The Designer With That Unmistakable Style: Curated by Sokkuan Tye

Born in Kuala Lumpur, Sokkuan is a Singapore-based freelance illustrator and graphic designer over at IROIRO, who believes she must have been a lazy gardener in her previous life! Having began her career as a graphic designer, then art director at Ogilvy & Mather, she creates works that reflect a distinctive style and personality which most of her audiences recognise without fail, regardless of the genres and types of works.

In this curation, Sokkuan shares with us her favourite items from our site, from her perspective as a creative professional!

Paper Crafting for Silk Air

1. Tell us more about what you do? (Or perhaps, an average day in your life?)

I’m a freelance illustrator/graphic designer. When I'm free I do personal art project as a form of therapy. I always start my day with half a small pot of Kopi-O.

2. How is design relevant to you?

Design is what I do for a living and for life. Although most of my jobs are illustration-based, good sense of design is essential. The strokes, composition of space and colours, the look and style are all designed. In my day-to-day life, I don’t deliberately think about design, but subconsciously my art/design sense affect how I arrange/manage things at home (and to be honest, there is some sort of 'organised mess’ in the house), and my preference for a bright yellow broom over a dull maroon broom.

Sokkuan's work for Pantene

Sokkuan's work for Nokia

3. Thank you for curating this collection. What are your top three picks, and why?

(1) Skull Bookmark: for its quirkiness

(2) San-Miguel Beer Bottle glasses: brilliantly up-cycled

(3) Old-school Mamee Snack Pins: reminiscence of days of being naive

4. You get inspired by...?

I'm inspired by things I stumble upon on the internet, by the books I read, by life's random events and by encounters during a trip.

5. What are your plans for the rest of 2014?

I have been working full-time on a personal project since end of 2013, it's a book and I can’t wait to get it published (fingers crossed)! And then it’s back to reality of earning some money to feed myself.

6. If you had one wish, it would be...?

I wish to stay humorous, curious, passionate and young at heart forever.