Clara Lim is currently attending the School of Art, Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University, and will graduate with a BFA (Hon) in Product Design this July. She introduces herself as a creator of objects and an innovator of products. Inspired by children and motivated by adults, Clara aims to design anything and everything to make the world a happier place. Her interests include the anatomies of living and non-living things, bicycles, horology, kaijus, sneakers and stickers.

After years of experience as a print consultant, Gene Wang  went on to pursue his passion for graphic design, branding and typography. Graduating from a local boutique design school, Orita Sinclair, with a distinction in design communications, Gene continuously feeds his thirst for knowledge with books and online materials. Upon graduation, Gene served a fulfilling internship at Dibrand, helmed by the former design director of Landor Singapore.

Currently, Gene is actively challenging himself and harnessing his creativity as a graphic designer at Immortal the Design Station. Gene was also one of the shortlisted 42 apprentices in The Apprenticeship Programme 2012 by Noise Singapore.

We’re obviously Foon Foono fans to begin with, but after seeing his seriously enviable collection of  leathers, we found ourselves smitten with his casual-yet-sleek takes on the classic shapes we already love to tote.

Foon’s ONESELF collection is purposefully and expertly pieced together, and combines black premium leather with a blood red lining. The simplicity of the sleek, straight lines add a touch of mystique to the monochrome pieces, and create an urban, polished finish which amps up any outfit.

We’ve got a few sneak peeks at the line here, but you can peep the entire collection at  IN-STORE, PARCO nextNEXT, Level 2, Parco Marina Bay Millenia Walk.

Lengfei is a young lad with a passion for design, bags and films. He thinks that design is much more than just aesthetic; to him it’s a relationship.

“To some people, design is a waste of time – impractical and superficial. They do not realize that everything involves the process of design in one way or another. The society and human beings are constantly evolving for the better, overcoming problems and even this is a form of design.”

Lengfei has developed a strong interest in branding and identity design. During his time as a design student, he handled live projects including the logo for Singapore Polytechnic. He was also the head of branding for the Design School graduation show – BIRTH. “I became more aware about Singaporean’s reaction towards design, and their judgement about local designers. They feel more than a little skeptical, and are to afraid put their trust in us. While some of the perceptions of the design industry hurt me, they provide an added motivation to promote and advocate for a change in the mindset of my fellow citizens towards design.”

Beyond graphic design, Lengfei’s interests extend to designing bags. “When designing a bag, it is important to pay attention to detail. When using a bag, the user creates an immediate relationship with the design. Thus, it is important to make sure that the bag works well for the user. I struggled when I first started out, as high quality materials, hardware and tools are not easy to find in Singapore. A friend of mine introduced me to a young accessories brand owner. He was supportive, and gave me some of his fabrics, leather, tools and even his working studio for a day. With his help, I crafted my very first bag. My sketchbook contains more than thirty sketches ranging from day bags to trip bags. I hope to start my very first collection in the near future. Brand concept and design ideas are practically finished; I am collaborating with a friend now to make this project come true.”

Films have also been a constant source of inspiration for Lengfei. Throughout the three years at Singapore Polytechnic, he organized and invited his peers and lecturers to several film screening sessions in his studio. “The production design in films like Pan’s Labyrinth, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and The Aviator never fail to impress me. They are so visually captivating, encapsulating the essence of what the stories needed. There are so many things to look at and be inspired when watching a film – the cinematography, acting, visual effects, costume design, sound design and music. The filmmakers’ ability to orchestrate these elements into a meaningful whole and to have the audience emotionally attached to the film is truly remarkable.”

“I always think that learning to design is easy, but to design with integrity and to have the aptitude to connect people to your design is difficult. Just like Edward Wood Jr.; He was passionate about his movies, and he did not let himself derail from his path. However, he was considered by some to be the worst movie director of all times. He failed to make the connection to his audience, which is the most important factor in the film and design industry. I am determined to become a graphic designer and an accessories designer because branding is my passion and bags are my obsession.”

For the design of  their 8th Signature Bag, Actually launched an open-entry competition in November 2011. They asked their Facebook members to choose from the six shortlisted artworks they thought best represented the Actually identity, and the four designs with the highest votes became their 8th signature carrier bags. The winning artworks are from left to right: Raven by Shannon Tan, Chromaticity by Rachel Han, I am An Owl by Denise Xu and Think Outside the Box by Asri Scola.

The Conqueror Awards 2010/11 presented a total of 25 awards to honour excellent local design and print achievements at a ceremony held on March 14.

Positioned as a competition that celebrates design on paper, the Conqueror Awards is aimed at getting designers to push the envelope in print design amid prediction of the genre’s possible demise.

Held regionally for the first time, the Conqueror Awards attracted more than 1,000 entries across Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Splash Productions emerged as the winner for Best Design Singapore with its entry titled “Book of the New”  (Image 1, 2). Tan Chin Hwee, design student from Temasek Polytechnic, is the winner for the Student Design Award (Image 3). Entraco Printing wins Best Print Singapore for its technical excellence in printing on paper (Image 1, 2).

Alvin Chua primarily works with computational tools and techniques, creating physical or visual representations of data and the systemic processes which produce them. He also likes to experiment with algorithms that produce abstract graphics. In a nutshell, Alvin operates at the intersection between the arts and science. “Formally I work in the area of urban data visualisation, processing and analytics. At the same time, I am also very much interested in other experimental practices such as generative, parametric and interactive design.”

“As the use of computers become synonymous with day to day activities, I find it compelling, as a designer, to not only be able to consume but to also create through such technology. Understanding the potential of computational and systemic methods affords me the freedom to work outside of convention, for instance, develop purpose specific tools which can make manifest complex structures or engender life like visual environments.”

Alvin is a PhD student at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in the department of Architecture. He previously worked as a research assistant at the Multimodal-Analysis Lab, Interactive Digital Media Institute at the NUS, where he participated in multi-disciplinary research work.