iamhunn's Xanga

I HAVE MOVED (my blog)!

Sun, 23 Apr 2006 09:37:59 GMT

dear faithful readers i have made the transition over to wretch.cc, well..just because.

time to update your links and bookmarks to this:

http://www.wretch.cc/blog/hunnwai

thanks xanga its been a nice 1 plus years with you. but having no easier organising system and photo album functions really closed the deal down.

adios and hello at the other side.

Zion Road Fried Wonton Noodle (ie i am a masochist and i love torturing my eyes)

Mon, 17 Apr 2006 09:35:31 GMT

*sniff sniff*

*sniff sniff*

"aunty ai ham jio, kay mee. i wan the 4 dorrar one. kam sia aunty!"

when will i eat you againnnnnn.....

:(

pics and hunger cravings via miyagi.sg

The Big Picks

Mon, 17 Apr 2006 09:22:21 GMT

*warning*

"if you are eating/drinking anything now please swallow before you carry on or i will not be
resposible for the mess you spray onto your computer monitor. thank you."

this page is simply the best.

i'll talk to you when you've stopped laughing.

anyways im going to amsterdam later cos we have a school trip to visit the courthouse site tomorrow morning. should be fun.

laters

chicken rice in amsterdam last sunday

Sat, 15 Apr 2006 23:22:56 GMT

on the last day of milan trip, mina had some stomach problems so when we reached
amsterdam the next day, she suggested we had some normal food (ie non-restaurant oily
and home-cooked.). so she asked me to cook singapore chicken rice which she missed out
on the last time. i agreed first and checked the internet for the recipe later. hehe.

we invited eiko over for the great chicken rice dinner. she used to be mina's housemate
at her former place. she reminds me of my own sister!

chicken! by hunn!

the rice is served!

eiko

us and shinji

shinji gave me his shirt that couldn't fit him anymore. it's made from silk-denim
and by a guy who used to be the chief pattern maker for Evisu jeans. one-off bay-bee.

the guys really loved the chicken rice. i was especially glad to get a compliment from Shinji,
cos he's the Culinary Expert according to mina. Plus he makes damn good japanese food.

i thought the chicken was abit bland but i suppose ok for japanese taste buds as they're
used to more subtle flavours. and the improvised chili sauce was a hit too. thank god.

oh and the photos are all taken by Shinji's 8 megapixel digi-SLR so they naturally
look much better than my phone cam. he studies photography at rietveld academy so
he's pretty much knows what to do. he told me before he tries to "capture the spirit
in the normal things in life." maybe i can post some of his work here next time.

off to sleeppppp now. have a nice sunday.

SINGLE LIFE project product shots

Sat, 15 Apr 2006 14:46:40 GMT

yeah i know it's a long over due post. but it's been until just now i remembered i had my product shots in my good ole' fuji digicam. (haven't been using it much since i had my k750i)

my concept was to transfer intrinsic details and qualities from an (sometimes expensive )
object i own, onto cheap, affordable objects. (much like ripping mp3's from a CD you
bought and copying them.).

how would then my shoes become a table? my jeans become a wardrobe? my t-shirt become a chair?

anyhoo here they are.

"Sir Smith" Table

original pair of paul smith's

"Sir Smith" table. originally a dining table from the 2nd hand market.

lace net close-up. paul smith products tell small jokes via subverting details on stereotypes
(like the wingtip perforations on a "stan smith" for the shoe), so i made this dining table into a "play/work" desk. this is the table in its "decadent table-tennis" mode.

wingtip pattern blown up.

even the bats' handles are drilled with the motif.

hans and david having fun with my work.

this is the table in "work" mode. grid is 1cm squares for you to measure stuff, lines are 0-90 degrees to measure angles and "bubbles" are just circular template random drawings to
throw off the symmetry abit. just like paul.

cable management.

MNGSTR wardrobe

treasured pair of jeans.

got this fabric wardrobe from the local sundry store. so i made it more "functional
decoration" by adding a coat hook rack and mirror with the same language.

GRNPH chair

my favourite graniph t-shirt, now a chair.

i think i might continue this theme of "quality of objects" for my thesis next year. cos i like
nice things that are usually expensive and limited. hahaha. and for me, after this project,
it's less about the brands but more of the quality (craftsmanship or concept or both.). and
to get high quality or concept, it's either expensive obscure brands or rare flea-market
finds.

talking about things i want( and hence have bought...:P )

my latest possession!

it's a fabric bracelet with a gold rolex embroidered with gold thread and sequins.

for me, this is my most bling-est and most pimp-est.

oh it's by walter van beirendonck (the guy behind w & lt) by the way.

what's the time? it's always 10 past 10, 28th of some month, and it's a monday.

hahahaha..

laters guysssss

bro & sis + dutch signage

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 21:12:48 GMT

got this cute can of gyokuro tea from the meidi-ya japanese supermarket some time back
in amsterdam. why? because the japanese name for the tea combines both my name and
my sis'.

1st character "yu" = jade (my name)
2nd character "lu" = also a precious stone in the jade family (her name)

brother and sister in a can. maybe i could design something around that.

before that i've gotta look into philosophy on what the old guys (kant, foucault), have to
say on what's good and evil. for the courthouse project la.

ohohoh! we were also given the nice task of going around eindhoven to take photos of
"signs of prohibition" ie "no smoking".

just to share the more interesting ones.

entrance into a shopping mall.

at pub street. it read "return your empty glasses you drunken bastards! or else 46 euro
fine!" (how'd they come up with that figure?)

and "please do not bring your belgian manniken pis statue into this area".

escalator to the train platforms. nice abstract dog-thing graphic.

some serious animal discrimination. window of fast food stall. put coins into slot, yank open small door and grab your tasty fried piece of something.

drink machine: "your aura will be electrified if the evil arrow pushes a big ass rectangle onto
you"

outside the local macky-d's. "you can breastfeed here cos we don't serve baby food on our McMenu's."

dag! laters!

live from amsterdam, mina's place updated and complete

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 11:59:33 GMT

hey guys,

sorry for the ppl(esp. wallace :P) who've been checking back after my said date of return.
i've been spending the last few days recuperating from the war/onslaught that is the milan
fair.

imagine 8 hours of trodding around looking at design (some great, some grey, some really
shit as in shit shit.) and then having italian meals of pasta,meat and wine all the time (yes in
that order) and repeat the next day. walk until feet pain and body drained. machiam army
chiong sua really. but in nicer clothes and albeit more stylish atmosphere.

first off highlights of my trip and things i will live to tell my grandkids.

1. Gijs Bakker, main man of DROOG, father of comtemporary jewellery, IM masters
course director, all-round dutch design god, poured wine for me. ME! i snuck my way
into the DROOG dinner (night before opening) courtesy as Mina's boyfriend. no one
wanted to sit beside the boss and mina was conveninetly in his line of sight so she ended
next to him and of course me next to her.

2. Meeting Desiree Heiss, one half of BLESS at the Guixe/Bless show space.

3. Getting my photo taken at one of the design exhibitions for a milan style and fashion
magazine (im still smiling..:))

4. getting scolded by Missoni's matriarch, Rosita Missoni, for attempting to bring a beer
into Missoni Casa's showroom. (come on there were bottles of Nastro Azzurro on a table
right outside there door with a bottle opener conveninetly). after getting admonished by the
stylish spritely old dame, i turned my head to the plasma screen at the entrance playing an
interview with the wife of founder Ottavio Missoni, which is obviously her. even the staff
there looked at me like students who had just seen a stranger getting a telling-down from
their principal. i sheepishly walked out, placed my opened bottle of beer on the table and
walked back in to be greeted with the wonderful world of patterned missoni.

now on to the photos!

at the duomo.

mina's green house @ DROOG

King Gijs (say "highs") popping in on us.

beautiful paper cutting installation by 2 german girls. and the blanket thing you see on the chair? it's a sound blanket that you can wirelessly listen to any source (music, tv radio) and cover yourself in it.

crazy viktor and rolf boutique where up is the new down.

design academy exhibition in a church about death, funerals and rituals.
above: flowers on life support
below: taxidermied cat of designer with built in motors to mimic breathing action. quite real.

at the satellite. by an icelandic girl who graduated from our school last year.

ok gotta go out for a bit to meet myprof's from singapore! they just got into amsterdam!

laters and we'll continue with part 2!!!

hi im back and here comes the resssssttt....

i wonder what does HMV have to say about this.....good sound though.

tea for 2. i pour for you, you pour for me!

all manners of cables, decorated by BLESS.

Marti Guixe's vaporized Gin and Tonic installation. yes you could breathe the drink in, yes the floor was sticky and yes 1/2 a liter of the concoction was released per hour.

warning before you enter guixe's alcoholic's delight chamber.

at castello sforza. we finally met a tourist who could compose and take a decent shot.

corian (as in the marble like stuff they use for kitchen tops) exhibition and the various
designers/artists asked to do something with the material. above is from my tutor in
germany, the one who opened my young eyes (then) to a bigger brighter world of thinking.

naoto!

the next day we went to zona tortona, the fringe exhibition area near my hotel. we popped into a venue and lo and behold, Mina's handiwork was still around! apparently the space was used by DROOG last year.

Limitazero. love the deconstructed PC setup.

more PC case modding sweetness. (of course an interaction design was going on the
display but it's hard to describe from here no?)

bloom light shades by nendo. light on, heat up, metal petals open. lights dim and petals
close. beautiful.

tea light holder. shadow of flower completes the imagery.

some crazy japanese from eindhoven bought a truckload of chairs from the 2nd hand market, drove it to milan and parked outside a main venue. to promote theie website and cause of "we can make anything anywhere in the world". check their website for some crazy translations.

getting born for the 2nd time : entrance into a air-pumped space.

to find this guy inside.

flower ppl by niels van eijk. apparently the red one above weighs 200 kg (not the girl silly, the flower construction.)

cute clay furniture from maarten baas.

nice bench yo.

having fun with tom dixon's lampshade.

chair by tom dixon. mina by ..er... mina.

horsey lamp by Front.

mutant teddy bear/bean bag living room monster. cute monster tho'. esp. the ear being pull by mina.

by marcel wanders.

maxima chair for the dutch princess (also called maxima). big dress, not big ass, das why
need the chair abit the wider.

burnt piano by maarten baas

pretty swarovski crystal strewn on the floor at their doorway.

by tom dixon. there's a mechanism at the top such that each row of crystal is rotated
randomly slowly.

it was like a jelly fish. lights changed and the thing bellowed up and down.

by ineke hans. all crystals.

by naoto fukasawa.

"industrialised wood" by joep verhoeven. a recent graduate from our school. made from
layers of CNC milled wood and then lovingly assembled to form this piece.

along via brera : orignally a blank bottle outline (cos we walked passed it from the central
to DSg space and design areas at least 10 times), on the last night of our stay these guys hung from the side of the building and started to paint in the bottle's graphics. respekt.

before we had too much wine : had our nice dinner also along via brera where we had a clown-chaplin waiter serving us. when the place closed we went to the cafe outside for more wine and he joined us for a glass. thanks filipo!

ok then sportfans, im finally done with this post (just had a nice ginger fried pork with rice dinner ala shinji) after 2 breaks. 1st was after getting an sms from my singapore professor en route from milan to singapore and rushing out to meet them and 2nd being the shinji dinner.

gonna start a fresh new project tomorrow with the new amsterdam court house that's going to be built. we gonna deal with architectural elements, interior spaces (like public meeting points, cafes, pedestrian paths) and objects (furniture and the like). should be fun and interesting. which means also more time spent in amsterdam and with my darling. oh yeah.

ok then im off to give mina a kiss, hug and sleep for the early train to eindhoven.

have a good week.

milan milan.

Sun, 02 Apr 2006 06:17:13 GMT

hey guys,

i'll be off to milan to hook up with the singapore design agency and report on the design fair. im leaving with mina now and won't be back until the 8th.

everyone have a good week ahead and we'll talk later.

hunn

oh yeah #2.

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 21:29:57 GMT

just ended the frenzy that is 2nd trimester "Single Life" presentation so understandably i am
tired but happy. happy because i did well for this project and hard work paid off.

will post more in the next cos i'm off to bed now after too many "after stress period" drinks
and partying (which for me now is basically sitting around and drinking..)

but i'll leave 2 pics i am particularly proud of.

Gijs Bakker (DROOG big boss man) and Li Edelkoort (Dutch design Goddess,
Trend-forecaster and most importantly chairwoman of design academy eindhoven)
appreciating one of my pieces, a play/work table inspired by my pair of Paul Smith's. (Gijs
(say" highs") is pointing to the pair of slip-on's i got on sale which i customized with
identifying details from the original PS's.more pics next time promise.)

According to Mina (because i left to help bartend at Emily's FUNlab project) Li spent the
longest time at my space in the exhibition and Gijs explained my designs in depth. Guess
she liked my stuff alot. At the end of the talk, Gijs cracked a joke to Li saying "Hunn's
work is good because his girlfriend is Mina Wu."

the Paul Smith table. (i'm so happy with the lace net!)

well i think i owe alot to my darling and i don't think i could have achieved what i did
without her.

Thank you darling. I love you.

now off to sleep, plan, pack and go to Milan to hook up with DSg.

Laterssssss...

oh yeah.

Sat, 25 Mar 2006 18:31:44 GMT

9th may, 2000 hrs, amsterdam. i've been waiting since 16 years old for this.

im so tired from project work. but at least my gstar jeans wardrobe, paul smith desk and graniph chair are looking almost there. i'm gonna hit the sack early (after just getting home from the english pub; had cottage pie and beers there...*burp*) and start on my design research booklet tomorrow.

everything in its right place.