52 Weeks 52 Tests - Week 12 - Kampung spirit & Design Week

Last week was the Singapore National Design Week, and many activities, exhibition and events were on all week to celebrate the key discipline that design has become. I signed up for Kampung spirit Street furniture design workshop organized by the folks from design agency Chemistry at the rooftop of the National Design Centre on Maxwell Road. 

Edible garden on national design centre rooftop

First of all we were warmly welcomed...with a beer... I thought the gesture very thoughtful given the time of the day (7 PM) and certainly would not hurt anyone's creativity...

A kampung in Sumatra, Indonesia

Kampung is the village in Malay, and Singapore used to be comprised of several kampung until population and economy picked up. 

Guided by the designers, the dozen of people who had showed up for this event gathered around inspiration boards that displayed pictures of themes related to the Kampung Spirit and a brainstorming discussion was encouraged for all to share their ideas.

After a few ideas per board emerged, we were offered to prototype straight away, a key "design thinking" practice that aims to fuel additional ideas along the way, leveraging the constraints of the prototyping process itself to infuse more thoughts into the concept.

Clearly, from our board of "collective", the idea that emerged was that kampung was a lot about community and that furniture should engage people to get together to communicate and interact. 

In my experience, the best ice-breaker for people to get to talk with one another in public is one that does not come from themselves, but one that comes from the environment. An external "stimulus" from the environment is impersonal, and therefore becomes a non-invasive conversation point to that can more easily be ignited.

I came up with the idea of a "randomly acting furniture" that could surprise people who sit on it by having some sort of pop-up device showing random things or playing random sounds, at time intervals, which could cheer the people up, and become that element of surprise sparking a conversation. Team mates added up some thoughts and drawings on concepts to also make this furniture "interactive".

 

After 10 minutes of prototyping, each team shared their concepts to the whole group. The other teams showed some interesting concepts as well!

Playable furniture

Food court table with an air belt for conveying food to share

Discussion bench for private discussion with cooling water tubes

It was a nice workshop, and it was great to practice once again some "design thinking", some 5 years after I participated in the CPI program (creation d'un produit innovant, a joint initiative from french schools Centrale Paris - engineering, Essec - business, Strate - design).

There were really plenty of things to do in Singapore during the Design week, and I can only look forward to the next one.  

 

Art After Dark @ Gillman Barracks

Some rather graphic, interesting art pieces from a Korean artist. 

 

Still somehow design related, I also crafted my first leather wallet last week - a 8 hours effort...

Quite pleased with the result, although a light cream / salmon color is very prone to staining, and some old fashioned woman told me that a light color like this does not look masculine...
(I did not get to choose the colour, though, really)  

Next, I will be designing my own leather bag... Design, design, design!!!

For next week, I don't know but I sense I'll want to eat something strange...
To be continued...  

Homemade Miso Soup

I always loved a good miso soup to start a japanese meal. So, one day, when I came across a big tub of Miso paste I could not resist buying it to experiment a little.

For weeks I was just adding hot water to the Miso paste, sometimes a bit of tofu to the soup, but something was clearly missing. Not until I discussed with my japanese flatmate Mariko I realised that I was missing a key ingredient: dashi, which is a simple broth or fish stock made by heating water containing kombu (edible kelp) and kezurikatsuo (shavings of katsuobushi - preserved, fermented skipjack tuna. Mariko was super nice to buy some classic dashi for me. 

So I did a new attempt at a homemade miso soup, this time adding two good ingredients for a soup, carots, tomatoes, onion and garlic.

 Put the carrots to the boil first, then added the onions, then the tomatoes and the tofu.

 

Added some pepper to taste, but no salt, given the high content of sodium in miso paste.

It actually came out very nice, and especially delicious with a buttered toast on the side...

Behind the scene: testing the re-branding my blog with a freelance graphic designer

Last year, I strongly felt I needed to change something with my blog, not sure what... I figured that I was now writing mostly in English, and that the blog I had started to share about my travels had grown into a larger beast, encompassing music, food, and more... 

Taking these interests into account, I opted for the name Tests & Tastes, which reflects well my interests. This was the occasion to create a new identity all together, but I know nothing about graphic design although it's a skill I have been wanting to own for a while (it's on my list for 2015 though). Having heard about freelancing platforms, I posted an ad on Guru and was rapidly submerged with quotes from graphic designer from India, USA, Canada, Argentina, Ukraine, etc... You basically have 2 decision tools to pick a designer: its portfolio and the price quoted for your job. I put my trust into "Polestar Solution" from India, who seemed to offer a good value for money 85 USD for coloured logo, black & white logo, business cards, banner and font. 

We started straight away after I explained the goals and image I wanted for the blog. The good thing with him based in India and me in Singapore is that I would receive each of his new iteration first thing in the morning, send my comments at some point  during the day, and will get again his new design the next morning. Smooth. Sometimes though, we had some clear communication gaps, as you will see below, which can be frustrating. However, he was very swift to provide new graphics and overall I think that the timeline and quality was good. 

Here is what the iteration process looked like (from top left to bottom right, something like that, follow the numbers...), with my comments/feelings in italic...

So here it is... 

I am finding this logo pretty cool, what do you think ?

I have now more confidence in remote freelancing so I will probably outsource some tasks in the future again.

 'Til next time! 

Indonesia (Bali) - Ubud, Pemuteran

Indonesia (Sumatra) - Pulau Cubadak

I wanted to go back to Sumatra, after I had a glimpse at the Minangkabau country, but this time to discover the beauty of its coast. After a bit of research,  I found about Cubadak Paradiso online. Pulau (island in Indonesian) Cubadak, is located off the western coast of Sumatra near the large, mostly uninteresting, crowded and polluted city of Padang.

Cubadak is a small island that only hosts one resort with a dozen of rustic yet high quality bungalows, adequately spaced from one another for privacy. The village has a whole stretch of white sand beach overlooking the deep blue sea, that is to be shared only with tiny little crabs.

If that does not sound obvious by now, yes, I fell in love with the place.

 

One particularity of this village is the greatness of the food you will get to taste. For some impossible reason, I do not have pictures of the elaborate yet unpretentious fusion food that was served, that draws from indonesian, padang, chinese mandarin and italian cuisines, using of course, fresh, locally sourced ingredients. I remember having a crush for a starter of bell peppers stuffed with a mixture of raisins, anchovies, peanuts and breadcrumbs. 

Cubadak offers good diving opportunities and the owner Marc took us on awesome underwater visits. Many thanks to Marc and Dominique by the way, for running this hospitable gem of a place, proving a personal and amicable service to their guests. 

There would be a lot more things to say about this place but I can only invite you to go and check it out for your self. For now, I will let the pictures speak.

Here is a little video of our trip

Indonesia is such a fantastic country, blessed with wonderful environment and I have always found the Indonesian people to be very generous... Here is a link to the other Indonesian destination I visited.

House of Cards "Wisdom" - Wicked Quotes from Francis J. Frank Underwood

House of Cards is an American political/thriller series starring Kevin Spacey as congressman Francis Underwood. It follows Underwood and his wife Claire, portrayed by the gorgeous Robin Wright, in their quest for power in the first two seasons, and his exercise of power thereafter. For Underwood, the end totally justifies the means, and he's not afraid to get his own hands dirty. Although Spacey's character becomes increasingly cynical, ruthless, and overall terrifying as the story goes on, some of his quotes, usually given as asides, are worth remembering and reflecting on...

A few quotes from Season 1 & 2...

"Politics is a lot like real estate: it's all about location, location, location. The closer you are to the source, the highest the value of your property."

"For those who want to be on the top of the chain, there has and will never be but only one rule: hunt or be hunted"

"The higher the mountain, the more treacherous the path."

"Avoid wars you can't win."

The highly anticipated Season 3 has now aired on February 28th, in an innovative 10-episodes-in-a-row marathon format...

Some great quotes from Season 3

"What's the face of a coward? The back of his head as he runs from the battle."

"There can't be a yes after a no, without a "maybe" in between."

"I'm not declaring war on congress, i'm declaring war on atrophy. But these days, who can't tell the difference..."

"No writer with his soul could resist a good story, just as no politician can't resist making promises he can't keep"

"My decision... Sometimes I think the presidency is the illusion of choice."

What are your favourite quotes from House of Cards?
or in the area of strategy and politics?

52 Weeks 52 Tests - Week 11 - Copper Lamp, Singaplural & the Djembe class

Back to the tests out of home this week, which was a very busy one... I was fortunate enough to learn about the Singapore Design Week before it happened, so I headed to 99 Beach Road for Singaplural. One of the events that make me want to stay in Singapore some more. An old building, had been invaded by designed pop-ups and multi media exhibits from landscape architecture to painting. 

The court inside 99 Beach Road

MoEeeeh by Dan Wong

  

 

 

Local food classics to smell...

Interesting, interesting... But my favourite of the exhibition definitely was the Marble Factory by Olivia Lee. Her take on the marble, as a visually delicious material when polished was really different from anything I have seen before. She played with the various colors and shades of the stones to create a high-end, bubble gum, doll house of factory which exhibited the various perfumes.

  

Whilst visiting I saw that leaflet for a copper lamp making workshop for the coming Sunday! Bingo, I had just found my 11th weekly experiment! I booked straight away from my mobile, but I had a lot more exciting stuff to do before trying my hands at copper. 

On Friday, I went to see "True grit", a great movie from the Coen brothers that was showing at my new favourite cinema, the one and only TheProjector.sg, that is showing non-mainstream, independent and foreign films in a refurbished theater at Golden Mile Tower. I really like the concept there, having felt deprived from interesting-movie-watching-at-the-theater for several years in Singapore... Nowadays, you can book your ticket and it comes with a craft beer to pick from their selection when you get to the cinema. If you like good cinema and live in Singapore, you should really check it out! It's an initiative worth supporting. 

Only bad point is, I caught a cold in the freezing cinema room... I did not remember being so cold the previous time I went. I had also been swimming in the early morning. There we were, I had a cold to start the weekend. Shit happens. 

The Djembe class

Some time ago, my friend Robin told me that he's playing Djembe in Singapore. Djembe is the traditional african drum, that comes in various sizes. It's a big classic of crazy summer nights in the wilderness in Europe, and I have always wanted to learn more about the basics so this weekend was also the opportunity to go try a beginner djembe class with the association Lila Drums. See the video below celebrating their 10 years of existence.

Robin made the video above, and I also invite you to have a look at his really cool From Them To Us project, which aims to share the wisdom of elders through insightful, touching short videos. 

"Back to our muttons", as we say in french, let me tell you about the djembe class

To start with, I was lucky to catch Robin rehearsing with 2 other musicians for a performance. It sounded pretty awesome although the sound of my camera below will not give it justice.

Then, it was my turn to get into the circle with the other beginners. Oh boy, how I suffered. I felt both mentally and physically locked up, unable that I was to complete a simple rythmic sequence...

pom pam pam pom pam,
pom pam pam pom pam,
pom pam pam pom pam,

And all I kept doing was

pom pam pam pom pam pam sh*#T!

OK, let's start again

pom pam pum ..f#c$!!


and again

pom pam pum... arrrgghhh!!!!

until finally...

pom pam pam pom pam, (ahhh :-)

pom pam pom pam.. Noooo !!!!

Terribly frustrating...
The other students were very nice, and the teacher patient, but you can't deny peer pressure...
Bewildered students looking at you, amazed at how you can fail at such a basic rhythm: that did not helped.


Enthusiastic students encouraging you by trying to show you how to do it from across the room: that did not help.
Stoic students playing a totally different tempo : that did not help.

Luckily the teacher tried various ways with me, and I finally was able, from time to time, to add a sound while every one else was playing in an almost harmonic fashion... :@

I certainly did not win at the Djembe play, only dreamt about it.

It was an interesting trial, probably the hardest since I started my year long of experimentation.
Certainly worth coming back to, as it clearly takes me out of my comfort zone.
(I'm a radical proponent of the "one-must-get-out-of-its-comfort-zone-to-progress" theory, almost to the point of not knowing where my comfort zone is - apart from home, that is)

Time to go back home

Nope! Not going home yet! 

Second, the Leather craft

After the Djembe, it was time to hit the leather workshop!
This week, I made a notebook cover, still from water buffalo leather. I was much more comfortable with the cutting, but I still have enormous progress to make on the stitching. Work in progress!

Making a Copper Lamp  

Finally, on Sunday, after a big Saturday night birthday party at the Red Room and a short night sleep, I headed back to 99 Beach Road for the copper lamp workshop. Luckily, the folks from Chye Seng Huat Hardware were nearby to serve cups their own, freshly brewed Papa Palheta java while we waited for the workshop to start, and for my nose to stop dripping like condensation from a bottle of Bintang under the Indonesian sun. 

The workshop was run by the folks from Makeyourown.sg who are popularizing this craft in Singapore. 
First, they started by introducing us to the pipe cutter tool and showed us how to use it.

Cutting a copper pipe with the dedicated tool - the same plumbers use, actually

So we cut our copper pipes to the right dimensions. It's simple and does not require any force. Then the trainer demonstrated the use of the pipe bender. Very simple too, yet this tool requires a bit more strength.
 

The lamp we had to make had a simple design and assembling the elements was straightforward.

Getting the sequence in order would not have been so easy though, especially the electrical component.

In the  end, every one managed to complete their project and get their workable lamp... It looks pretty rad I must say, with that minimalistic and rugged industrial look that is all the rage at the moment in interior design. 

And that was it for the week!