Lee Yun Qin

Yun Qin graduated from the National University of Singapore in 2004. Since graduation she has worked in Singapore as an in-house  designer for companies such as Nakamichi and Dell. She is currently a designer at Asus Design Singapore. She has also received design awards from the Japan Design Foundation & International Design Centre in Nagoya.

Rodney Loh

Rodney leads a design team, NextOfKin Creatives, offering product, identity and strategy. Prior to NexkOfKin Creatives, Rodney was based in Hong Kong as a lead designer for Philips Design where he was heavily involved with the China mobile communications group. Rodney has won numerous international awards including IF Award, Good Design Award, Red Dot Design Award and Hong Kong Designed for Asia Award.

Besides design, Rodney spends his time go-karting and mountain biking. He is currently looking for sponsors and team members for his go-kart racing team!

Q&A

What makes you tick Why are you doing this?

Yun Qin: I hope to share my inspirations and aspirations with the community out there. It’ll be a brighter world out there if we just put a little more thought into everything we do/create.

Rodney Loh: The seduction of memories! Memories are such powerful tool. Triggering a hidden memory is so inspiring and alluring!

What is you design inspiration?

Yun Qin: I am inspired by the older generation’s simple way of life. In my memories, my grandparents often had simple yet ingenious ways of dealing with life’s little problems. While they may not be the most elegant of solution, they were clever in their little ways.

Rodney: Rekindling the bond between users and memories! I have been recalling the foot prints of my childhood and the touch points of my recent experiences. It is such a joy and pleasure to travel on these memories!

If you can turn back the clock and do 1 thing all over, what would it be?

Yun Qin: I would have been more careful about throwing things out. Most of these things that are precious to me are buried somewhere in my memory only to be eroded with time.

Rodney: Photography. I would love to pick it up from young and start imprinting the memories of my life…

Designing for memories is…

Yun Qin: Interesting! It’s fun to sit down for discussion with fellow designers, brainstorming ideas and realize we share some common experiences too.

Yun Qin’s idea:

For her design, she was inspired by the older generation’s simple way of life. She was amazed at how creative they could be when comes to countering a problem or issue. By using everyday item, they are able to ‘invent’ something that could make things easier for them. Let’s just think of them as Mc Gyver without the complicating tools!

And for the exhibition she will be coming up with a condiment holder which will be surrounded by water. She reminisced the time when her grandmother would place a jar of condensed milk in the middle of a saucer of water and she asked why did she do that. Her grandmother replied, “Ants can’t swim”.

Rodney’s idea:

Memories of his childhood reminded him of the flat he used to stay in Teban Gardens. He remembered that there were several of his parents’ collections which were being displayed in the cabinet, wooden clogs from his dad’s working trips to Holland, the Garuda carvings his parents brought from Indonesia, the porcelain Fu Lu Shou statues his mum bought from china. During then, he remembered his mum telling him that Fu Lu Shou are three heavenly stars that would bring him fortune, good luck for his studies and good health always.

“I have vivid memories of these three heavenly stars and noted that these statues are pretty important Chinese avatar as I see them in my aunties and uncles houses during Chinese New Year”

Another memories that he could still clearly remember is his wife’s love for teddy bears. Because of  his wife, who is a fanatic teddy bear collector, Rodney started to appreciate the fine art of teddy bear collections, from the historical vintage Steiff Bears to the modern and radical vinyl toy bears created by BearBrick and Kaws.

These memories are imprinted in him deeply and formed his exploration and contribution to the Little Thoughts Group in this exhibition…