Design as Craft
On traditional craft in Singapore before the emergence of modern design
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A Letterpress Woodcut Specimen Book (2018)by TypesettingSG
A book featuring stamps produced by Singapore-based rubber stamp maker Yu Yi r(c. 1980s-1990s). It contains 400 overprinted specimen woodcut.
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Migration, Transmission, Localisation: Visual Art in Singapore (1886-1945) (2019)by Yeo Man Thong (姚梦桐)
Drawing mainly on advertisements and comics in Chinese newspapers, the book demonstrates how Singapore was an important hub for artists who travelled to and lived here during the pre-war period. The book was originally published in Chinese as 流动迁移·在地经历 : 新加坡视觉艺术现象(1886-1945).
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Cartoons and Woodblock Prints about Chinese Education in Singapore, 1955–1961 (2007)by Lim Cheng Tju for 南大图像：历史河流中的省视 (Imageries of Nanyang University: Reflections on the River of History)
An essay exploring the images of Chinese education and the students as drawn by the Chinese-educated artists and cartoonists of the 1950s to understand their concerns.
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Singapore Gothic (2020—)by Mark de Winne
An Instagram account of vernacular shopfront signage across Singapore
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Sign Language: Singapore’s Graphic Vernacular in Jalan Besar (2019)by Vikas Kailankaje
Retracing Singapore’s industrial past through the traditional shop signs that still line the footways of the Jalan Besar area. Originally published in By Design: SINGAPORE (2019).
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台上台下 Time Present Time Past (2022)by DECK
Five artists explore and examine the traditional form of Chinese street opera stage designs by Leong Fong Wah of Leong Shin Wah Art Studio, and create new works in response.