Everyday items and landscapes are transformed into beautiful works of art by the deft hands of some of Singapore’s most creative souls. Get ready to be inspired by these women.
Everyday items and landscapes are transformed into beautiful works of art by the deft hands of some of Singapore’s most creative souls. Get ready to be inspired by these women.
From international landscapes to female caricatures juxtaposed against floral prints – Teresa Lim captures them all beautifully with her needle and thread.
Teresa Lim, 26, illustrator and textile designer
Instagram is often an endless trove of envy-inducing travel-inspo photos that blur together after a while. But Teresa presents her travel memories in a decidedly diff erent manner. Instead of mere photos of places she has visited, her #Sewwanderlust series on Instagram (@teeteeheehee) features beautiful embroidered landscapes of countries she has travelled to. Each piece begins as a rough sketch she freestyles around, and takes up to two or three hours to complete.
And to think it all started because she wanted to immortalise a sunset in Perth and didn’t have anything but her craft supplies to capture it with. Like her travel stitchings, Teresa’s other work transcends boundaries. Her embroidery was recently featured on Gucci’s #Guccigram Tian initiative, which showcased Asian artists’ reimaginings of the Chinese-inspired Gucci Tian print. She has also embroidered watch faces for Swatch to promote its new POP collection. Teresa’s next big goal: to work with a brand like Chanel. With names like Gucci and Swarovski already under her belt, we say it’s only a matter of time.
Shirley’s bento creations range from traditional variations to irrepressibly cheerful sets with rice balls modelled after Sanrio characters. See more of them on Instagram (@littlemissbento).
Shirley Wong, 34, bento artist
Shirley’s knack for putting together astoundingly creative bentos stemmed from something mundane: She simply needed to bring a packed lunch to work when she was a full-time dancer. But she turned what most of us would deem a tedious chore into a platform from which she could channel her love for Japanese culture, and a canvas for expressing her creativity.
At first, she stuck to standard lunch boxes with rice and side dishes. But when she got the hang of assembling them, she started focusing on food presentation and advanced cooking techniques – like cutting carrots into the shape of flowers and making egg sheets. “The more familiar I got with making bentos, the more complicated mine became – that was when characters like Hello Kitty started appearing in my food,” she explains.
“I get inspired by everyday life – everything from trending topics and popular Japanese cartoon characters to even the weather. I once made a popsicle-themed bento after a warm day.” Today, Shirley’s the only Singaporean to be certified by the Japan Sushi Instructor Association – no small feat, considering she had to regularly fly to Tokyo to attend six rounds of classes and pass an instructor exam. She has also amassed almost 200,000 fans on Instagram who revel in her creations. Her schedule, naturally, is jam-packed: She juggles teaching engagements for fellow a ficionados in Singapore and overseas, films recipe videos, and is working on her third and fourth recipe books. Not bad for somebody who started dabbling in bentos out of necessity.
Looking at Grace’s breathtaking work, it’s hard to believe that she’s never had any formal art training.
Grace Ciao, 24, fashion illustrator
A quick scroll through Grace’s Instagram feed (@grace_ciao) means a veritable visual feast: whimsical etchings of models in haute couture gowns and casual dresses are brought to life through a combination of vibrant watercolours and her trademark touch – the use of fresh flower petals. It’s stunning, intricate work, and a display of the passion and dedication that Grace has for both her work and the medium she works with. “I’m a fervent lover of nature and spectacular landscapes,” she says.
“I try to work with as many diff erent types of flowers as possible.” It’s no walk in the park, obviously. Grace, who is now a popular fixture at fashion events for her live illustrations, takes about 10 to 15 minutes to do a quick watercolour sketch, but spends considerably more time on a piece when flowers are involved. “There are numerous factors that determine my selection – the colour, shape, size, number of petals and so on. Usually, I explore the textures and patterns of my selected petals, then quickly sketch a design.”
From there, it’s hours of focused work that eventually pay off in the form of gorgeous art, and the admiration of her tens of thousands of Instagram followers. She’s only 24 years old, but her portfolio already boasts collaborations with brands like Chanel, Christian Dior and L’Oreal. Grace only has one goal in mind for now. “I just hope to make people happy and inspired by my work!” she enthuses. Consider it already done.
