Close to Culture, Close to Creativity, Spot on Asia.

How BooksActually Actually Makes Books

Posted on May 13, 2013
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It seems that if you’re a bibliophile and you live in Singapore, then you can’t help having a crush on BooksActually.

BooksActually is probably the most innovative indie bookstore in this small country. In the past few months, they’ve pulled off some charming feats of marketing. They organised a string of pop-up stores, including ones at Hotel 1929 and Blackmarket (Orchard Central). In April they held their “24-Hour Bookstore Event”, featuring discounts for books, free drinks sponsored by Red Bull and an overnight programme filled with literary bohemianisms. And before that, they hosted the Monocle Season Shop, a retail event that was part of the magazine’s The Monocle Asia-Pacific Tour.

BooksActually also promotes its own gutsy catalogue at these events, a selection of quirky books produced through its publishing imprint, Math Paper Press. Current titles include Red Dot Irreal, a collection of “equatorial fantastika” stories by Jason Erik Lundberg; Sonnets from the Singlish by Joshua Ip, basically an exercise in writing 44 sonnets in Singapore’s street English dialect; and Ayam Curtain, edited by June Yang and Joyce Chng, a compilation of bizarre microfiction inspired by local culture.

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Collectible Anthropology

Posted on May 12, 2013
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Charisse Aquino-Tugade, Philippines

Anthropologist, Cultural Explorer, Founder of The Manila Collectible Co.

Weaving through the cobble-stoned streets of what was once a fortress-city, I wondered how I would be able to spot The Manila Collectible Co (TMCC). Its home, tucked within an enclave of Spanish colonial shops and galleries and sitting behind the iconic Manila Cathedral in Intramuros, is a charming, light-coloured baroque building with a little signage bearing the name, Villa Blanca. I had the privilege of interviewing its founder and owner, Charisse Aquino-Tugade, an anthropologist and cultural travel guide who was happy to share the story behind her shop and advocacy with Open Brief.

What is the story behind The Manila Collectible Co.?

My background is in anthropology and I’ve always been really crazy about our (Filipino) indigenous cultures and history. As a cultural travel guide, I would organise tours and go on expeditions to various parts of the country. The Philippines is so rich with artistry, ingenuity and craftsmanship, all of it deeply rooted in multi-cultures and history. Yet, (I noticed) not everyone really knows much about these artisans and craftsmen and what they create. By everyone, I mean, most of their own fellow countrymen. The reason for this is really geographical accessibility. Being an archipelago with over 7,000 islands, it’s just not easy to get around. Most of these indigenous artisanal communities dwell in obscure, tucked-away corners all over the islands. Their craft is a prime source of livelihood, yet how do they reach their market? How can they put a premium price on their work, when they themselves don’t actually realize the high value of their creations?

I am passionate about indigenous cultures and artisanal crafts, so I felt drawn to create a way — an actual physical space — to bridge this gap and just help make it more accessible. Also, my experience of working with museums and my love for the curative experience have shaped the concept of TCMM—which is a one-stop-shop anthropological gallery of art, crafts, and functional products for daily living, wherein everything is direct from the source and not mass produced for mass consumption.

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Cat in an Art Gallery

An Ode for the Creative Soul

Posted on May 7, 2013

If we were living in the Dark Ages, creatives who pursue a craft would find themselves in a respectable profession making things. Whether they were contraptions to build castles or battle armors for knights, these craftsmen made something valuable with their hands that influenced the outcome of wars.

As I sat down writing this piece I realized many people were just getting by with their skill. A majority find themselves crafting marketing material that fills into a junkyard of messages we’re already being bombarded by on a daily basis.

As creatives do we really need to craft marketing material to tell everyone else about their inadequacy?

Or can we put our talent to better use by making something useful?

Do we live to design or do we design to live?

Or if you’re a writer… Do we live to write or do we write to live?

Designers. This is our time. It’s a time for designers who hone their craft of making things, by initiating personal side projects to push the boundaries even when nobody cares. Because an artist creates and they cannot stop creating even when they struggle to pay bills.

Designers. This is our time. You’re not just in the business of making things pretty. You craft and skills mean so much more. You never followed the herd, you picked a profession that won’t make you filthy rich and you did it out of passion. Yes, you’re an outlier. Yes, you won’t easily fit in everywhere. Until you find somewhere you belong, don’t stop looking.

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OF ZOOS and the zine scene in Singapore

Posted on May 4, 2013
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Kimburly Lim, Singapore

Editor, OF ZOOS Zine

The digital age has brought with it a myriad of changes and shifts to our perceptions and sensibilities, and has introduced an entirely fresh dimension to our lives — dimensions that have allowed us new modes of contemplation and new modes of functioning. The publishing world has not been spared, and undoubtedly recognizes the revolution with the introduction of ebooks and monopolies. Yet, the shift away from print has brought with it a new zine culture – where independents curate and publish their very own literary, art and mixed media publications. Today I speak to a good friend Kim, the founder of OF ZOOS, one of the first Singapore-based online zines that feature poetry, art and everything in between.

How was OF ZOOS conceived?

I think it started with a profound admiration for our peers. There was and is so much to admire in the people around us—our close friends with literary habits on the side, a distant acquaintance with closeted artistic skills, or anyone else that expresses a simple interest in all things creative. We thought: wouldn’t it be wonderful if there were a platform for our friends to showcase their lesser-known talents? That question extended to: what if this platform reached out beyond our circle of friends, and ‘found’ another just like us? Finally the question became: Who should do it; and can we do it? So we said, okay.

The rest was history—coming up with a name, a team, preliminary publicity through social media, and spending 10 hours watching Dreamweaver (a web development software) tutorial videos on YouTube to learn HTML and CSS.

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Angry Mob

A Design Battle Cry

Posted on April 30, 2013
This article is part two in a three-part series. The first observes on criticism towards brands, the second on criticism towards design, and the third engages on the state of design criticism.

In the first article, “The Impulse to be Heard”, the perception of criticism towards brands was discussed in relation to Internet anonymity and the prevalence of empty but destructive critique. Its conclusion emphasizes on patience and knowledge as necessary components towards constructive contribution, or otherwise it is as good as noise. This second part, A Design Battle Cry, continues with two supposedly unharmonious areas in the design business: Crowd-smashing and crowdsourcing.

To clarify in this context, crowd-smashing in the article interpretation is the criticism towards creative work while crowd-sourcing is the solicitation of contributions from the creative community. The nature of criticism and crowd-smashing is explained in the first article, as an impulse to be heard. Crowdsourcing, on the other hand, while not an exclusive term to the design field (but shall be referred to as so in this article), holds many subject definitions. The first generic definition of crowd-sourcing is set in 2006 by Jeff Howe, a contributing editor at Wired Magazine, as “the act of a company or institution taking a function once performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefined (and generally large) network of people in the form of an open call. This can take the form of peer-production (when the job is performed collaboratively), but is also often undertaken by sole individuals. The crucial prerequisite is the use of the open call format and the large network of potential laborers.”

Naturally, having attributes of dividing creative work (especially for large-scale projects that require concentrated commitment and responsibility), eliminating client interaction and the requisite of following through with the next project’s action point, the concept of crowdsourcing is quite enjoying a love-hate relationship in the creative community.

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