Wedding Photography Series - Hurricadia

I will begin my favourite wedding photographers series with Hurricadia. Pronounced "Hurry-Kay-Dee-Ah", the company has been in existence since 2000. It prides itself on being a freelance studio specialising in simplistic, minimalist design. I had engaged the principal photographer Terence Heng to do our candid photography during my own wedding in 2005 and really loved the pictures he took for us.

Passion for the visual has long been part of Terence's philosophy. Deciding that a single career was never going to be interesting enough, he hung up his desires for the not-so glamourous world of finance to join the even less glamourous world of academia, art and advertising. He holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Nottingham and an MSc in Management Research from the Said Business School, University of Oxford.

Terence believes that not all wedding photography is about making people stand in a straight line and smile with their chins down. He loves the spontaniety of shooting the day's events, and feels that getting fed at the wedding dinner is the best perk of the job. Terence shuttles in between Singapore and the UK and limits the wedding clients he takes each year to ensure that he maintains a fresh perspective on his work.

{text partly extracted from Terance's website}

Nantaka Joy

Absolutely gorgeous work by Nantaka Joy! Her wonderful website just came up and I couldn't stop downloading pictures of her work to show you on this blog. I was like a kid in a candy store gone absoluely maad!! With a passion for mixing of refined designs, handmade influences, texture, pattern, and color, Joy takes on a variety of clients in the design fields of home accessories, textiles, branding, packaging, custom invitations, and stationery. I will let her work speak for themselves!

By Hand

"By Hand" presents an interesting and diverse group of thirty-two artists,who are discarding their paintbrushes for methods and materials traditionally associated with craft. In these laborious works of art, the process becomes important. From screen printed t-shirts to embroidered toys and knitted landmines, the artists profess their love of methodology while revealing their sometimes obsessive work habits.This book should appeal to anyone who is interested in contemporary culture and D.I.Y. trends.

Wedding photography

Like many other countries I believe, wedding photography is a big thing in Singapore and it is not uncommon to hear couples paying thousands of dollars just to have their wedding pictures taken.

Anyone can take a picture with a camera, but I believe it is only a sensitive photographer with a keen eye for detail that is able to capture the true essence of the day.

I will be sharing the work of some of my favourite local wedding photographers over the next week or so. Hope this will be useful resource and inspiration to lovely folks out there getting married. Please feel free to email me if you would like to share the work of your favourite wedding photographers with others. Enjoy!

Kalon Studios

Via Designsponge, I learnt about Kalon Studios and their gorgeous line of bamboo furniture with botanical cravings. Based in both Berlin and Los Angeles, their entire collection is proudly made from green and sustainable materials that are apparently so non-toxic that it is food grade!

Penguin® - an iconic 20th century inspiration

Check out these unique award-winning collection of designs ranging from bookbags to deckchairs based on the classic Penguin® paperback book. Each product design in the collection adapts and plays with the colour, typography and iconic look of the original Penguin series first designed by Edward Young in 1935. Just love the zingy orange! Available at Artmeetsmatter

Inspiring collages

Inspiring collages from the Poireton's sketchbook. There is lots more inspirational candy at his Flickr page.

A Walk in the Wardrobe

Via Modern Romantic, I learnt of "A Walk in the Wardrobe", an exhibit recently organized by a group of 7 fashion curators from the MA in Fashion Curation at the London College of Fashion. Operating under the name Glass-case, they aim to push boundaries and challenge the traditional museum approach to curation.


A Walk in the Walkrobe explores the intimate relationship between fashion and memory. Trying to go beyond the visual, it set out to trigger lost and forgotten memories through the sense of sound and smell. "A soundscape comprised of muffled noises—of what seemed to be people walking and rummaging through closets—was paired with bygone scents (the smell of moth and lilac) reminiscent of one’s grandmother’s wardrobe. "

{images by poireton, text partly from Fashion Projects}

The Orangutan House

The Orangutan House, an studio-gallery of Charles CHAM , is a landmark and a must-see for all art lovers and tourists to Malacca. It houses the contemporary paintings and a large collection of art t-shirts.

Charles CHAM started painting at the age of five inspired by the first movie he ever saw. It was a story about an artist with a magic brush and everything he painted became alive. He painted birds and they flew away. He painted fish and they swam away in the river. Finally he painted a woman, she became alive and they fell in love. When Charles came home that day after the movie, he started to draw a portrait of the painter on the floor with some cake powder belonging to his mother. That was his first portrait.

Charles CHAM’s works are based on the philosophy of Yin and Yang – the duality of life and the attraction of opposites. Just like the Yin and Yang symbol, there is no fixed top-bottom position for his paintings and can be hung in both directions.

Malacca

Am back from an amazing 5 days in Malacca. It is just impossible to describe in words the sights, sounds and texture of this oldest city in Malaysia. It is like travelling back in time in South East Asia. My favourite spot there has got to be Jonker St, a place well known by antique collectors as one of the best places to hunt and bargain for antiques. Come nightfall, Jonker St closes to traffic and hawkers on pushcarts gather to sell all kinds of delicious street food and local handicrafts.

I just love getting lost in the narrow twisted streets, discovering hidden treasures and taking in the olden day charms of the shophouses inspired by the baba-nyonya culture. I have put together some of my favourite flickr pictures of Malacca. Just click here and be transported back to this historic town you would not want to miss.

Measuring Plant Wall Decal

A fun way to track your child's height! Available at Greenergrassdesign.

Bean2bed

It's a chair, recliner AND a bed! A bean bag without beans! Made of a revolutionary CMHR™ foam filling which allows for greater support and more even weight distribution, this product moulds to the contours of your body and promises you a good night's rest. Available at Bouf.

Tropical rainforest - mood board

I will be away in Malacca from June 9-13. Will be back soon to blog about the inspirational sights and sounds of this amazing historical town in Malaysia. Am so excited!

Till then, I leave you with this collage of ideas I collected for a room I am currently designing. The client wanted a spa/resort-like feel to the room. Inspired by the colours, smell and textures of the tropical rainforest, this is a room where walls are not compulsary, wood is everywhere and earth tones are dominant.

A tropical garden oasis. A place for relaxation and contemplation...

Ketna Patel

Senses provoking collages by Singapore-based mix media artist Ketna Patel. Ketna believes that "artists have a responsibility to reflect and project the changing society we live in." For her, this translate into powerful Asian images recently transmuted through pop art. Diverse religious icons, the extremes of real life and the rigid chaos of the Asian social landscape are displayed though bold electric colours. "This is Asia, this is what I see," she says.


Her art can also be found in lifestyle products, interiors (such as a local coffee shop below) and furniture where the cultural information is re-presented to test the boundaries between Art, Lifestyle, Marketing and Design.

Crochet Chair

Presenting the Crochet Chair & Solid White by Marcel Wanders! Simply gorgeous!

Emily Chalmers

As mentioned in my earlier post, this is Emily's Chalmer's home in a rented ex-industrial space in Shoreditch (London) featured in June 07 UK edition of Elle Decor.(Sorry that the quality of the scan doesn't really do the pictures justice). Because the space is rental, Emily had no inclination for major works, opting instead for quick fixes like zoning the space with curtains made from vintage fabrics. I love the way she makes use of the building's unique features such as pipes and wall recesses to form shelving units and hang decorative objects and pictures.

When asked about the source of her style, Emily quotes the title of Paul Smith book, "You can find inspiration in everything." Well said!

{images from June 1007 Elle Decoration (UK)}