From 4th December 2010 to 1st January 2011, Little Thoughts Group (LTG) held their second design exhibition, themed “Imprints: Designing from Memories”, at the National Museum of Singapore. 19 designers, each using a childhood memory or a personal artefact as a starting point, designed and realized individual products that embodied an intimate story.
Visiting the musuem with a another designer from Germany, Taiwoon, Len and Wai Lim gave us a personal tour of the entire exhibition, accompanied with a detailed account of each exhibit’s “memory”, how each piece was made, and other interesting tidbits.
Woon Taiwoon‘s “memory” was a Ping Pong bat which he had since young. This led to the creation of his Ping Pong Wall which also featured his childhood hero “Sun Wu Kong”.
Len Lim‘s Marble Seat is a contemporary take on traditional chinese “barrel seats”, without the use of nails or screws.
However, the one thing that struck me at this exhibition was more than just the exhibits. From the moment I met Taiwoon at the door, there was an undeniable air of passion among the designers. The kind of passion that young designers possess, before they become jaded from the “reality of design”. Many of these “older” designers are married with kids, holding day jobs as lead designers, managers and directors in Dell, HP and Philips. Despite the toll of their design job, they have managed to guard their passion for design from the wear and tear of knowledge and experience.
Speaking to Taiwoon, he tells me that Little Thoughts Group does not aspire to be famous. Instead, they hope that their collective passion for design will overflow to designers all over Singapore, and inspire them to do the same. I’m convinced that these folks at LTG have a thing or two to share with young designers around the world: Passion.
Special thanks to Taiwoon, Len, Wai Lim, Leong Chye & Christopher for taking time to make this exhibition a memorable experience.
-TDC
All images courtesy of Woon Taiwoon.
