DC Shoe announces the official release event in Singapore for the Spring 2010 collaboration with renowned local designer Mark Ong aka SBTG. This inaugural collaboration boasts two shoes, a pair of board shorts, two t-shirts and two hats all designed by SBTG.

The design inspiration comes from the legendary skateboard crew called the “Circus of Mutants” who were active in Singapore in the 80s and 90s. In the collection’s design, a fly has been used by SBTG throughout all pieces to pay respect to “The Fly” who was one of the early pioneers in Singaporean skateboarding, and one of the few who could really claim to have brought the sport to his native country. His early nickname was branded to Lucas by members of the “Circus of Mutants” crew because of the skateboarders unrivalled ability to spend more time in the air than on the ground.

To celebrate the event, DC Shoe joins forces with Singaporean sneaker store GALLERY to launch the ‘Circus of Mutants’ Collection. The release event will be held at Rebel Boutique Club on Saturday, 13 March, where Mark Ong will have an autograph session, and there will be appearances by members of the original ‘Circus of Mutants’ crew. There will also be a live musical performance by Southern California’s Renee Renee.

In conjunction with the event, SBTG and sneaker store GALLERY are selecting 20 artists to participate in an art competition that celebrates the roles of collaboration in culture and the connection between skateboarding, street art and design progression.

Joanne Pang is a freelance graphic designer with a BFA in Visual Communications; a graduate from The School of Arts, Design and Media, NTU, Singapore. She appreciates the banality of life and has develop a strong interest in typography and geometry. Through design, she learns to fills up the spaces between her life and others as she delivers to others intentions via visual orientation and reason.

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Show your laptop some love. Treat it to something funky, and hopefully in return it will stop freezing on you. Snupped sleeves might be the answer. Bang on trend, they combine hot colors with a selection of fancy patterns, catering to style-conscious laptop cognoscenti like you and me.

Snupped is the brainchild of two friends, Darcy and Bryan. “It started a couple of years back, when we bought our first laptops,” Bryan explains. “We had snazzy looking gear, but the laptop bags provided were dull and boring looking. So, we decided to make our own, and sewed our first sleeve out of a curtain.”

Every design that leaves their hands is unique. That is because every Snupped case can be fully customized. “Unlike most other cases which are manufactured by anonymous and automated factory machines, ours our handmade by real humans,” Darcy adds. “Hence, our cases contain a secret ingredient not found in other cases – Love.”

The boys have updated their line of sleeves with a Mini series for your mobile gear. Check it out!

BlockShop is a company that designs crazy fantastic LEGO-inspired accessories for anyone looking to escape monotone.

Sam about the shop: “The idea of the BlockShop stems from watching pictures of Hollywood celebrities donning the heart and cigarette brooches. They caught our attention as they were little additions, with big impacts on the celebrity’s outfits. And, as such we decided that it would be great if we made this available in Singapore. Our designs are inspired by everyday characters, or things that we are all familiar with. Aside from just selling the brooches, the idea is to also sell the lifestyle and trend that is synonymous with our brooches. Wearing it should also be a fun and enjoyable everyday affair.”

Click for more artwork.

Desmond Wong is a freelance concept artist and illustrator currently serving his National Service. “I’ve mainly done work for video games and animation projects,” Desmond explains. “I really like drawing and creating characters, and my passion for video games has actually convinced me to consider making it into a career.”

In 2008, Desmond and his team participated in the Microsoft Dream-Build-Play game development contest. The team received the first place prize for CarneyVale: Showtime,  an acrobatic puzzle game where players are asked to complete various circus stunts. They even built-in a circus map editor for players to create their own obstacles to overcome. “The contest invited participants to create video games for Xbox 360 using XNA Game Studio,” Desmond adds. “My team clinched the top prize and we are so grateful for that. Unfortunately, I can’t really show the game art I am working on right now, as the game is still in production.”

This January, Anonymous presents A Design Film Festival 2010 in Singapore. This will be the first film festival in Asia dedicated solely to design. Audiences can expect an eclectic selection of films on architecture, graphic design, art, motion graphics, photography and guerilla culture. From the highly anticipated Herb & Dorothy, the story of a postal clerk and librarian who amassed one of the most important contemporary art collections; to Milton Glaser, the creator of I heart New York – the line-up of films hail from around the world.

A Design Film Festival established a special partnership with onedotzero, the highly regarded international motion art festival from the United Kingdom. The three films, Extended Play 09, Craftwork and J-Star 09 will be onedotzeroʼs only screening in Southeast Asia.

The festival will also feature bonus content by some of the worldʼs most innovative thinkers from New York, London, Sheffield, Helsinki, Bangkok and Stockholm. The bonus content will be screened in a format similar to film trailers shown prior to movies – as a glimpse to the curatorial teamʼs personal favorites of the year.

Curated by noted local art director, Felix Ng – the festival is the second collaboration between Anonymous and Old School following the highly regarded Dual City Sessions: Null in 2007.

The film festival will run from 20 – 30 January 2010, with 15 screenings of 8 different films. It will be held at Sinema Old School. Ticket prices range from S$12 – $15, excluding ticketing charge. Tickets can be purchased through the festivalʼs official website, or at Sinema Old School.

Product Designer Kai Hwei Kwok, will be graduating from the School of Art, Design Media, this May. Her work reveals her diverse interests in design, exploring different possibilities and pushing the boundaries.

Taking a more back-to-basic approach, the featured chair incorporates elements seen in the 1950s’s furniture design, presenting bold cuts and angles. “Through combining these qualities with a modern touch, it offers a brand new look,” Kai adds. “The unique V shaped cut at the back of the chair is the main essence of the chair. Getting inspiration from a flower core resulted in the extensive use of curvatures when designing it. Using teak as a medium, I hope to offer something nostalgic yet modern at the same time.”

Enjoy the heck out of the other beautiful designs on Kai’s coroflot page.

Woon Taiwoon’s “Shuang Fan” is a fan with emotions. It helps to cool you down, and at the same time, it offers a liberating expression of your innermost voice. You can easily manipulate the thin red rope to transform the “Shuang” character on the fan face into any any possible design to reflect your feelings or thoughts.

“I was looking for an item in Singapore which is always used at home but normally ignored by all. It has to be the home fan … everyone in Singapore has one, but they look awful. Not something you would be proud to show to your friends when they come over. The design is inspired by some simple elements of daily life: the ordinary barbecue mesh, the elegant bamboo tim sum steamer, and the abundance of interesting Chinese characters seen everywhere.”