A trashy problem

I have been following the on-going diplomatic spat on the problem of illegal trash smuggling. Happening so close to home, Malaysia (and Philippines too) has brought to light container loads of waste that has been smuggled into the country from other developed countries of the world under the guise of “recyclable plastics”. Some are contaminated, some are just trash that are not recyclable. And besides, the sheer load of actual recyclable plastics from all over the world is just too much for the recycling plants to cope.

 

It really is food for thought. Plastics, which has become so pervasive in our daily lives that we hardly stop to think anymore.

As I type this, I think of that little mountain of plastic that is built up in my home from all the containers gotten from buying fruits, mushrooms and groceries in general from our local supermarket, NTUC. And while we make it a point to wash and recycle them, where do they eventually end up? Do they really get recycled and processed to plastic pellets to be made into ‘new’ plastic products? That is the lesser evil and we feel a bit better knowing we put them into the recycling bin. But in truth how much actually goes through that process? While how much becomes contaminated that will be incinerated with general waste (and end up in our landfill)?

 

At the end of the day, is recycling really the solution? And is there a way to rethink how we could reduce plastic waste beyond recycling? Too many questions and there are already solutions out there but due a simple word we are not quite doing it yet. That word is Convenience. Just focusing on eating… It is convenient to use styrofoam plates and disposable cutlery in a hawker centre because washing is a chore. It is inconvenient to bring your own container to tabao food, because you have to wash it out after. Who has the time we say. It is more convenient to buy a pack of disposable plastic plates and cutlery when you throw a party at home, you don’t even have to worry about washing up after!

Ironically, we don’t have to look to far back in time to find solutions to some of these problems. Remember a time when the only place to get vegetables were in wet markets and vegetables were bundled into old newspapers? Or milk was not sold in cartons but glass jars that could be returned once empty to be reused?

 

I have been having such conversations more often among friends now and while all this sounds very bleak, I am glad that most of us are more aware of such environmental issues. Because it all starts with awareness right?

Shopping bag charge in Singapore?

You won’t believe how controversial it can be to start charging for shopping bags in Singapore. Until you do it.

I work part-time at independent bookstore Woods in the Books and since Earth Day this year, we have started charging for our fresh paper bags. I must admit the price is on the steep side at $1… but we also provide an alternative, we have started collecting used paper bags from our customers to be reused for customers who no need something fancy, just one to carry their books home.

Since then, we have had some very encouraging comments. Just the other day I had a customer comment that this environmental-consciousness is not so common in Singapore and by doing this, we provide a little reminder to our customers. She thanked us for doing something like that. It is nice to have conversations like these.

But whenever I do cashier-ing, I feel a little nervous each time I have to explain the $1 charge, unsure of the customer’s response. Because for every one customer who is supportive of what we are doing, another is disgruntled. In mild cases they will complain that the $1 is too much for a paper bag (“it is not even plastic.”) Sometimes angry even, “I have already spent so much, surely you can throw in a free paper bag.” My colleague told me one customer even said “this charge is ironic since you are selling books!” (Books are made of more paper than paper bags.) Well, you can see things that way I guess.

(And you can argue to really go green we should be going paperless, maybe switch to ebooks. On that note, I have just borrowed a few ebooks from the library but the reading experience is completely different. I may be biased, but I still like my physical books, and I see value in the use of those paper to print a physical book.)

I will end with a question: What do you do with all those bags you get during shopping? If the answer is “the bags are left unused and piled up in my home”, then I have a solution for you: come, come donate them to our bookstores to give them a second life. 🙂

 

PS: these are my own personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the bookstore.

Momshoo on a Pause.

It took some time to decide how to announce this, or whether to announce it at all.

The short version: we are taking a production break for a few months.

But if you want the long-winded story…

We have been contemplating about this break for a while now, mostly because Momshoo has been around for 10 years (!!!). So it seemed like a good time for a proper break. It has been frightening (still is actually!) thinking of what this would mean to my already unstable income and whether taking this break would mean I would lose followers and customers.

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Some questions you might be wondering (or at least thoughts that ran through my mind…)

– What does a production break mean? Does it mean we won’t be making Momshoo products? Yes, I think so.

– Forever? I don’t know.

– When would this production break end? I don’t know about that either!

– Would you stop making? Nope, not possible, crafting is what I enjoy doing so it is something I will continue, though maybe in a different form.

– How about workshops, will that stop? No, we enjoy sharing our craft through these sessions. In fact we will possibly plan even more, and I hope you will continue to join us for those! 🙂

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What a crazy ride these 10 years have been,

thank you for supporting our little handmade brand!

We are going to celebrate it by taking a pause.

Hope we will continue to see you on our return~

Pause.

Pause to be bored
Pause to notice
Pause to reflect
Pause to be grateful
Pause to contemplate
Pause to experiment
Pause to craft

Pause in between

Pause to travel further
Pause to be present
Pause to disconnect
Pause to reconnect

 

Pause to breathe.

In 2018.

I didn’t do my usual recap for 2018. So here’s a brief one.

Workshops, workshops and more workshops! Came up with new workshop offerings and with new host partners too! At the new Room2F, we launched something that has been at the back of my mind, the rope basket workshop to great response! At old friend, Betsy’s new space, we ran the denim repair maneki neko, tote for Chinese New Year and Totoro workshop. Also did a collab workshop,  fishy tales with glass painting expert, Sunshine and Love. Lastly, brought back a old workshop, start knitting! which proved more popular than ever.
On the flip side, I attended workshops myself: marbling, portrait drawing and a natural dyeing with local plants demo with Agy 🙂

Got the lovely privilege of conducting a private workshop for dear friend, ailin, for her bridesmaids ”party”.

Speaking of weddings, I attending no fewer than 4 weddings of very close friends!

At Marinate, I organise a new craft exchange, and first time opening to the public too! It has been sometime since I flexed my design muscle but it was fun organising and publicizing the event.

On the market front, we attended 2 markets for causes, donating part of our sales to Cat Welfare Society and my Alma Mater, Nanyang Girls’ High.

Pameran Poskad show was also back this year at a central location, Ion!

At the Woods, I worked on the new Little eco hero project which was quite a rush but it all turned out well. It is so nice to hear comments like “we couldn’t have explained the issue to our child any better than you did. ” Grateful for the opportunity to share more about my own beliefs pertaining to taking care of our planet.

Quietly celebrated Momshoo turning 10 years in December. Amazing isn’t it? Who would have thought! What a crazy ride it has been too 🙂

In the midst of all the busyness of the year, I kept thinking of what I wanted for the new year. We are now one month into 2019 and I thought I would share my personal word for the year.

Pause.

A Marathon of Experiences in a Year

The end of the year is the time to take stock and reflect on the year and what a year 2017 has been! I stumbled into the start of the year not quite knowing a new year has started as I continued to plow through projects started in 2016.

Contributed to my friend, Betty’s, art installation “The blue who swims all this way” at National Gallery in time for the Children’s Biennale launched in May. I loved seeing the results of that handmade wall, a cumulation of a few artisan-friends’ handiwork. But it was also bitter-sweet because by the time the installation was up, it was time to say goodbye to Betty who moved to her new home half a world away.

 

close-up of the feature wall

 

I also completed the project, “Draw a Friend for Pip”, for Pip’s Playbox at Esplanade. As I got more familiar with basic plush-toy constructions, it got easier… much less of a struggle as compared to when I first started the project in 2016. I now have a new-found appreciation for well-made plush toys. truly, truly.

 

half of Pip’s new friends!

 

Aside from art installations, last year I  found commission work in the form of a cookbook. No, I don’t cook. But I do embroider! I created small motifs of herbs to complement the book, Daily Nonya Dishes, published by Landmark Books. It is quite a feeling to see my name in the credits page of a real book!

With projects done and dusted, the middle of 2017 was lull period for me and I pondered what is next. In the process, I lent my hands to the big soup kitchen of Willing Hearts. The mess I created confirmed that cooking really wasn’t quite my thing. So I went back to my sewing: making special edition siamese cat brooches to be sold for this heart-wrenching cause.

 

our limited edition Siamese cats which were all sold!

 

Speaking of cats, I will miss the resident cats of Dulcetfig and The Company of Cats! 2017 saw the ending of some business relationships as our stockists called it a day.

But all is not sad goodbyes as I was introduced to some amazingly passionate people this year. It was a year of collaborations. Working with two separate children clothing brands in different ways, my embroidery has worked their way into little bubs’ everyday wear 🙂 Children clothing is not an area I would have expected to delve into, so I am very grateful for the opportunities.

 

Chubby Chubby x Momshoo Collab (Personalisations of baby onesies)

 

We didn’t leave the adults out either. With our hand-embroidery on clothes workshop with Fashion Makerspace, we taught participants how to add little selfish details to their clothes. It also spreads my message of and making ‘heirloom’ clothing pieces that will be treasured and not thrown away the minute the next fashion trend catwalks in.

 

embroidery samplers done by the participants of our workshop

 

In the same thread, I was invited to work with one of my favourite clothing brands, Uniqlo. We brought our pocket workshops to their Singapore Flagship store and created a modified Uniqlo clothing for their anniversary celebratory exhibition. I am very happy with the results of my boro-inspired, patchworked dress! it came together quite organically and I planned the underwater details as I stitched pieces together.

 

my piece “Glimpses of the Sea” for Uniqlo Live anniversary exhibition

 

On the travel front, we took Momshoo for another ‘business trip’, to Taipei in April as part of Pinkoi’s Good Goods Market. I was very excited as Taipei is my favourite crafty city and what a welcome we got! Aside from the rain and wind, we felt the warmth of the Taiwanese people 🙂 It was a short but memorable 4 days.

 

Momshoo at Pinkoi Market in Taipei

 

In October, we visited North Vietnam with the old town of Hanoi being our base. From Hanoi, we traveled out to world heritage site, Halong Bay where I got a taste of cruise-life. It is an experience to watch the ever-changing views of the islands in the bay from our hotel room balcony and waking up to the sunrise on the bay? Unforgettable. We also took long car rides to reach the mountainous town of Sapa where the rich culture of the various Vietnamese hill tribes thrives. I enjoyed a glimpse into their traditional textile craft processes from plant to cloth.

 

We came back from the trip to news of my grandmother’s passing. It was a whirlwind week that happened in a blur; we held her wake and funeral while still trying to recover from the buzz of experiences that was our Vietnam trip. But it was during this week I unearthed many interesting stories about my grandmother and her life, bit-by-bit relatives shared their memories of her. After the funeral, my father managed to gather his thoughts here, which gave us all some closure.

 

And with the usual busy end of year (thank you for choosing to support Momshoo!), we have reached the end of 2017. It was a marathon of experiences and I am happy to have gotten to know all the people I met along the year. Thank you for being so generous with the opportunities you have given me and Momshoo! Here’s to whatever 2018 will bring!

Common Wisdom

The other day, A casual exchange with our favourite popiah hawker revealed a pearl of wisdom:

“If you want to have freedom (and happiness)… don’t expect to earn a lot of money. Something’s gotta give.”

He said this in chinese. “如果要自由自在，那就不会赚很多。一定要有点牺牲。”

2016, a year of goodbyes and new adventures

At the start of 2016, we bid farewell to a 5-year long experiment known as POPIN, a group of makers and artists who came together to craft magic. I joined in the group’s first project as a participant but stayed on to help run the parties in the next four annual community craft projects. Oh what fun we had! But what started quite organically was becoming quite a commitment and obligation of sorts and we decided to end the collaboration after our 5-year run. Also due partly to many member farewells in recent years as friends moved to other corners of the globe. In April, one moved home to Indonesia and July marked another goodbye to my fellow POPIN friend and partner-in-art as she moved to the US to embarked on a new learning journey.
Well, individually we continue to share our crafts in different ways. 🙂

So much for goodbyes! With one less project on my calendar, I decided this year to take on something new. A reconnection with old friends at the beginning of the year resulted in a part-time job at the lovely picture book shop, Woods in the Books! My first real job since I have been working on Momshoo since graduation. So much to learn and so much fun too!

Ironically, I found it is easier to sell books compared to selling my own products. Having less personal attachment to the products made it easier to promote and be objective. Of course it helped that I am a great believer in the habit of reading. It was also the first time I was interacting with children so much. And there is so much we can learn from children! I admire that children speak their minds. Leave them to pick their own books – they know exactly what they like and won’t be persuaded otherwise. I also pick up a few tricks with interacting with toddlers. They are easy to entertain as they are amused by the littlest actions. A smile from you is replied with a big grin that fills their whole face. Aww! I also found the purpose of the physical bookstore is to create experiences, chance discoveries of new books that you may not typically pick up. It is important to give the customer space to browse.

Being in a new environment of a bookstore also meant being surrounded constantly by inspiration. These inspiration have unknowingly found their way into my own work and life. I lost track of the number of times that customers/friends have told me “oh if must be so nice to work in a bookshop like this, I wish I could do the same!” Then do it! I am happy to have taken the leap to do something new last year and I hope to continue leaping in 2017. 🙂

Of course I can’t forget the travels in 2016. Most memorably, my first solo flight to meet my cousin in faraway Finland. Just a little taste of travelling solo, it was erm… Interesting. Here’s to more new adventures in 2017, wherever that may take me!

Rethinking clothes

I don’t know when was it exactly I started thinking about what I wear, not so much in the fashion sense, but more on the ethical side of things.

Maybe it emerged from the casual conversations during craft markets with my friend, Amy, who always professes her love for linen clothes. Maybe it was when I sewed my first garment and fell in love with the sense of satisfaction of wearing my own made clothes. Or maybe it was when I discovered the term Visible Mending through textile practitioner, TomofHolland, while reading an article n Uppercase magazine.

(To explain how linen clothes points towards ethics: Linen is one of those “Green Fibres” due to it longevity and how quickly it grows without the need for copious amounts of pesticides. In comparison, the popular fibre, cotton, also consumes enormous amounts of water to grow, which makes linen more eco-friendly.)

Whenever it started, it is definitely something I have started thinking about recently. Being someone who works so much with fabrics and textiles, I am naturally interested in where and how these materials I handle daily come from.

So when I came across this video filmed at Sagnlandet Lejre, Historical Archaeological Research and Communication Center, Denmark, which explains how textiles are made from plant to the final woven piece, it opened my eyes.

It is such a tedious process but yet so inspiring to think who invented/ discovered how to make textiles! Of course, I am sure today’s textile industry has simplified the primitive process with the help of mechanization, but the process is no less easy.

Which leads me to think about what I wear. When chancing upon this article, I began thinking about slow fashion and what it means to be a conscious consumer.

It wasn’t too far back when I was concerned about being seen wearing the same clothes over and over again. So what changed? Why are we led to constantly need to buy a new wardrobe every new fashion trend (or season change) when it leads to so much textile waste? The same textiles that goes through that long process to become clothes.

Now I have begun to realise, it is ok to wear clothes repeatedly, and let them get worn and faded with each wear. There are always ways of mending. In fact, I am excited to try out visible mending, to highlight the age of my favourite pieces. It is also a nice opportunity to put my embroidery skills to work.

my first attempt at Visible Mending

Reading about Boro fabrics from Japan, that follows the “ancient Japanese tradition of making do and mending.” It is interesting to note how much history can be woven into these mendings. It is akin to my love for old buildings. There isn’t always a need to raze them from the ground, instead think about restoring and highlighting areas of their historical structure. It will take time to change the mindset, but I am going to start thinking the same about clothes.

A year of embroidery

During the last few days of 2015, we were talking about the things Momshoo, my small business, achieved and did in the year. Interestingly, we realized that much of it revolved around the craft technique of embroidery.

From the new products we created: wee pouches, mini embroidered flags, pot holders, jot of ideas book covers, embroidered rock paperweights… They all carried a hint of embroidery.

 

 

Early in the year, I also tried out a technique based workshop (rather than our usual product based classes), an embroidery sampler workshop to great response… and which has gone on to become our most popular workshop offering. It is amazing and sometimes when I look back I wonder, being mostly self-taught and having only done it seriously for slightly over a year, what made me think I am qualified to give a class on the topic? But I am happy I did and humbled that people took a chance on the class and came out having learnt something new or in the very least enjoying the session.  

Even some of the art I made this year featured embroidery!

It was an interest that began towards the end of 2014 and lasted through to 2015 and I am still being fascinated by the possibilities of this traditional craft. Still learning new things and being inspired by the myriad of things I could do with it.

I ended the year with thinking about how to add personal touches to clothing a with embroidery (something I saw back in my trip to Taipei in 2014 and again in a POPIN craft trip to the same city in Dec 2015) I am thinking some techniques of visible mending next?