Another designer that caught my attention at the SMALL THOUGHTS BIG IDEAS exhibition last November, is Lee Yun Qin.

Yun Qin’s unassuming and considerate demeanour is translated into her two designs that she hopes bring joy in little ways to its user.  ‘Tea Stick’ takes the pain out of tea bag tags that often slip into the hot tea, whilst ‘Sugarbloom’ ensures you don’t overdose on sugar as you don’t want to disturb the sugary floral arrangement.

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Ruben Pang is a third year Fine Arts student at Lasalle,  graduating in May 2010.

The pictured artworks are part of a series of five paintings titled Division. In this body of work, Ruben explores passive aggressive landscapes; something that is definitely cold and lifeless but somewhat resonating with decay, and decay indicates the presence of some form of life.

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In 2008, Terry Yeo graduated from the Universtity of Huddersfields, UK with a BA(Hons) in Fashion Design. In July 2009, Terry and his two buddies -Joe Kee and Ronnie Cheng-  decided to launch the ForInSaneHuman label.

Terry about the label: “We want to create a new style that provides consumers with another option when purchasing, while providing the label opportunities to create a new fashion statement in the local fashion line. We challenge the clubbing style in both the men and ladies wear market by designing over the top, yet wearable designs. Heavy details and the unconventional cutting is the major focus of each collection.”

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Hitting the shelves today is +65 Indie Underground, a three-CD compilation documenting the D-I-Y Indie band scene from the mid 80s to present. With the success of 100 Greatest Singapore 60s: The Definitive Collection and More Singapore 60s: Treasures From The Vault, another important period in Singapore music history has now been documented.

The collection features 50 tracks in total from the following artists: Typewriter. Postbox. The Marilyns. A Vacant Affair. Amateur Takes Control. MUON. The Analog Girl. B-Quartet. The Great Spy Experiment. I Am David Sparkle. Astreal. Lunarin. Opposition Party. Ronin. Electrico. The Observatory. aspidistrafly. Serenaide. Tiramisu. Force Vomit. Plainsunset. Boredphucks. The Ordinary People. Livonia. Stroll. Psycho Sonique. Sugaflies. Stoned Revivals. Etc. Concave Scream. Kelvin Tan. The Lilac Saints. Suchness. The Mother. Stompin’ Ground. Humpback Oak. The Pagans. S.U.D.S. Padres. Watchmen. The Oddfellows. The Nonames. Convent Garden. Nunsex. Global Chaos. Twang Bar Kings. Daze. Corporate Toil. Razor’s Edge. Zircon Lounge.

For a taste of what to expect, here is an excerpt from +65 Indie Underground written by X’Ho: “Is Singapore rock alive and free at last? Growth – with stunted roots – is surely a struggle, especially where a collective mind-set is concerned. But we try … what with punk being post-punk now, firmly entrenched in the mainstream. To those who forged in the 80s, we thank and remember for sowing the seeds.”

+65 Indie Underground is available from all major stores.

Celia Law was one of the 15 designers who participated in the SMALL THOUGHTS BIG IDEAS exhibition last November.

Celia’s heart lies with the local Singaporean, and designing with them in mind, she desires to bring the four seasons closer to them through the wonderfully scented ‘Weed’ calendar and ‘Park Your Day’, which is a witty calendar based on the indispensable Singapore parking coupon. Her creations also serve to remind the user to treasure time, as each day can be carelessly tossed away like the weed sticks and coupon tabs.

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Local accessories shaman, Rayson Tan of L’ile aux Ashby, sent along a couple of images from his ‘Ode To The Future Tribe’ collection. Rayson’s new line of large-scale, outré jewelry pieces, drew a lot of attention at last month’s PARCO Fashion Incubator show.

Fasten one of these hand-crafted masterpieces around your neck, and you’re ready for anything, be it clubbing downtown or a tribal warrior gathering.

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‘Gingerbread Girls’ is a homespun project put together by Arlene Rieneke. “It is my own way to celebrate Christmas and to give a humble gift to close friends and family. The initial idea was to craft a greeting card made of hand-drawn characters which can be perforated off the card -like paper dolls- and hung on Christmas trees, or stuck into cupcakes with the help of wooden toothpicks. Greeting cards are often the first thing to go into the trash can once the season ends, so I like the idea that a part of the card will remain and last for years to come, even if the card itself isn’t. Since then, I’d encountered issues challenging the idea’s practicality, especially the perforation part. In the end, I settled with a panoramic greeting card that comes with dotted lines -around the characters’ outline- instead of perforation holes. The recipients will have the option to cut the paper dolls out of the card if they wish to. Alternatively, they may keep the card in its original form.”

Born in 1984, Jixuan is the elder child of two. Her earliest contact with art was coloring her father’s jewelry designs. Drawing has always seemed natural to her. It was only much later that she came to the realization that being an artist is not a phantom profession. This motivated her even further in the direction of painting.

Dolls are Jixuan’s muses: “They allow me to enter their plane of residence to observe on an elevated platform their curiously empty joy and often-innocent motives. I view their lives detached and without judgment, acknowledging their natural instinct of survival in a nihilistic world.”

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