The impression of Singapore design is that there are many strong visual architecture and contemporary art design. These design showcase of Singapore’s contemporary creative talents. However, we are not just looking at these design but also understand the meaning behind it and how the design explores Singapore’s social, cultural, economic and historical context.
Singapore in terms of the cultural history and the distance from major art centres, and studies the ways in which they have assimilated different artistic traditions and promoted Singaporean art and design (Gubbard Guy, 1995). Singapore Inside Out is an international cross-disciplinary showcase of the dynamic contemporary creative arts and design scene in Singapore (VisitSingapore, 2017). It includes architecture, fashion, music to literary, performing and visual arts. Surpermama founder by Mei Ling and Edwin Low is one of the art display in Singapore Inside Out.
Edwin Low is an industrial designer; he believes using culture as a context for design. “We don’t sell products. We sell stories—very strong Singapore stories, and have created a space for them to be told” Edwin said (Eleanor Hwang, 2017). Edwin is the creative mind behind Supermama, a gallery shop based in Singapore. His passion is to create strong local content, local stories and Singapore stories that design for little object that people can buy. He thinks that it is another medium to present history and heritage. He approached the National Archives collected fifty different articles of items and then identify fifty different local designers and artists’ illustrators. Then they interpret all these articles are content can be if they were present them to the common audience. Then it ended up the whole collection of fifty porcelain vessels, it looks the same exterior but it tells different story when you open it up. Each porcelain vessels have different visual that communicates the past. Edwin inspiration is how information is being translated, how history can be translated from the last generation to current and next generation. The project that Edwin Low did explore Singapore’s social and allow people to know more about the cultural and historical, it also promote economic development.
Cause the heritagised landscapes and historicists convey powerful impacts, the state promotes the ideologies of multiracialism (Brenda Yeoh and Lily Kong, 1997). There are different races in this country such as Malay, Chinese, Indian and European. Therefore, it is important to explore different culture into the design. Priscilla Shunmugam is a fashion design. She was born in Malay and she mixed China and India (Sumiko Tan, 2017). Ong Shunmugam is a Singapore contemporary womenswear label founder by Priscilla Shunmugam. Ong Shunmugam not only a fashion label but inspires discourse about race, culture and identity (Rubin Khoo, 2017). The feature of Priscilla design is that she brought a lot of tradition and history into the design but made it contemporary and modern. The garments combination of traditional Asian fabric, textile techniques and styles with modern silhouettes. Priscilla is trying to tell a story in every piece that she does. According to Rubin Khoo (2017), Priscilla said “We will definitely play on our trademark with the mixing of the prints, colours, textiles, fabrics, laces but at the same time we will be thinking of the Malay woman, paying attention to the levels of modesty but at the same time giving her freedom.” Shunmugam was invited by the National Museum of Singapore to explored the cheongsam’s history context of several identity changes through Singapore’s past, present and future (Rubin Khoo, 2017). She was successful communicate Singapore’s social, cultural, historical and economic context through all her collection.
Every design should have story behind it. It would be great if there are more contemporary design showcase their country’s social, cultural and historical. It could allow people to understand more different country’s cultural and development economic through the design.
References:
Brenda, Y. & Lily, K. 1997, ‘The Notion of Place in the Construction of History, Nostalgia and Heritage in Singapore’, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, vol. 17, issue. 1, pp 52–65.
Eleanor, H. 2017, Inside Supermama with Edwin Low, viewed 29 December 2017, < https://www.hnworth.com/article/2017/09/08/space-supermama/>.
Gubbard, G. 1995, ‘Local art and artists of Singapore’, Arts & Activities, vol. 118, issue. 3, pp. 31-34.
Rubin, K. 2017, Cover Story: Priscilla Shunmugam explores identity through design, viewed 29 December 2017, <http://prestigeonline.com/my/people/personalities/cover-story-priscilla-shunmugam-explores-identity-through-design/>.
Singapore Inside Out 2015, Singapore: Inside Out | Artist Spotlight – Edwin Low, YouTube, viewed 29 December 2017, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VNa0uQFsuE>.
Sumiko, T. 2017, Inside the life of local fashion designer Priscilla Shunmugam, viewed 29 December 2017, <http://www.herworldplus.com/features/inside-life-highly-acclaimed-local-fashion-designer-priscilla-shunmugam>.
VisitSingapore. 2017, Singapore Inside Out, viewed 29 December 2017, <http://www.visitsingapore.com/see-do-singapore/arts/performance-arts/singapore-inside-out/>.
Yvonne, T. 2016, Inspired Cultural Wear to Paris Fashion Week and Beyond, viewed 29 December 2017, <http://www.dailyseni.com/v4/ong-shunmugam-fuses-east-with-east-like-never-before/>.
Journey Through Singapore 
It is clear that these designers were inspired by the modern city Singapore is known for today as well as the very culturally rooted traditional aspect of Singapore. This is portrayed not only through the visual qualities of the design but also the concept behind their pieces. Low’s design most intrigues me and it would be compelling to know the design process and what the ornate designs inside each vessel represented.
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