Final Designs

 "Where Cultures Meet - Tiles"

Visual Treatment

1. Brief description: The inspiration for this piece was drawn from William Morris' concept of "tile" designs. Mainly for aesthetic purposes, this piece shows two kinds of tiles - normal tiles that you could find anywhere (the border), and also Nyonya tiles (in the  middle) which come in sets of fours.  

2. Art Movement: Art and Craft Movement

3. Reference Artist: William Morris

4. Theme: Society and Culture

5. Ideation and Concept: This piece is mainly to create awareness of the dying arts in Malaysia, as Nyonya tiles are now a collector's item and a set of Nyonya tiles can fetch quite a high price. This piece also shows a mix in culture, namely traditional versus modern culture, and also a reminder of the Baba Nyonya culture which can be found in Malaysia.  

"Where Cultures Meet - Her Shoes"

Visual Treatment

1. Brief description: The inspiration for this piece was drawn from William Morris' concept of "tile" designs. Mainly for aesthetic purposes, this piece is divided into four quadrants, two showing an old traditional "feet-binding" shoe used by the Chinese, and the other two quadrants show a pair of ribbon laced contemporary high-heeled shoes which a girl could wear dancing. 

2. Art Movement: Art and Craft Movement

3. Reference Artist: William Morris

4. Theme: Society and Culture

5. Ideation and Concept: This piece is symbolic in three ways.

- It symbolizes freedom; the purpose of the shoe for feet-binding in the past was because small feet were considered beautiful for Chinese women. From the piece, you can see two contrasting concepts; control, represented by the red traditional feet-binding shoe, and freedom, represented by the purple high heel shoes.

- Indirectly, the design of the shoe also signifies freedom of speech and opinions. The “closed-toe” on the feet-binding shoe represents how Chinese women in the past were not heard whereas part of the high-heels exposes the foot, representing how Chinese women now have a voice.

- It symbolizes a similarity in human nature; women in the past and women in the present still torture their feet for the sake of vanity.

"Where Cultures Meet - Congkak?"

Visual Treatment

1. Brief description: The inspiration for this piece was drawn from William Morris' concept of "wallpaper" designs. Mainly for aesthetic purposes, this piece shows the traditional game "congkak", as well as a modern (and rather surprising) way you can play this game - digitally, on an iPhone! 

2. Art Movement: Art and Craft Movement

3. Reference Artist: William Morris

4. Theme: Society and Culture

5. Ideation and Concept: This piece is mainly to create awareness of the dying arts in Malaysia, as "congkak" was once a game played by all people as a pass time. From personal experience, "congkak" could be considered a dying form of leisure as it is hardly seen nowadays. However, due to the advances in technology, "congkak" has been reborn, but in a different way!