Keeper’s Event
National Design Centre, Singapore
Completion: August 2018
"Playground of Infinite Happiness" was a 2-week long event launched by Keepers to showcase the local design scene in Singapore, held across 5 floors at the National Design Centre.
Level 3’s installation was a combined effort by the tenants of the floor to engage visitors through the theme of Nature and Senses-- each area of the floor was designated a human sense… our team’s area at front lobby was Touch.
We imagined an underwater world of lush corals where small fishes rest in, revelling in the soft tactility of the environment.. Combining recycled yarns, carpet cones and ceiling projections, we created a public space in the front lobby of Level 3. The varying textures along with the projections and sounds of nature created a sensorial experience for visitors to take a pause and relax.
This exhibit was a collective effort between multidisciplinary studios, including Paperspace, Valternative and Orca Design. Carpet material was kindly sponsored by Interface and Contrac Image, and fabrics were kindly sponsored by Kvadrat.
Archifest 2016
The Office, Disrupted Exhibition 2021
Reflections
When I first heard that Keepers was looking for designers to collaborate on various installations for a pop-up event at the National Design Centre, I was very keen on participating as the theme, “Playground of Infinite Happiness” seemed really enjoyable.
Being in Paperwork, we got to collaborate with the various tenants from level 3, where we are situated on. As I was appointed the group leader for my team, it meant having to juggle communication between the 3 studios (Graphite, Orca and Valternative).
Being in charge of the main foyer our installation was going to face heavy traffic. We needed our design and materials to be durable and withstand lots of beatings and kicking. After hours of experimenting with materials, we came to the conclusion that carpet was the way to go. It was soft yet it was able to provide the structure that we needed. The carpet colours also worked well with Valternative’s special knitted chair.
Orca’s expertise as User Interface designers helped add a nice touch to the space, as they came up with graphics that were played on the ceiling that allowed the users to immerse themselves in different seasons as they lay on the installation.
With only one month left before the opening date, it was a race against time and thankfully with the support of Interface Singapore and Kvadrat, we were able to get the materials we required in time to build up our installation.
Working on a project outside of the office was refreshing as we could tackle design in a “childlike” manner, allowing our pens and ideas to run loose. It was great seeing the general public enjoy and interact with our installation, but watching children climb and marvel at the textures of ordinary day items such as carpet, paper cones and fabrics was definitely a highlight for me!
Personally, I felt that the construction process was the best part of the event. It tested both my physical ability and creativity as the concept challenged to combine both aesthetics and ergonomics to create an interactive exhibit where the public can lounge at any point of the day. We decided to create a sofa out of rolled carpets and integrate it with visual projections, however, the biggest challenge was securing the rolled carpets and ensuring that the structure does not fall apart -- knowing that our allocated area had high traffic.
We used a combination of fishing lines, cable ties, recycled yarn and twine to create the foundation of the sofa and secure the carpet rolls. Taking the opportunity of the column in the area, we wrapped it in recycled yarn and cones to create a “natural flow” -- this was also to indirectly show the process of how carpets are made. This entire process took us a week’s worth of late nights and blistered hands. Despite that, it was very gratifying to watch the public interact with the exhibit.
