Reliving Tales of Angami Naga is a collaborative project between William Liu Rui Qian, a back-end coding developer student from the faculty of Engineering in Information Engineering and Media at Nanyang Technological University, and myself, assuming the role of designer and animator. This project is guided by the SoH, ADM, and EEE teams as part of Professor Joan Marie Kelly and Professor Alexander Robertson Coupe’s eight-year partnership to sustain and support the development of literacy in endangered languages.
Of the 170 or so minority languages at risk in India, half are Tibeto-Burman languages primarily spoken in regions such as Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland in North-East India. The impending loss of these languages would be catastrophic, resulting in the loss of cultural heritage and linguistic knowledge.
Reliving Tales of Angami is a Pixel Role Playing Game (RPG) designed to promote the Tenyidie language and cultural heritage of the Angami Tribe in Nagaland to a global audience, with a particular focus on younger Angami generations. We heavily rely on Tenyidie folktales as a medium to facilitate the narrative and impart cultural knowledge in the game. We aspire to inspire similar efforts globally towards adopting adaptive and sustainable design approaches for the preservation of language and culture.
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.
A simple greeting can turn a frown upside down. However, many people in Singapore do not seem to initiate greetings. “In a moment”, encourages the young adults in Singapore to take the first step in initiating greetings to others. Drawing close connection to daily tasks (such as pouring water into a cup), this project aims to inform and remind people that greetings are simple, easy and quick to initiate.
Through offline and online social outreach, “In a moment”, leverages the use of sticker packets to engage with young adults in Singapore, to take a break from their screens for a second or two and realise that this simple act of kindness can be performed within seconds and at almost anywhere. There is no need for complicated tasks and details because greetings are meant to be simple yet meaningful just as this project aims to be. In two seconds, you can greet someone. In a moment, you can brighten someone’s day.
