Naiise @ Singaplural 2016 - Am I Making Sense?

When we first learnt of Singaplural 2016’s theme, "Senses", immediately, our team knew it was an opportunity to explore something interactive - an element for visitors to participate in and engage their five senses. Our main goal was to create something visually arresting and meaningful at the same time.

We eagerly tried to include anything and everything that could possibly evoke an interesting sensory experience but we got stuck. There wasn’t a driving message - all we could thought of were sensory experiences in its most literal sense. That was when we constantly questioned ourselves, “Does this make any sense?” and the start of a whole lot of annoying self-questioning but basically, the birth of our concept.

During our research on interesting sensory experiences, we chanced upon an artwork by Jasmine Kay that spoke a lot to us, especially with what we are trying to do. Titled "Art Is Pointless", it creatively and cleverly illustrates the positive and negative perspectives that people have of art.

From there, we decided to go along with this (annoying but unconsciously catchy) line “Am I Making Sense?” as our main concept, and went on to explore local and regional design discussions and stigmas as our overarching message. And that opened the door of questions that we have heard before:

- “Singapore design don’t sell.”
- “Don’t join the design/creative industry, no future.”
- “Design products are wants, not needs.”
- “It’s all about the aesthetics, not functionality.”
- “Shouldn’t locally produced brands be cheaper? Why so ex?”

These are some statements that we felt very strongly about and have played a very big part in many designers/makers/crafters' journey with Naiise. Do they still make sense in this day and age?

Here’s a sneak peak of the interactive installation that will be set up at Singaplural!

Make sense out of this constant discussion with us at our exploratory retail showcase at Singaplural 2016 from 7-13th March. 

Be there or be square. 

SingaPlural 2016 - Celebrating Design
99 Beach Road, Singapore 189701
11am - 10pm daily
www.singaplural.com