Sharing by guest writer and our graphic design intern, Bryan Lim on ‘Craft + Commerce: Singaporean designers and Japanese artisans can collaborate’, organised by DesignSingapore --- The first thing that hit me when, I sat down at the seminar, are the delicately produced glassware laid before us. Being not very knowledgeable about artisanal glasses in general, I picked one of the lot and was amazed by how light it felt in my hands, literally “as light as a feather”. With a glass layer so delicately thin, the glass was as clear as day. And could you believe they were all made by hand? When it comes to Japanese craft, there is always a sense of understated beauty, and belief in upholding to the highest standards possible. The highest standards are there not as a sense of competition between themselves, but an innate principal that you have for yourself. As a local, you are surrounded by all the finest and you learn to appreciate the delicateness and exquisiteness of every single piece. Yet, my mind could not comprehend how it was possible, and thought maybe some crazy super computer machinery made it instead. We were later introduced to Yoshifumi Saito, executive director of Shotoku, a company of 92-year history in glass making, who explained the process of making this exquisite “Usuhari” glasses from concept to production. And really in the ned, the machine is unable to replace the hand and skill honed through decades of practice. Edwin Low, owner of retail gallery/residency S U P E R M A M A, produced Shotoku glasses featuring Singaporean designs under his house-brand Democratic Society (DS). Through his experience working with Shotoku, he shared how he is now able to directly link local Singapore designers with Japanese artisans, for the one-off short run projects of a collection of glassware or other crafts like porcelain and metals. And personally, I feel what Edwin is doing, is a real good thing, sharing such a valuable resource with aspiring designers who wish to release a collection of works, but is unable to do so with rising costs in production but lowering quality of production. It definitely makes it easier for people to get work out, for a design is nothing residing in our heads or on paper. I think, if anything, this seminar also reminds me how small the world has gotten thanks to technology, and in our present day and age, anything is possible. If only you will it to be. vimeo/67389996 lo-op.co.jp/
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 09:43:19 +0000
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