July 30, 2010 in Blog by Tah Ching

Do you remember being in one of these?

Hey Papas and Mamas, do you have one of these now for your kids? Or if you remember sitting in (not on) one of these when you could still fit, do share your experiences. Every time I come across one of these it never cease to bring on a smile of fond memories. In retrospect, its either endearing for those who had fun in it or sure torture for those who cried and scream to get out! Fast forward, I have yet to come across baby chairs in the market now that carry such an iconic representation of Asian practicality. Wah “chim” ah…

July 30, 2010 in Blog by Taiwoon

pop quizz …what is this?

Found this little treasure at the aunty antique store… anyone know what is this?

smart things from the past

July 22, 2010 in Blog by Len

Three marbles

3 red marbles

This one for Jason…goli. Check out this blog and scroll to almost the end near the bottom, there is a little story on this tiny little jewel we carried in our pockets as a kid.

http://sarawakiana.blogspot.com/2008_06_08_archive.html

Of course, as you scroll through, don’t miss out the other memories found on the same blog.

July 19, 2010 in Blog by A.Sitoh

‘Sng Bao’

Saw these at Seng Siong Supermarket when I was doing my grocery shopping recently… No, its NOT an “edible private body massager”…. those of my time would remember them as ‘Sng Bao’, or ‘Ice packs’ by literal translation – probably considered as the commercialized version improvised from ‘Ice balls’ of my parent’s era.

It was one of the most affordable (10cents each) and convenient choice for any kid to get a quick kick of sugar rush back in my childhood days. It’s actually flavoured syrup juice that comes in a stick-like plastic package the resembles somewhat like a two section sausage. To consume, one can either twist-off the teets at one end and suck out the juice from there…. or freeze it hard and break it in the middle to get two short ice sticks that one can share with a good buddy. Lots of flavours packed in flashy colours to choose from.

Design something to bring back this spirit of sharing!

"Sng Bao"

July 19, 2010 in Blog by A.Sitoh

Saving Singapore

Probably the only chap with a big mouth that is working hard and doing something about the flooding situation in Singapore…. do you have better ideas?

Picture courtesy of bigbert.wordpress.com

July 18, 2010 in Blog by Len

“Shuang Fan” blowing west

http://thedesigncritic.wordpress.com/

July 14, 2010 in Blog by Taiwoon

Memories… why do we remember?

It is interesting to see what  memories mean to kids.

As a proud father of momo, I like to give  her to great  childhood and lovely memories… I still remember this special moment which was just behind our apartment . It was lying by the side of the road. But Momo spotted it and pointed out to mummy. We stopped and had a look at what she was pointing… It was a small flower from a weed. Momo picked up first time and was so happy… It was a totally mundane but I guess to Momo..it must be the pleasure of seeing, feeling it for the first time….  And I happened to have my nokia phone and snapped this picture.  Which made me think.. why do we remember the things that are sometimes quite ordinary in great detail… while we cant even remember the things we do yesterday?  How are memories  formed and what does it mean to design?

July 8, 2010 in Blog by Lun

Steamboat

No this is not an attempt to turn this into another food blog. So please don’t tell me where I can go find the best Steamboat restaurant. I already know….home
Have always been fascinated by the Steamboat, it’s origin, the symbolic representation of pot as well as it’s various designs. But what also fascinates me is why we call it a ‘Steamboat’ in English, yet if you make a direct translation from the Chinese word, it’s meant to be ‘Fire Wok’.
Here’s my take. It’s the British, whom probably associate the shape of the pot, with it’s unique “chimney” in the middle, to steam boats commonly seen in Europe decades ago. It’s definitely more endearing a name then ‘Fire Wok’.
Don’t know if this is true. Also, I’m also guessing the name ‘Steamboat’ is only use here and Malaysia.

July 2, 2010 in Blog by Taiwoon

my first ping pong man trophy

ping pong man

Seems abit silly now.. but as a child, it was important to me. This trophy sat forgotten, tucked away in a corner for quite a long time… until a few weeks ago I found myself thinking of it….  I can still remember the butterflies in my stomach at competition time..  This was my first attempt in a school competition… I was still very happy and proud I got a consolation prize. There were some older boys who played really well… later I got to know that they were in the school team.

The days of “winner stay, losers out” in school.  The strange training methods by the school ping pong coach who insisted we learn the kung fu way of stance…  and the long drills…left left right…  we could play pingpong from morning to nite.. and repeat it again the next day.  It was simple fun…. now wonder when the kids go for their CCA,  is it really for fun or for “brownie points?”