Product design « My Itchy Fingers

Everyone Says Good Good Eat…Once More!

May 21, 2012 at 11:17 pm | Posted in itchy fingers | Leave a comment
Tags: Design, Food, Packaging, Product design, Taiwan

My friend Butterfly, who is now based in Melbourne, bought me this cute little snack. At first I thought it’s another new snack from the same brand, although the photo on the pack looked familiar. Alas, upon opening up, it was really the same thing…They have updated the look of the pack…Can’t find this product in the super mart now for some reason…Not popular?

Remember this Taiwanese snack with the cute little girl’s name and cartoon
character as the brand? I always thought it is unique branding….

Quench Thy Thirst – It’s Play Time! #4

December 20, 2011 at 3:36 pm | Posted in itchy mouth | Leave a comment
Tags: Architecture, Nostalgia, Product design, Uniquely Singapore

Singapore is a tropical country sitting close to the equator. So when it came to designing playgrounds, designers in the earlier days had the brilliant idea of using fruits as the theme. It was the first time Itchyfingers saw (and play with!) these playground, as they were not available in our neighbourhood when we were young.

Watermelon playground! There was also a ‘bite’ on the fruit!

Even the see-saws were made into slices of watermelons! How cute!

Although watermelon is not a tropical fruit, but it is easily available here
and is a great thirst-quencher!

Look at the details!

I like the “seeds”! You can peep at your friends through them! Haha…

Climb up the steps here and slide down from the other end!

Itchyfingers also visited another similar watermelon playground. This one
had the sandpit replaced by the soft foams for safety reason. The rubber
tyre swing was missing

This watermelon had a bigger “bite” The colour was also brighter and
more cheerful…But in place of the watermelon see-saws were these springy
animal rides

Even the foam mat had a slice of watermelon printed on it

Nice cheerful colours!

The slide hidden between the two slices!

Just less than five minutes’ walk away, we also managed to find the mangosteen playground! Never seen and heard of this until we did some search online!

Somehow, with the palm trees in the background, these felt more like
coconuts than mangosteens to me! Hahahah! The swings were gone…

A mangosteen cartoon on the soft foam ground…

I think these mangosteen playground is not as fun cos you can only run
around and pretend to hide inside the shell. The design was much simpler
compared to other old mosaic playgrounds. Strangely, since they used
mangosteen which is the “queen” of all fruit, why didn’t they used the “king”?
I think the durian may make an interesting playground too…haha…Maybe
too spiky so not so safe for children? Hahaha…I think a lot of work to
make durian playground too…hahah

Graffiti were on every inch inside the fruit…

Yes, I wish I can go back time…and start afresh….

Interestingly on our way out, we found this beautiful sculpture in the park…

One look at it, we knew it was the work of Dr Ng Eng Teng. Entitled
“Mother and Child”, it depicts the intimate, caring and warm love of the
mother towards the child. Another piece with similar title can be found outside
Orchard Parade Hotel. More of his work can be found in the NUS Museum

It made me start thinking…If a sculpture can be placed in a park with
children playgrounds, can’t we have a piece of old playground in a park with
other arty sculptures or even in a public area alongside buildings or museums?
As mentioned in our earlier post, the Pelican playground is one such old
mosaic playground which is slated to be demolished to give way for newer
development just like the many other older things and buildings which we
were once so familiar with …Maybe we can help to save it? Will you?

Critically Endangered Species – The Last Pelican of Singapore

December 18, 2011 at 2:34 pm | Posted in itchy mouth | Leave a comment
Tags: Culture, Design, History, Life, Nostalgia, Photography, Product design, Uniquely Singapore

In recent months, Itchyfingers have been hearing news that the old HDB estate at Dover Road is going to be demolished; following an en bloc sale to make way for new developement. With the demolition of Dover estate, the last surviving Pelican playground in Singapore will be gone also!

Itchyfingers previously assumed that all traditional mosaic playgrounds in Singapore had long given way to waves of progress and re-development of our nation; but when we accidentally chanced upon the Dover Road Pelican playground more than three years ago, we were really surprised and excited to see it! Itchyfingers visited it back then with our cameras to document it. We had such a great time reliving the memories of our childhood, and that also prompted Itchyfingers to start the series of “It’s Play Time!” to showcase other old and surviving playgrounds scattered throughout Singapore.

This was taken earlier this year (3 years have passed since our initial visit)
…with the surrounding apartment blocked vacated. Obviously not much
care and maintenance have been given to the estate, not to mention the
unused playground…The pelican has ‘aged’ so much…. :(

I remembered having a pelican playground with sandpit just beneath my old apartment at the Queenstown area. I used to play with it a lot; there was also a slide, a see saw and swings too. Like our last visit, Itchyfingers couldn’t help but start to behave like little kids, climbing and posing around the Pelican…

Oooo…holding the moon in the hand? Or is it Dragonball?!

Ha! I can also reach out to the moon! Hahah….The last visit I couldn’t
climb up the pelican’s mouth cos of my clumsiness. This time round, perhaps
knowing that it could be my last chance to do so, I struggled a little and
finally got up…

Itchyfingers with the Pelican. Will this be a memory of the past?

The turtle and rabbit…I got a few insect bites here…not sure if they were
mossies or sandflies as mentioned in other blogs…

Couldn’t help but feel sad…The Pelican and other old playgrounds were part of our growing up lives…They gave us their friendship and witnessed our youthful laughter and our tears. They tolerated our abuses when we threw our little tantrums, kicking and leaving little marks on them. Now the generation that grew up playing with these mosaic playgrounds are all busy with their own adult lives; their children no longer have a chance to play with these locally designed playgrounds…Most of the mosaic playgrounds have to make way for their newer, plastic and metal, counterparts…. due to some unfounded safety reasons. Many people have forgotten about their old friends.

Last week, when I looked at the photos of our last visit to the Pelican, I was shocked to realise it was almost four months ago in August! I have planned to share the plight of the Pelican on our blog after our last visit, but somehow work and other commitments made it slip my mind! I have let the Pelican down! Not wanting to waste more time, Itchyfingers braved the heavy downpour yesterday and went to check out on our friend again. I was so relieved to see that it is still there… albeit in a sorrier state….

The rain couldn’t wash away the green algae growth on the pelican’s body…
It was sitting lonely in the rain…as if crying…”Why have all the children
abandoned me?”

I remembered during the General Election in May this year, one of the MPs mentioned about residents asking her if she can help to keep the ‘ducks’ in their area as they were memories of their childhood.

Remember these?

After visiting the Pelican, Itchyfingers went searching for the other old
playgrounds. I was thrilled to hear on tv that the MP had promised to keep
the ducks. It was only then that I realised these also survived the passing
of time…I used to sit on the duck when I was even younger…

Together with the highly stylised elephants and horses, the ducks are the
only surviving animal stools left now. It is good to know that these will be
kept and not give way to newer playgrounds

MP Josephine Teo has made a promise on national tv during the GE that
the ducks would be kept, kudos to her!

So, if the ducks can be kept for the future generation, why can’t the Pelican be preserved too? Surely it is worth keeping given its unique and iconic design, its significance to the lives of many children who had spent their childhood with it? In fact, it is even more aesthetically appealing compared to the ducks, elephants and horses and does not take up as much space. Will it be possible to move it to somewhere else and made into a modern piece of public art instead?

The Pelican is part of the living heritage of Singapore, part of the collective
memories of many children growing up in the 70s and 80s, and maybe even
up to the early 90s. It is definitely a great loss to see it go. Will the voices
of concerned citizen be able to save the last Pelican of Singapore?

If you feel as strongly as Itchyfingers that the Pelican playground ought to be preserved for posterity, please leave your comments here. Better still, go to the “Save the Last Pelican Playground in Singapore!” Facebook page and post photos of you posing with the Pelican or other older playgrounds. We would be glad to consolidate your feedback and comments and have them forwarded to the MP, HDB and NHB. Hurry up! Time is running out!

Also see related posts:
> It’s Play Time! #3
> It’s Play Time! #2
> It’s Play Time! #1