The Weeping Citizen: The Future of Ocean in 2050

‘The Weeping Citizen’ is a visual exploration of a speculative ocean future, where Singapore navigates efforts to reverse the catastrophic loss of 50% of all marine life on Earth due to climate change. It is motivated by the increasing urgency of the Ocean Sustainability crisis and our disconnectedness from the issue due to our lack of up-close interactions with marine life in our urban environment.

This project aims to encourage Gen-Zs to become more proactive about conservation efforts in response to the ongoing Climate and Ocean Sustainability crisis and encourage inquisitiveness to become better-informed citizens. It explores the use of speculative design, utilizing sci-fi prototyping and a participatory design component to present a future scenario that synthesizes existing technologies, research, and scientific journals to contextualize a response.

The project, which includes a hypothetical public web archive and experiential display, prompts the audience to reflect on their relationship with the Ocean Sustainability crisis and the impact of their actions on building a sustainable future. It aims to incite introspection and encourage the audience to consider the interconnectivity of our lives with the Ocean Sustainability crisis, the various aspects of life that would be affected, and the ways in which our actions can either help or hinder our attempts to build an ideal sustainable future. By doing so, it aims to reframe how we interact with the present, critique our existing behaviours and encourage active conversation about steps we can take from here.

Under the Roof

Under the Roof is a project about rediscovering harmony within our homes and making purposeful improvements to our living space in order to create a positive outlook towards our home environment and family life. Utilising the practicality of Feng Shui principles, an interactive online guide will explore meaningful spatial arrangements and homemaking practices in the Singaporean context, to encourage young Singaporeans to tailor their living spaces to better suit their personal needs. By allowing users to explore their ideal space while being conscious of the distinct energy and significance of each area in their home, this project hopes that it will be able to ease household tensions to establish a sense of balance, encouraging a fulfilled and healthy lifestyle that starts from within.

Knowledge That Binds

Knowledge That Binds is an investigation into the craft of bookbinding through the lens of a designer, to foster appreciation and encourage creatives to engage in the craft. 

Often overlooked in the hands of readers, bookbinding is an essential part of holding pages of information together. Books were initially bound by hand in the past before industrialisation introduced machinery and automated much of the process. As such, the craft of hand bookbinding has dwindled into a niche profession and a hobby. 

Despite the decline of hand bookbinding, the craft is still relevant to creatives as it is frequently used in student projects and artist books in the art and design scene. It is a significant skill used for artist books and design publications, hence, it is important to promote the art of bookbinding in Singapore amongst creatives so that more creatives can engage with and develop a deeper appreciation for the craft. Learning about hand bookbinding techniques and binding methods from the past can also provide inspiration for contemporary designers and artists who are interested in exploring the art of bookbinding. By studying traditional binding techniques, one can gain a greater understanding of the materials, tools, and methods used in bookbinding.

This project seeks to study existing hand bookbinding techniques and aims to relook at hand bookbinding techniques for designers and artists who self-produce books and can benefit from hand bookbinding as a creative expression. 

Little Beings

Little Beings is a personal art project that centres around gut feelings. It is a series of characters that tell the stories of our gut feelings happening within our subconscious minds. The series is 3D rendered art toy figurines, which depict various gut feelings in different colours and designs suited to the characters. The project challenges the notion that gut feelings are irrational and unreliable. They serve as a reminder that intuition is a powerful tool that should not be dismissed or ignored. Each figurine represents a different gut feeling, Companion, Hero, Gambler, or Caregiver and tells true stories based on real-life experiences.

Our sixth sense can be a valuable tool in certain circumstances. However, this has been dusted under the carpet and overlooked as it has yet to be logically and scientifically proven. Although gut feelings are not always reliable, most people still make decisions based on their gut feelings to help them navigate complex situations.

The project uses an online platform to serve as a space to tell each character’s stories and display how each character tackles problems.

Overall, the personal art project aims to spark a conversation among Generation Z about the significance of gut feelings. Using art toy figurines and an online platform, the project hopes to inspire individuals to trust their instincts and recognise the power of intuition in their daily lives. Hence, gaining more self-confidence to make better decisions.

Types Unite

Languages are a means of communication with their own writing systems and character structures. However, when these visual differences are made more obvious with the inconsistent typographic choices between the English and Chinese language in bilingual posters, it obstructs how information is understood and navigated when these languages are placed together.

Anchored on the pillars of education and archival, Types Unite aims to investigate how the English and Chinese writing systems can form a cohesive visual system for designers to be more sensitive while designing bilingual posters for Singapore, a multilingual society.