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 childhood 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!

(Top) Scrapyard by Tia. (Bottom) Sketch by Don Low.

Urban Sketchers is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising the artistic, storytelling and educational value of location drawing, promoting its practice and connecting people around the world who draw on location where they live and travel.

The site showcases colorful stories behind the scenes, by volunteer correspondents in more than thirty countries around the world. Some are architects and illustrators, others are graphic designers, web developers, painters or educators, all sharing the same passion for drawing on location. They portray everyday life — from commuters on packed rush-hour subways to coffee drinkers at a sidewalk café, all quickly rendered by the sometimes furtive scratching of pen to paper.

Spearheading the Singapore USk site is Architect and Art and Design educator, Tia Boon Sim: “Since April 2007, I have been spending most of my Saturday mornings combing the streets in Singapore. I started a location drawing on Club Street after buying two beautiful sketchbooks and there is no stopping since.”

Developed by Catapult Advertising and supported by MICA, Good EyeDeer (GED) is an equal opportunities platform, which gives anyone with a potentially good idea an opportunity to actualize and see it come to life, debunking the myth that Singapore is creatively lack lustre.

“We want GED to be a platform for designers to launch themselves and enjoy some commercial benefits, but that’s not all GED is about,” explains Project Director, Serene Tan. “We’re keen on unearthing local talent, helping them come up with a viable business model, sharing with them our network and experience in marketing and branding so that can have some commercial viability to their work. But at the same time, what is driving GED is the importance of giving back to charities like the BAF and our own not-for-profit design project, HE.ART, and investing in the future of good local design.”

GED’s inaugural competition is its Great T-Shirt Hunt – a call for locals to design T-Shirts about or inspired by Singapore. The competition will culminate in a showcase of the winning pieces, which will subsequently be sold through various retail partners and an online store.

Click here for more details. The contest closes on 15 March 2010!

The Karma of the Tree Sentinel who Awakes/Mind Roots MV is an experimental short film and music video inspired by Mind Roots from The Observatory’s latest album, Dark Folke.  The film is produced by local film collective birdmandog, and based on a short poem written by the band’s songwriter Leslie Low for the album:

“They have no voice for their mouths are covered. They cannot move for their bodies are stiff. But their minds are free. Their eyes are no longer prisons. When the hour of the owl comes, they will enter the tree through a triangle. The triangle is a doorway. The tree is a cave. The tree echoes their every thought, breath and step. And while there is no light, they remain hidden but not forgotten …. Dark Folke, 1 July.”

Director Yuan Ler about the video: “Using a combination of stop motion photography, hi-definition video and 3D animation, Karma tracks the journey of Sentinel 5, who awakes from a deep slumber in limbo to begin a journey that will take her to The Triangle – a monolith of unknown origins. Karma is an experimental film that explores themes of existentialism, regret, and life beyond death.”

A Duad In Play is an event that encourages a fascinating artistic solidarity between two different creative minds, allowing two artists to produce a gemini of works that will exemplify an effort of cooperative creativity.

The exhibition will present new works by two artistic giants, using a common playground to congregate their practices, challenge the boundaries, while remaining true to their works.

Francis Ng and Ronald Ventura will express their thoughts on “play and playthings”, posing their artwork as a response to the other, forming a dialogue between their works, whilst using their own respective language of art.

This evening, at ICA Gallery 1, Unit B1-04, LASALLE College of the Arts, at 7pm.

About the Artists

Francis Ng
Ng Teck Yong Francis is a multi-disciplinary artist born in 1975 in Singapore . Since completing his Bachelor of Arts degree with Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University (RMIT) Australia in 2001 and Master of Fine Art degree in 2004, Francis made headlines when he became the first Singaporean to win the grand prize at the Philip Morris Group of Companies Asean Art Awards in 2002. He has also won the 2002/2003 JCCI (Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Singapore) Arts Award, the 2003 President’s Young Talent Award, the Photography category of the UOB Painting of the Year competition 2004 and, the 2004/2005 IDC-Design Excellence (Service Industry) Distinction Award. In 2003, Francis was chosen to represent Singapore at the prestigious 50th Venice Biennale (Biennale di Venezia). He has also represented the country in the 5th Gwangju Biennale in South Korea.

Ronald Ventura
Born in 1973, Ronald Ventura studied painting in the Philippines College of Architecture and Fine Arts, University of Santo Tomas , Manila , where he also taught.  Ronald Ventura was conferred with the Cultural Center of the Philippines Thirteen Artists Award and in 2005, and was one of the 3 winners of the Ateneo Art Awards, a contemporary art prize bestowed on young Filipino visual artists. He was also the inaugural recipient of the Ateneo Art Gallery Sydney Studio Residency Grant, exhibiting at the Cross Art Projects, Sydney, Australia in November 2005. Ventura ’s reputation is said to have since sky-rocketed after his much talked about Mapping The Corporeal exhibition at the NUS Museum, which was a parallel event to the Singapore Biennale in 2008, and exemplified Ventura¹s artistic virtuosity. His works have since appeared in the Prague Biennale 2009, and later appearing in a book entitled Post Tsunami Art by Primo Marella, in Milan, in 2009.

Click Image for more designs.

SQ and Alex are the designers behind local menswear label,  Coupé-Cousu. Their design aesthetic favours understatement over complex detailing and unnecessary embellishments. Every piece of garment they create has to marry design and function. “This practicality perhaps came from our academic background in finance and business,” Alex adds. “To us, our challenge in design is a lot about engineering and creating interesting garments while respecting the constraints and structure necessary in contemporary menswear.”

Click Image for more designs.

About the Geometry in Grey collection: “Using a material as stark and unassuming as a concrete block, Japan’s architect extraordinaire Tadao Ando created extremely clever and modern-looking architecture by playing with spatial aesthetics, natural light and geometry. For example, the calculated placement of concrete slabs with deference to the natural landscape creates interesting hues of greys and geometric shadow at different times of the day, resulting in architectural patterns that evolve constantly. Our collection draws inspiration from his expansive body of work and philosophy, utilising essentially plain, un-embellished fabrics and constructing them in a way to create depth. Through the interplay of angled geometrical shapes, tonal colour and textures, we aim to manifest the abstract notion of space and interpret shadow – both hallmarks of Ando’s work. These are done with high regard for the function and structure of the garments. Materials are also chosen to reflect Ando’s delicate balance of tradition and modernity, such as the use of synthetic fabrics on classic styles.”

The “Geometry in Grey” collection will be launched late April 2010 at Parco@Millenia.

Kristal’s works utilize color palettes and graphical volumes as a means of detailing observed human forces, and the exerted pressures that follow. Through the use of jagged shapes and impassioned colored pencil strokes, her illustrations appeal to our primal instincts by appearing unpretentious, honest and harsh.

The exhibition is curated by 29cornflakes, and will be on view through March 2. The exhibition opening event happens on 20 Feb, at 4pm. Supporting acts by Nick Chim and Vargus Pike. Admission is free.

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.”