How would you put a modern spin on products produced by traditional crafts like rangoli making, ketupat weaving, Chinese lantern making or Peranakan
beadwork and embroidery?
Last year in July 2021, National Heritage Board (NHB) put out an open call for designers to work with local craft practitioners. NHB's efforts to breathe new life into traditional practices whose future is increasingly uncertain.
The four craft practitioners have been selected, variously involved in Chinese lantern making, ketupat weaving, rangoli making and Peranakan beadwork.
Craft X Design is to raise public awareness and appreciation of local traditional crafts; and to explore how traditional crafts can be revitalized to ensure their long-term sustainability and commercial viability.
The project is aimed to help traditional local craft practitioners to discover new audiences, modernising the crafts and creating new markets in the long run.
Making of traditional Chinese lanterns
Jimm Wong(right) x Melvin OngMr Jimm Wong is one of the last traditional Chinese lantern makers in Singapore and specialises in making Foochow lanterns. As a Chinese heritage enthusiast, he became deeply
interested in traditional Chinese lanterns in 2006 and has been practicing the craft since 2007. He has also been continuously innovating, by incorporating modern technologies such as 3D printing into his lantern-making process, as well as using different materials such as aluminum
rods to make the lantern structure. Most of his lanterns he made by himself by hand. He is currently making custom-made traditional lanterns.
Mr Melvin Ong, a senior designer from NextOfKin Creatives (NOK). NOK is a branding and industrial design firm with cross disciplinary creative thinkers and problem solvers. His firm has worked long-term clients such as Dell, Panasonic, Huawei, Sennheiser and Techronic Industries. Work with Jimm Wong, a local lantern maker, they designed a bamboo lantern composed of three spherical layers that can rotate individually.
The Harmony Sphere Lamp
The Harmony Sphere LampThe Harmony Sphere Lamp may look like a contemporary spin in the living hall or bedroom or even outside hanging lantern balcony in the open, it can rotate itself if there is a wind blowing. It can be made of any shapes and sizes.
The making and hanging of Chinese lanterns is a tradition dating back to the Han Dynasty (206BC - 220AD) in China. In Spore, lanterns are hung during CNY and the Mid-Autumn festival outside homes, temples and clan associations, may light lanterns in celebration of deities' birthdays, or festivals and other occasions like funerals or weddings. Occasionally, indivdual households especially bungalow owners or collectors may also have commission lanterns.
There are 2 types of lanterns in S'pore - Teochew and Foochow lanterns - differs in the frames and drawings. The most common type of Teochew lanterns are "Oval Lantern" 大何灯笼 and "Persimmon Lantern" 大柿灯笼. For Foochow lanterns, a common type is the "Umbrella lantern" 伞灯.
The tools are required to cut bamboo into the required length and thickness for forming the lantern frames as well as both traditional and 3-D printed lantern parts to be used by Jimm Wong in his lanterns.
Most of the lanterns will never turn out the same, there will always be something like crocked or slanted but some people will like it that way. For example, when you wrap around the bamboo weaving, it will have this textured look. The lanterns will turn out beautifully uniformed, the spacings are accurate because of the 3D printing. The 3D printed part can be very straight, so Jimm Wong can rely on the machine to do the printing, so 3D printing thus helps him reduce the time and the cost per lantern
Peranakan beadwork and embroidery
Mr Raymond Wong has been practicing Peranakan beadwork and embroidery for more than 16 years and is one of the last few Peranakan kebaya makers in Singapore. He is the co-owner of boutique shop Rumah Kim Choo, where he also conducts classes to teach and promote Peranakan beadwork. In addition, he has been a part-time lecturer at the Fashion Textile Faculty in LASALLE since 2013. His works have been extensively featured in various museum exhibitions and fashion shows, both in Singapore and internationally, including in Malaysia, China, Korea, Japan, Russia, Czech Republic and Uzbekistan.
Ms Joanna/Ms Joanne Quak are designers from Aller Row, a Spore-based fashion label. Formerly known as B1NARY, Aller Row has been featured with H&M and in the ASEAN Fashion Designer Showcase. Their works have also been featured individually and as a team across various online and printed platforms.
Imagine you are in a spotlight wearing this stunning gown at Star Awards and/or lavish wedding.
Peranakan Beaded Slippers
Beaded Slippers are crafted by stitching the beaded cloth onto a shoe frame, and typically featured floral, geometric and/or bird motifs.
Sport shoes can be made by beaded layers for fashion too. Even Peranakan high heel shoes were made by beaded with flora/flowers by stitching it. My mum wore Peranakan high heel shoe in her younger days.
Rangoli
Ms Vijaya Mohan, creative and talented, has been practicing rangoli since the age of 5 and now has over 55 years of experience in the craft. She has created more than 8000 rangolis in Singapore, and she currently holds the Guinness World Record for the largest rangoli pattern ever created. She has actively experimented with using new materials and contemporary designs for her rangoli works, such as the 2016 Rangoli Radiance exhibition at Gardens by the Bay, where she
incorporated glitter and over 15,000 glass marbles. Besides promoting rangoli through arts classes and workshops in local schools, she is also a trained art therapist, and works regularly with welfare organisations to conduct rangoli programmes for underserved communities, including seniors, children with special needs, and those facing mental health challenges.
(Jarrod Lim Design) Jarrod Lim, half-Singaporean & half-Australian, a versatile designer, who's able to design both for the more inffluent consumer like those that patronise Royal Selangor. Oh..yes I remember I did bought Royal Selangor Pewter item years ago and kept at my mum's home.
Jarrod Lim now operates his studio from Singapore with an enticing gallery space at the front and his office tucked away at the back. He continues his search for new and interesting projects with clients that are open to fresh thinking and looking for an innovative solution. All of them result from his disverse upbringing and his unique spectrum of experiences.
Old craft and new design, Jarrod Lim utilised laser-cutting technology to carve Vijaya's intricate rangoli motifs onto slices of stainless steel.
Ketupat weaving
Mdm Anita Tompang started learning the skills of ketupat weaving at the age of 9, and now has nearly 50 years of experience with it. She was recently featured in Berita Harian for her commitment to this tradition, having woven ketupats by hand every Hari Raya for over 20 years. Although ketupat weaving has become a less common activity, she has persisted in her own efforts to keep this craft alive in Singapore, including teaching and involving her own children in ketupat weaving.
This ketupat ribbon looks like partyforte decoration that I saw my "Malay-Muslim" neighbour, hanging ketupat ribbons in their home for Hari Raya occasions.
It can rearrange each modular to form a pillow or cushion.
Their works to be showcased to the public at NHB spaces or online platforms together with videos and photos of the craft-making process.
Get up close with these modern prototypes of age-old crafts at the National Museum as part of National Heritage Board's inaugural Craft X Design showcase.
The "Craft x Design" exhibition by the National Heritage Board (NHB) at the National Museum Singapore (NMS) is on from 1st July 2022 to 31st July 2022.
They will be sharing more about collabroration process, their experiences and challenges, and their reflections on their journey of adapting traditional crafts into comtemporary products during this sessons.
Participants will also be given the opportunity to try their hand at weaving ketupats or creating rangoli, in hands-on sessions conducted by Mdm Anita Tompang and Mdm Vijaya Mohan respectively.
Date: 9th July 2022
Venue: National Museum of Spore, Activity Room Space, Level 3, 93 Stamford Road S178897
Time: 1.30pm to 4pm
Admission: Free with registration at https://go.gov.sg/cxdsharing2022 (limited seated available).
