Walking into a pink room, you see a buffet spread of materials - Wooden blocks, cardboards scraps, felt, recycled materials and so forth. With an array of tools, you paint, cut, glue, paste and sew, and they morph into buildings, cars and plants of a city! Moreoever, you can make them whichever way you like!
If you think this is a video game of sorts, well it isn’t. In fact, this is something hands-on that you can do at the upcoming Maker Faire Singapore, an activity spearheaded by POPIN Craft Community, a group of artists, designers and creative individuals, who enjoy working with their hands using methods and materials traditionally associated with craft, spreading the passion of handmade and bringing people together through the act of making. We interviewed Shu Ning from POPIN to find out more about this project.
About the Community Craft Project
Since 2011, POPIN has been organising a yearly community craft project, where members of public are involved in the creation of an artwork which would be exhibited at the end of the year.
This year’s project, Craft the City invites everyone to contribute to building a miniature cityscape. The elements in the cityscape could be inspired by real places in our surroundings or from memories. They could also be completely imaginary a creative take of what one will associate with the city or things one hope to see in it. Craft the City explores how different people interpret the idea of a city and will result in a collective cityscape made up of multiple unique pieces handcrafted by many individuals. This year’s project is managed by Nathania and Shu Ning, with the rest of the POPIN team chipping in to bring it to the public.
What can participants expect to see or do
“We are excited to be bringing our Craft The City craft gathering to Maker Faire!” - Shu Ning
Shu Ning’s enthusiasm can be contagious, even through email. She shared with us that participants can join in the making of miniature building blocks using a variety of craft techniques including: painting on wooden blocks, cut-out cardboard constructions and the use of recycled materials. As mentioned earlier, materials will be laid out on the table (buffet-style) and participants can pick and select the materials they would like to use for their building piece. We learnt from Shu Ning that this is POPIN’s usual style for their craft sessions. Ultimately, their objective is for members of public to enjoy the slow process of crafting as well as the creativity and interaction that happens during the gatherings.
Since earlier this year, POPIN has made open call for artists and craft lovers to submit an art piece to contribute to this miniature cityscape. They have also held public craft gatherings, similar to the one that they are going to hold at Maker Faire Singapore. Take a look at this for a sneak preview!
Aspirations for the craft session at Maker Faire Singapore
Shu Ning shared that they hope to get inspired by everyone’s creativity as every participant has their own idea about how to add on to a city.
While the project was started with an image in mind, it has grown differently from what they first envisioned after a few sessions.
“That’s the beauty of a community craft project, we let ‘accidents’ happen and improvise along the way. We also look forward to meeting new people with different interests and see how it shapes the project organically.” – Shu Ning
Well, I can already imagine the possible different ways that our makers with different background can come up with, if they drop by to contribute a cityscape element. Maybe a mini car with blinking LED headlights, or a glass-decorated building? Endless computations, isn’t it? If you are joining, feel free to bring your own materials too!
Looking forward to join in the Craft The City session on 11 July (4 – 7pm) and 12 July (3 – 6pm) @ 15 Tampines Street 11, Level 1 (Pink Room)
