... have a Wordless Wednesday

A rough week so far but nothing like some random loveliness and devastatingly stylish eye-candies to chase the blues away. No words. No reason. No curating.

Choose handmade wedding stationery with a vintage flair...

Invites for LOVEFEST have been sent out.   You girls in Singapore might have received it already and all you overseas babes will get it in a few days, I'm sure!  I am not putting photos of it on the blog but instead I have decided to share "the-making-of-the-letterpress-invitation".

Letterpress combines my love of all things vintage and my obsession for beautiful design and typography.  I love the history of and imperfections of old things and the detail and time taken to make common, usually unimpressive things visually rich.  

As a printing technique, letterpress is a form of relief printing where the raised surface of text and images is inked and then pushed onto the paper. The resulting print can leave a deep impression, easily felt and seen on soft paper. Such relief effects were not traditionally desired by commercial and trade printers.  But to me, and many DIY and indie-crafter circles, it is this very character and charm of craft letterpress that makes it undeniably chic.

With some luck and my almost-advanced Google skills, I arrived at this hidden gem of an old printing shop.  Y and I walked in and the atmosphere was magical.  I immediately felt part of a royal history that this old printing process has - the antique machines were on individually fed and the prints were incredibly prepared and finished lovingly.  Paint pots were strewn on the floor and one could no longer tell what colour the original floors were.  I knew in half a heartbeat that this is the perfect place to print the wedding stationery (actually, to print anything!)

A second visit was to check the colour and the final artwork.  No squinting in front of the computer deciphering Pantone colours, mind you.  If was like art school again, paints and pots and mixing galore!  And after we found the perfect warm dove grey, the paint was fed into the machine and the machine began taking on a life of its on, animatedly and wonderfully boisterously dishing out the prints.  

This is where it starts.  The letters in lead - where each lead stump is a single alphabet.  The shop-owner, Zoom, in his charming humour explained which lead stumps and strips are the modern day Microsoft formatting equivalents, i.e. Kerning, paragraph indents, double lined spacings and so on.

This is how it is done!  The master-typesetter, patiently, passionately, a piece at a time.  

The man and his machine - the trusty 'Original Heidelberg'.  This was imported from the States about 2 generations ago.

The master-letterpress crafter mixing the perfect warm dove grey ink for my wedding invite.  We got it at the sixth attempt after some experiment of some Pinks that resemble old Barbie dolls' dresses, Beiges and some Almost-Blacks.

The actual block used to print the invites.  For the design, we said yes to vintage, eclectic, chic fonts and a carnival theme.  And no to anything cute, sweet or just screams bridal. 

 

Looking forward to hear from you when you get the invite.  And do enjoy the little whiff of antique ink and glorious printing imperfection in your hand!

...check out David Collin's work at Ritz Carlton Residences, Bangkok

Last week marks the launch of the Ritz Carlton Residences in Bangkok. The architect is Ole Scheeren of the Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). Ole was for a very brief period of time one of my tutors at architecture school but more interestingly, he is Maggie Cheung's equally gorgeous half.

For the launch of the Bangkok Ritz-Carlton Residences, the developer decided to showcase 2 designs - one by OMA and the other by David Collins. I wonder if it's because I've grown out of the avant garde, cool and aloof, slick and architectural interiors... But I unexpectedly fell in love with the David Collins interiors and found myself slightly disappointed with the OMA design. It is a collaboration with Alex Lamont, who is based in Bangkok and well-versed in quality furniture with a deep understanding the materiality of resources from the region. The brilliant collaboration was expressed in an array of dramatic marble, intriately designed floors, exotic wall coverings and leather furniture. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the show units (although I am certain it would not be long before they would appear on the internet).

For now, I'll just like to introduce his works to you. David Collins is the interior designer behind some of London and New York's highly acclaimed interiors. David's interiors combine British luxe style with Hollywood glamour and are simultaneously simple and luxurious. He has designed many of London’s key bars and restaurants including the Blue Bar at the Berkley Hotel, The Artesian Bar at The Langham Hotel and The Wolsey on Picadilly as well as Nobu, Locanda Locatelli and the eateries at the National Gallery. Collins has increasingly been designing stateside in New York and counts Madonna as a residential client. Word is that he;s working on something in Shanghai and possibly getting a project in Singapore. Breath abated. But for now, here's some visual lust to share:

At Home with David

Private residence, London

The London NYC Hotel, Manhatten

Private residence, Kensington, London


Private residence, London

Penthouse, Tribeca, Manhatten

Dining with David

The Blue Bar, Berkeley Hotel, London

Nobu Berkeley Street, Mayfair, London

In Bed with David

David's private residence, London

... find a way to relight your first love?

It seems so long ago since I left architecture school. Have I ever told you I have architect-envy? I always did and even now, sometimes I still do! There is such a strong desire in me to create something tangible, real and visual rather than just within Microsoft Excel and Powerpoint. But somehow, my natural curious self brought me on other exciting journeys, new interests and ambitions.

No regrets at all because I loved the journey - every bit of it - whether it was the start-up adventures or getting lost in the banking titans of the world.

But that meant I slowly muted the designer/ creator/ architect in me. I always had a great excuse - that I would mind terribly if I were an 'imperfect' or mediocre designer, as one does with one's first love. Fortunately, last year, Mr C decided to move to another apartment in Hong Kong and thought it would be a perfect chance for me to play designer.

It was excitement, pride and uncertainty all at the same time! Sure, I can't draw or visualise in 3D like I used to (there must be a muscle somewhere I need to rescuscitate) and I had help from my favourite fellow architecture studio chum. Sure, we are still missing quite a few pieces of furniture, still discussing (again) if we should re-do the kitchen and still wondering why we never seem to complete the project fully even after 9 months...

But it made me realised how much I miss my first love.

I promise a more comprehensive post in another 3 months. But here's sneak peeks of the project, before and after:

Before: This is the entrance, complete with streetside hawker-inspired stainless steel storage, doors and cold, grey granite flooring. You can't see it but there is faux daylight on the ceiling.

Before: This strange alcove connects to the living room. It has a 70s-but-not-chic display cabinet and get this, a MURPHY BED!

After: Same view as the Before above. We laid out the space differently and sealed up the alcove and created a feature wall of built-in book shelves in the living room. The volume of the alcove is now part of the master bedroom as a walk-in wardrobe.