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Portrait of Tammy Strobel
byCharmaine Chan

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DREAM WEAVER

A Chestnut Woven Calf Nest was one of the unconventional items on display at Loewe’s Salone del Mobile exhibition 
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"Cuesta employs a "chaos technique" method of crafting so that each bag turns out differently"

 At this year’s Salone de Mobile, Loewe’s Creative Director Jonathan Anderson focused on the art of weaving baskets.  The result was a stunning showcase of unconventional objects of art. The good news for us is that the Spanish House has recently released a collection of bags, accessories and charms inspired by the fine craftsmanship highlighted by the exhibition, that are now available for purchase. One of the three Spanish artisans who were commissioned by Anderson to work on this collection is Galician basket-maker Idoia Cuesta, who employed traditional Asian weaving and braiding techniques using leather. The outcome? An imaginative set of spiralling, bucket-shaped bags, each one distinct, so you can be sure that the one you own is unlike any other. Available only at the Loewe boutique at #01-11 Paragon Shopping Centre.

 
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"Charles Robert Ashbee piano, 1907"
 
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"Table lamp designed by Axel Enoch Boman for Orrefors, Sweden, 1915"

ART HOUSE

Since its first showing in 2010, the annual Masterpiece Art Fair in London has established a reputation as one of the most significant gathering points for artists, collectors, and dealers around the world. Helping it stand out from other arts fairs is its unique ability to combine art pieces across time periods, mediums, and aesthetic sensibilities, leading to a one-of-a-kind curation of works that complement each other, yet are often completely distinct. This approach to gathering art, known as “cross collecting”, results in installations that pull together everything from fine art, to jewellery, to furniture, with classics from the 18th and 19th centuries exhibited alongside cutting-edge modern art pieces. Held in the historic Royal Hospital Chelsea, the fair will take place from 27 June to 3 July, and feature a multitude of art works from over 150 international exhibitors. Visit masterpiecefair.com 
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"The act "Banquine" showcases the agility of the human body"

BALANCING ACT

Cirque du Soleil is bringing its critically acclaimed show KURIOS—Cabinet of Curiosities to Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands from 6 to 21 July. Lauded as “dazzling, hyper-detailed, and fantastic”, the show follows a determined inventor who defies the laws of time, space and dimension in order to reinvent the world around him. The theatrical extravaganza is set within a mysterious fantasy world with a heavy steampunk aesthetic, and features show-stopping performances like a dumbfounding upside-down dinner party which sees revelling guests hanging from the ceiling. Expect total immersive enchantment. Visit sistic.com.sg
 
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"From top: A scene from the film installation, Recorder Rewrite. Concert posters from the ’70s"

MUSIC FOR THE MASSER

Singapore’s ninth year participating in the Venice Biennale sees the focus turn to inspiration of the aural kind. If you’ve attended a Singaporean primary school, you will be familiar with the recorder, a musical instrument entrenched in our national education curriculum since the ’70s. Hence the signifi cant part it plays in “Music for Everyone: Variations on a Theme”, the exhibition presented at the Singapore Pavilion by Singaporean artist Song-Ming Ang and curator Michelle Ho for this year’s Biennale, with sculptures and a film installation called Recorder Rewrite. Ho says: “We hope that through [this], we can share with new audiences from around the world an experience that is peculiarly Singaporean, but that might also resonate with them in their own ways.” Check out also a collection of concert posters hailing from the ’70s recreated as fabric banners and watercolour paintings, which channel a cool, vintage aesthetic even as it provides light-hearted commentary on the way music was used as part of nation-building during that era. Through collages, digital prints, film, sculpture and different kinds of artwork, the presentation, located in the Sale d’Armi building at the Arsenale in Venice, aims to establish a whimsical discourse about the many ways people in Singapore (and elsewhere) relate to music at an individual and a national level.
 
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"The Small Drawing Room at The Wallace Collection "

STEPPING OUT

Another delightful intersection of fashion and art is An Enquiring Mind: Manolo Blahnik at the Wallace Collection which runs from now till 1 September. This exhibition highlights the master shoemaker’s work through the years, showcasing it against the exquisite paintings, sculpture and furniture of the private museum in London. Each room explores a specifi c theme related to Blahnik’s work and visitors are taken on a journey through his diverse inspirations. Look out for the pastel footwear confections he designed for Sofi a Coppola’s award-winning film, Marie Antoinette, which are displayed alongside Fragonard’s Swing and Boucher’s Mme de Pompadour, as well as his jewel-encrusted shoes, perfectly placed to blend in with the diamond-mounted gold boxes and delicately painted miniatures of the Wallace Collection’s Boudoir Cabinet. Visit wallacecollection.org

 
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"Blahnik's jewel-encrusted mules are works of art in their own right"
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"Graeme Isaako and Shubshri Kandiah take on the roles of Aladdin and Jasmine"

MAGIC CARPETRIDE

If the 2019 film version of Aladdin made you feel like you couldn’t get enough of genies and magic lamps, you’ll be happy to hear that the musical version opens at Marina Bay Theatre on July 21. Brought in by Disney, the musical is based on the 1992 animated film and features the same score plus fresh music from renowned composers and lyricists Alan Menken, Tim Rice and Howard Ashman. Revel in a spectacular production with over 337 glittering costumes made from 1,225 different fabrics, 712 different styles of beads and almost 500,000 Swarovski crystals. Add in 40 tonnes of exotic flying scenery and 60 tonnes of automation and staging specially brought into Singapore for the sets and you can be sure you will be transported into “A Whole New World” by this lush fantasy of a musical. Visit marinabaysands.com

BY CHARMAINE CHAN AND CHANDREYEE RAY. PHOTOGRAPHY: LOEWE BASKETS, IDOIA CUESTA, MARTIN GIRARD, MODERNITY STOCKHOLM AND OSCAR GRAF 
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More: loewe collection exhibition world aesthetic works singapore music singaporean musical different blahnik

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