Yap Seow Choong

Yap loves design, travel and everything beautiful in life. He writes for various media about travel and design and has published works, including Wander Bhutan and Myanmar Odyssey. Formerly publisher of Lonely Planet (China Office), Yap is now Chief Content Officer of Youpu Apps, a Beijing based travel app company.


SG50: The Singapore story

04 2015 | Issue 4

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This year marks Singapore’s 50th anniversary of independence, and this “Little Red Dot” is therefore back in the limelight on international stage. There is an array of celebrations and festivals in this island country, and everything, big and small, has something to do with “SG50”, the logo that can be seen everywhere in Singapore now. Even babies born in this year will all get uniquely designed birth certificates. To some of the Singaporeans like me, we started feeling the celebration fatigue.


Over the decade, Singapore has tried to unlock the potential of the creative industries. Now, tell people that you are a designer or an artist, they will no longer raise their eyebrows and ask: “how are you going to survive?” Led by the Singaporean Government, the DesignSingapore Council aims to support the design sector by providing grants and subsidies to designers and promoting local designs to overseas markets. As long as you have innovative ideas, you will be eligible to apply for funding. The DesignSingapore Council also sponsors writing and publishing projects, as well as marketing campaigns, overseas study trips and attending conferences. Various types of subsidies are also available.


Called a “cultural desert” too many times to count, the Lion City sees monetary investment into relevant industries as a fast track to cultivate creativity. It may not be the best way to accomplish such goal, but it’s effectively enough. Take a look at Dubai and Abu Dhabi and you’ll see why. Over years of investment, these cities built on sand have respectively become an art hub in the Middle East and a must-see for state-of-the-art architecture aficionados.


SG50, needless to say, has a plethora of activities to highlight Singapore’s design scene. The Singapore Design Week was held from 10 to 22 March. More than 60 exhibitions and seminars were organised during the period. The most outstanding designers were honoured with the President’s Design Awards; and Maison & Object, Paris’ trade fair for interior design, launched an Asian edition in Singapore. Moreover, the permanent exhibition of “Fifty Years of Singapore Design” is held at the headquarters of the DesignSingapore Council to showcase local designs to both the local and overseas audiences.


Designs that are aimed to improve the quality of life can say a lot about a society. Singapore has been striving for going global over the years, and its design also outlines such international character. A design that has no local character may lack individuality, but so long as it is a good design, no one will bother knowing if it carries any local values. For instance, no one would ever ask if any product Apple designs is American-inspired.


The concept of “going local” sometimes can render a design superficial. Inspired by the local culture, some homegrown designers in Singapore have created a series of retro-style products. They might be gems for hipsters and vintage lovers, but they aren’t really “design”, or rather, they are poorly designed. You don’t see messages carried by the so-called “design”, and mere nostalgia can’t make a design fly high. Take a look at what is going on with G.O.D. now and you can anticipate what will happen to this brand in the future. Last but not least, my own two cents’ worth: the national costume worn by Miss Universe Singapore 2015, adorned with stars and crescent moon (well, inspired by the national flag, without a doubt), is an eyesore.