N.E.R.F.

sxpphire:

I HAVE A ROOM WITH EVERYTHING: MY STORY

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Some years ago, I met Yanda. Mysterious but always full of knowledge to share with me, we met accidentally, through the wonders of the internet (we’re both slightly embarrassed to admit that) and a love for all things passionate and creative. It was an accidental meeting that I look back now, fondly and very thankful.

It was a year ago that Yanda shared with me an idea that he has had brewing for quite some time — a little exhibition to showcase the amazing print materials that he has accumulated over the many years of hunting and appreciating them. Through his design blog — The Artist And His Model — he shares his library of inspiration — a wealth of amazing works of design, art, fashion, photography.

It is through this exhibition that we hope to share with the rest of Singapore the experience of holding works of art / design that have ignited our immense (and life-long) love for print.

This exhibition has blossomed from a single idea of wanting to share these rare, awarded, and sometimes out-of-print materials with all of you. It has grown from realising that our island just does not have enough exhibitions dedicated purely to graphic design, and the celebration of a historical form of art that we sometimes take for granted — Print.

We are very excited to have AlsoDoMinie on board as a collaborator. Their factory, as we often like to call it, is Singapore’s answer to Willy Wonka’s factory. Always bustling with new works of magazines / books (and more) executed in ways that many other printers might deem impossible. Dominie, with its fierce spirit of pushing boundaries, always surprises us. We are therefore incredibly excited that this exhibition will be the first time they will be showcasing their much awarded portfolio to the public. They are truly inspirational.

We have collected a total of 200 items to showcase in this exhibition. Works from the most recognisable names in design — think: Stefan Sagmeister, WERK and Amelia magazines, limited edition books by John Clang, and homegrown talent like Asylum and Kinetic — to lesser known (but equally inspiring) items like the recently sold-out and seemingly-impossible die cut book by Visual Editions (UK), Tree Of Codes written by Jonathan Safran Foer. We hope that these items will surprise you and move you, like the way that they have done for us.

I HAVE A ROOM WITH EVERYTHING was also inspired by an idea of displaying all these items together into a room of magic. Hence the name. We have gone on all fours, with our bare hands and tireless efforts, to create a room that we hope brings a new experience to each and every one of you who enter it. We did not want a normal exhibition of hanging artworks and pinned up posters. It is as much an exhibition of amazing ideas as it is of an art installation with the curated items brought together in a fresh new way. An intimate, personal library of magic. All in one room.

Our opening night is this Saturday, 23 July, from 8—11pm. I am honestly so nervous that no one will show up! My organising-partner-in-crime, Kari Tamura, and I have worked around the clock for the past few weeks to pull together an opening night that we hope you will all enjoy. It will be a night of good music and good company and good design, and we hope that all of you will come for it, to mingle and interact and explore beyond the bar and into the upper gallery levels with our Room with Everything.

Most often these exhibition events are just nights where people come and go, but we hope that this Saturday, people will linger, and new bonds will be made. Singapore is a small island, and in order for more magic to happen, and more boundaries pushed (like they do in other cities!) we all need each other. We all need tighter bonds and more receptivity to new friendships and new ideas. We hope this night will contribute to this, in any small way. So please, join us in this tiny, honest desire. Join us for our first opening night.

More than anything, we hope that you will find this small project of ours intriguing and interesting enough for your time. That you’ll find your way to Night & Day Gallery, up several flights of steps, into our room with everything beautiful and magical.

The opening party starts this Saturday, 23 July, 8—11pm. You can email me (shannon@donotdesign.com) for more info or to rsvp, or check out our website.

Or check out the exhibition itself from 23 July to 5 Aug 2011 at Night & Day Gallery.

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I genuinely hope to see you there, and that you will find a small snippet of magic through your time in our room.
You are warmly invited into our room with everything!

x

ihavearoomwitheverything.com
Twitter: #IHaveARoomWithEverything