Travel: Urban Decay

Even before an object is completed or a building is built it has already slipped into a state of decay. Some of the photos below examine objects in different states of deterioration. I was quite fixated on certain air conditioning units in some of the older subway lines in Tokyo. The cream with a few drops of coffee color, the scratches and bumps, the consistency between the intake and output grates, the stainless steel skirting providing a great aesthetic accent as well as a protective design feature, and their names in the top right hand corner; "FCU-2-10".

For the vintage addict

Our in-store stationery collection just got a little larger with a set of quirky, timeless back-to-school favourites!

Call it what you will. Scrap book, scratch pad, notebook, we don't care! Whether it's to pen your thoughts, doodle, or even list your new year resolutions for 2011, our select range of multipurpose journals and paperbacks will not disappoint.

Adding on to these are some alluring, vintage knick knacks that combine form and function with 100% usability.

Our favourite includes classics such as the mini Lakeland colour pencils and lunchbox-style Faber Castell pencil case, complete with a dozen Faber Castell's 2B pencils.

Sincerely,
Verena

Travel: A Glimmer of Tokyo

This last trip to Tokyo trip I brought two cameras, an Olympus EP-1 and a Horizon Perfekt. Despite having two cameras I did not take that many photographs. I keep arguing in my mind about the relevance of capturing all the details of my trip and what the significance of 1000 digital images will be after the trip is over. The whole argument of ,"being in the moment versus capturing the moment", has been bothering me. Regardless of what I am thinking in my head I will still bring a camera on every trip I embark on, however the usage and depth of thought in documenting will vary depending on which side of the argument is louder.

The basis of this last trip was to use an existing ticket that was purchased but had to be rescheduled due to unforeseen personal circumstances (injured my knee playing football). To sum up my trip: met two amazing fabric contacts, I partied with an UK artist doing a gig there, met some unexpected people from Tokyo and out of town, ran into 2 sets of friends from Singapore unplanned, one of the sets I travelled to visit some architectural sites with, discovered an amazing cul de sac of bars, and found my future residences in Tokyo. All in all a pretty damn good weekend +2.

A small set of photos that captured a nice tiny slice of my trip. (No party photos unfortunately, if anyone wants to donate a compact hotshoe flash, please leave info in the comments.)

If you get anything at all out of this post, the next time you are in Tokyo go to Nakameguro and check out Golden Gai in Shinjuku.


Probably my last time using the Narita Express due to the advent of the new Haneda airport which is closer to the city.


I hope that sooner rather than later I will be using their fabrics, I touched this 60s supima dungaree, the handfeel is out of this world.

Meeting with the bigboss since the whole team was at Premier Vision. It was an interesting, a lost in translation moment but we got along just fine in the end.


I couldn't believe that this is their fabric showroom in Tokyo, it looked more like an art gallery.





If you love football, this is a must go. (Weston Corp you guys are still my number one, but if there's any other city you can do something better than KAMO it's Singapore.)

Prayers



Mountain Research, Naval Research, Research Research!



Cowbooks is my favorite shop in the whole world and I don't know why.












I can't imagine how Nakameguro looks in the spring.


This is a beautiful, need to get one of these for home.




You are mine SS11

Spiral is amazing, a wide spectrum of products highly curated. Furniture to fragrances.







MON MON MON MON



Would just like to throw a heads up to all our readers that are still with us after the dearth of posts on this blog. We will be porting the blog over to a wordpress format! Nothing crazy, getting a few more guest bloggers on board and going to streamline the design of the blog into something simple and a little more organized.

Leave your name and email in the comments and we'll tell you how you can get a free sifr item if you live in Singapore.

Happy Holidays,
sifr

Holiday Gift Ideas from KIN!

Take a look at our gift suggestions for this holiday season! We'd also like to remind you that we will be giving away a free gift each day to one lucky customer!

Happy Holidays!
K.I.N.

Friendly Fire: an\b editions

We're proud to announce our friends from across the water (Roberston Quay) have just published their first book. Card Board Book explores this common everyday material in a number of facets from: architecture and interior design, furniture and lighting, products, art and installations and toys, the featured projects include works by shigeru ban, work architecture company, ball-nogues studio, wendy plomp. If you're interested in exploring the versatility of this found resource, the book provides succinct write ups and detailed images giving you an overview of the processes and ideas regarding each of the projects it showcases.

If you're interested in acquiring Card Board Book locally look towards the following stockist:

   Basheer Books

    Blk 231, Bain Street
    #04-19, Bras Basah Complex, Singapore 180231

    [Workshop] by Angelus Novus Studio
    7 Rodyk Street 01-30 . Watermark Robertson Quay . Singapore 238215
    (opp. Gallery Hotel)

"New Singapore-based architecture and design publisher, an\b editions, releases its first book in early November 2010. Cardboard Book explores incredible cardboard designs from across the world.

Did you ever think you’d come across a cardboard bridge, farm, bed, light, surfboard, computer, necklace, or toy gorilla? an\b editions’ Cardboard Book is packed with ingenious examples of how architects, designers, artists, and craftspeople around the world have used cardboard in a variety of contexts, and achieved fascinating results."

'rip curl canyon' by ball-nogues studio is an imagined landscape where 'land and water collide'

'cardboard sculptures' by chris gilmour are intricate, life-sized replicas of everyday objects
see more here

'paper bridge' by shigeru ban architects
the twenty-two meter long temporary bridge was designed to mirror the dimensions of its neighboring bridge, the historical pont du gard

'message in a box' by wendy plomp
cardboard boxes were transformed in to ornate arabesque 'carpets' with silkscreening 
see more here

coffins' by eco coffins

photos courtesy of http://designboom.com

Sincerely,

sifr

K.I.N Year End Sale.

For 12 days before and after Christmas, we are having our year end sale - our way to thank you for all the support and encouragement you have provided us over the years. Our success would not have been possible without you and we are truly humbled and grateful.

From all of us, Happy Holidays!

We're on a Slight Break

Hello Readers,

We haven't been posting much as of late. We've been wrapping up the 2010 projects and also re-approaching the blog and potentially launching an off-shoot blog ala webzine (still in heavy brainstorm). We finished our first live music gig with TAB and ROX (video below), we're working on bringing a few more acts in with TAB and the Darker Than Wax label this coming 2011. The photo below is of our recently finished Isetan x sifr pop-up space, it was our first full on DIY space if you remember the images from a few weeks ago, Click Here



We're currently working away on getting our new store in store at TANGS up to scratch. We feature the full sifr range on the third floor of TANGS orchard. Waiting for some of our custom fabricated furniture to come in from Jakarta, waiting for some Nepalese & Tibetan rugs to come in from Kathmandu and on top of that we've been scouring antique & junk shops around Singapore. If you have any suggestions for places that have great nicknacks and furniture please leave your suggestion in the comments section.

Also I'd like to put out a question to you. What do you enjoy most on the blog?