Craft, Technology & Innovation: Bridging Traditional and Contemporary

About the Event

Traditional crafts form part of Singapore’s intangible cultural heritage (ICH), and local traditional craft practitioners have been using time-honoured techniques and materials to create objects of functional, aesthetic, and socio-cultural significance.

At the same time, traditional crafts are also evolving in response to changes in our social, cultural, and technological landscape. The emerging intersections between craft and design, culture and creativity, tradition and modernity open up possibilities for how craft can be a resource for designers seeking to bridge the traditional and the contemporary.

Bringing together local designers and traditional craft practitioners, including participants of the National Heritage Board’s inaugural Craft X Design programme, this talk explores how craft, culture, and heritage can inspire innovative, contemporary designs that draw on our local traditions and craft practices.

There will also be a taster workshop on rangoli led by Ms Vijaya Mohan for participants to experience the local traditional craft first-hand. (Only open to limited participants!)

Programme Flow

5pm – Introduction

5.05pm –Sharing by Jimm Wong and Melvin Ong

5.20pm – Sharing by Vijaya Mohan and Jarrod Lim

5.35pm – Q&A moderated by Jessica Wong, Scene Shang

5.55pm – Workshop Session by Vijaya Mohan (Only for Workshop participants)

6.25pm – Conclusion

6.30pm – End

About the Moderator

Jessica Wong, SCENE SHANG

Jessica Wong is a designer and founder of local contemporary Asian furniture and homeware brand SCENE SHANG. Through SCENE SHANG, Jessica has created furniture designs that are heritage-inspired and forward-looking and has gone on to win awards including a special commendation at the President’s Design Award (2014), ASEAN Furniture Design Award (2018) and Singapore Creator Awards (2019).

About the Speakers

Jimm Wong, Traditional Chinese Lantern Maker

Jimm Wong is one of the last traditional Chinese lantern makers in Singapore and specialises in making Foochow lanterns. He has also been continuously innovating, by incorporating modern technologies such as 3D printing into his lantern-making process.

Melvin Ong, Senior Designer, NextOfKin Creatives

Melvin Ong is currently Senior Designer at NextOfKin Creatives, a cross-disciplinary branding and industrial design firm. Prior to that, he was part of the team behind the Singapore Icons porcelain produced by Supermama and Kihara, which won the President's Design Award in 2013, and he was named ‘Rising Asian Talent’ by Maison et Objet Asia in 2014.

Vijaya Mohan, Rangoli Artist

Vijaya Mohan has been practicing rangoli since the age of 5 and now has over 55 years of experience in the craft. She has actively experimented with using new materials and contemporary designs for her rangoli works, such as the 2016 Rangoli Radiance exhibition at Gardens by the Bay, where she incorporated glitter and over 15,000 glass marbles.

Jarrod Lim, Designer, Jarrod Lim Designs

After spending years as a designer in Milan and London, Jarrod Lim established his own studio, Jarrod Jim Design, in 2011, and garnered a variety of projects from major international brands such as Habitat, Herman Miller, Zanotta and Royal Selangor. His furniture designs feature in many five-star hotels from Singapore to Shanghai and Mauritius to the Maldives.

About Craft x Design Showcase

This talk and workshop is part of the Craft x Design showcase, currently at the National Design Centre, Pop-up Gallery at Level 1, running till 2 April 2023.

The National Heritage Board’s (NHB) Craft X Design scheme seeks to raise the profile of local intangible cultural heritage (ICH) practitioners and increase the access of these practitioners to new markets, networks, and ideas. The inaugural scheme pairs four traditional craft practitioners with four local designers and/or studios, to collaborate and explore how traditional crafts can be reimagined into innovative and modern products that embody Singapore’s rich and diverse cultural heritage. The scheme further supports the development and documentation of these products over a period of six months.

This showcase represents the final stage of the Craft X Design scheme and presents the product prototypes co-produced by the four pairs which range from furniture to fashion to metalware. Through the showcase, NHB hopes to highlight the possibilities that can emerge from the intersections of craft and design, culture and creativity, tradition and modernity.

Presented by National Heritage Board. Supported by the DesignSingapore Council and the National Design Centre.