lesser Designs Cover

In cities across Asia, design is largely understood with a capital ‘D’. A professional service that raises the economic value of things through the language of style. A modern high-end product only for those who can afford it.

But what about traditional crafts and vernacular creations found in everyday life? Are these also not designed? In his delightful book, “lesser designs” (揦西設計) (2013), Siu King-chung calls the inclusion of everyday inventions of ordinary people in his city of Hong Kong as part of our understanding of contemporary design. From modified street trolleys to simple pamphlets advertising money-lending services, the professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design picks out ordinary things found around the city and unveils the design wisdom behind each through photographs and casual explanations written in Chinese and English. In all, close to 30 collections of objects are divided into four themes to illustrate what “lesser designs” are and where to find them.

➜ Read the rest at art4d.asia

Goodcraft Aprons

Sewing an array of multi-coloured pockets, using traditionally dyed cloth from Bali, and hand-painting an illustration inspired by the 1979 war movie Apocalypse Now are just some examples of how eight designers in Singapore have turned the everyday apron into pieces of art.

They were shown at a recent exhibition by product label Neighbourgoods when it launched its own aprons designed in collaboration with apparel maker FIN. The two brands also invited a diverse group — made up of designers SBTG, Christopher John Fussner, and Bureau, illustrators MessyMsxi and SpeakCryptic, tattoo and barber shop Hounds of the Baskervilles, as well as fashion labels Stolen and Ed Et Al — to each showcase their craftsmanship by creating one-off apron designs.

➜ Read the rest at art4d.asia