Only 5 more days to Singapore Comic Convention (SGCC). This year, the show is an in-person event after a two year-break due to Covid-19. Held at Sands Expo & Convention Centre on 10 & 11 December 2022, and taking up 2 floors (Level 1 and B2) this year, SGCC is set to light the fire of pop-culture fans out there.
At the convention's Artist Alley, look out for two artistic sisters who create artwork and craft items under their own brand names. Desiree Chaw aka Lunaliliputian makes lovely and sparkly accessories and has acquired a sizeable fanbase for her collection. Marina Chaw aka Yumu_Arts draws emotive art pieces which are inspired mostly by nature. She also handcrafts cute dolls.
Sisterhood is a unique kind of bond, and the two of them have been boothing together at different shows on many occasions. Red Dot Diva was interested to know how more about Desiree and Marina, and their respective artistic journeys. So, here's an interview with the creative and talented siblings:
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| The talented sisters - lunaliliputian and yumu arts |
Red Dot Diva (RDD): Hi Desiree and Marina! This is the first time I'm interviewing sisters at the same time. Hahaha. How did the both of you decide to go into the art & creative business as your profession? Other than art, what do you love to do? Desiree, I'll let you go first.
Desiree: Hello! I'm a full time crafter and owner of my small business, Lunaliliputian. I've loved crafting & drawing ever since I can remember but it was never inculcated in me that it could be a possible form of making a living. Going through an educational path in Science and working in several unrelated jobs after graduation, there was always a creative soul trying to claw its way out and I could never quite find a place in the corporate world. I actually took a professional nailist course in 2018 in an attempt to pursue an art dream in a “recognised” industry. But it was really in 2019 that an unfortunate encounter flipped a switch in me, and I took the leap of faith to pursue my dream of crafting full time. Besides crafts, I enjoy being in nature. Sitting at the beach by myself and listening to the waves, watching the sky change colour, finding mushrooms in the grass, looking at stars on a clear night, cycling and running. I am extreme introvert so I hardly socialise.
Red Dot Diva (RDD): That is really brave and inspiring, Desiree. What about you, Marina?
Marina: Hi! I'm a painter and dollmaker, and you can find my work at yumu_arts. By day I work on a kelong, or floating fish farm near Pulau Ubin. I also love being up close to nature in our mangroves and get to share that world with visitors by guiding kayak tours. These immersive physical experiences are my sources of motivation and inspiration to create art.
Red Dot Diva (RDD): It sounds so idyllic. Personally, I feel many locals have forgotten how to connect with nature. Even something as simple as running around... grass on our barefeet.
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| Cute accessories by lunaliliputian |
Red Dot Diva (RDD): What's the story and inspiration behind your designs and collection?
Desiree: Lunaliliputian was conceived almost 9 years ago, in 2014. It is a fusion of Luna + Lililputian, which I was often called by my siblings due to my runty stature of 5 ft. And Luna because I have a lifelong obsession with the Moon (and celestial bodies in general). My inspiration started mainly from Japanese kawaii culture and nature. During my trip to Japan in 2013, I was amazed by the vibrancy of the accessories shops, fashion and even all the cute desserts. Back then, I really did not see much of that in the local craft scene and endeavoured to make some of my own accessories and decor to satisfy that void. I was allowed to put some of my pieces at a Cat Cafe I was working part-time at. They started selling, I started getting custom requests. And the rest is history!
Marina: Friends, always. I feel that we all need to have someone by our side to see the world together. The figurative motifs come from living experience - when I was in an office, I drew more buildings. And after coming out here, those gradually faded out and I started expressing more in fish. But the element of humanity stays at the core of it all.
Red Dot Diva (RDD): Which designers, makers or artists inspire your work?
Desiree: I am inspired mainly by elements around me in terms of design. In terms of attitude, I am inspired by other small artists like Holly Fae Art who despite having colour blindness, is able to create the most delicate and magical pieces of art. I am also inspired by my own dad, who in his younger days, had such great appreciation for anatomy in drawing, that it seemed he was able to draw any animal in any pose, without any reference. That to me was just pretty incredible. I believed truly that I was never meant for such greatness and thought it a far away ability that I would never achieve.
Marina: I have a few - Ivan Maximov, James Tan, Andrew Tan, Benny Montero. I admire how these artists view and depict ordinary life with warmth honesty and humour. These kinds of expressions are the nicest thing about being human.
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| Calm and pleasing watercolours by yumu arts |
Red Dot Diva (RDD): How would you describe your art style?
Desiree: My art style is cute, dreamy, sparkly and hopefully magical to other people.
Marina: Someone once told me my paintings were very earnest, which makes me happy.
Red Dot Diva (RDD): What do you love best about being an artist/ crafter?
Desiree: I love receiving messages from Moonbeams (the term I use to refer to my customers) who tell me that receiving my package brightened their initially gloomy day or just hearing from them about how they look forward to my new designs and how they make them smile.
I love being able to do what I love full time, despite not having any formal training in art & being entirely self-taught. I love that I was able to find my purpose in this world despite starting off on all the wrong tracks and feeling like I wasn't good at anything at all really. Despite being told several times that I don't have much to offer to the art scene.
Marina: Being able to create something out of thin air and give that whole experience and feeling to someone else, like domino or ripple effect, and seeing what happens. I'm just making tiny waves here but it's a way someone can be part of this world. I am contented by that.
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| mini gingerbread charms by lunaliliputian |
Red Dot Diva (RDD): Desiree, how long does it take to design your handcrafted items?
Desiree: As I do design my own original molds for resin crafts, it can take a year or more for a design to materialise from the sketching stage. Apart from the molds, it takes around 2 months to plan and design a collection and about 1 month to execute a quantity to form a collection. I also take around 4-5 hours to create hand-painted pieces. That is only if everything goes perfectly smoothly, which more often than not, doesn't!
Red Dot Diva (RDD): Ohh! I did not realise it take this long to make your own molds. What do you do, or where do you go, if you need to gain Imagination XP for design ideas?
Desiree: I get inspiration from the time of year, seasons, festivals, holidays, things I like, materials I come across in my regular research for new exciting materials I could use. When I have an art block, I browse art stores and see what I can use, or go through my collection of molds & materials and see if anything comes to mind. A 50km cycle from East Coast to Changi also does wonders XD
I'm always afraid that one day, I'll just run out of ideas. But thankfully, so far, that hasn't happened yet XD.
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| Lovely art of mangroves by yumu_arts |
Red Dot Diva (RDD): Marina, you are also part of the Ubin Sea Angels community. What made you decide to stay at Pulau Ubin, and how has being there helped you with your art?
Marina: I do wish I could live on Pulau Ubin! Sadly, new residents are not allowed. The elderly village community has been so warm and kind and I have been treated like their own child. It is a completely different experience from being on the mainland. Feeling well and loved helps not just with art but with everything, honestly.
Red Dot Diva (RDD): As sisters who are also fellow artists, do you ask each other for advice or tips on how to improve your own piece of work? Would the both of you ever do an artistic collaboration?
Desiree: I would say we seldom ask each other for advice, but often it's just spontaneously making comments on how one should not unvalue oneself, meanwhile totally undervaluing ourselves XD Although we are both artists, we are also both in our own very different worlds. Personally, I look to my very close friends and partner for support or advice. It might be surprising, but a lot of the great advice I’ve received are from a customer’s perspective or non-artsy friend as they see things in a totally different light.
Marina: I'm not so good with social media and the latest apps, so I definitely reach out for help all the time with that! Art-wise, we work with vastly different mediums and philosophies, so rather than ask for advice, I get to watch her at work. Lots of behind the scenes magic and that is the part that is really exciting and precious. She's a very creative and visual spirit, which as you can imagine, is quite a phenomenon to be an audience to. I've done some work for her brand before and that went really well!
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| The cute tea-towel collab! |
Desiree: We’ve actually collaborated to create a Tea Towel design for one of my now-defunct-patreon goodies. I had the idea of the design concept, but I knew I wouldn't be able to draw it within the required timeframe because I just don't have the foundation or skills. So I approached my sister and asked if she would be interested to collaborate, and she accepted! The design was hugely loved by my patreons and myself as well :D
Red Dot Diva (RDD): Awww. That's awesome teamwork right there!
Red Dot Diva (RDD): Do you have a project that has been particularly memorable to you?
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| lunaliliputian's galaxy-themed design |
Desiree: I have a lot of memorable projects because I spend so much time designing every item and trying to come up with unique things in an increasingly saturated resin community. Probably my favourite would be my attempt to make a planisphere shaker with a knob on the back to rotate a star map on the inside. I created it for a galaxy themed collection drop, and usually, I change the theme if my collections every month. So once that collection ended, I moved on to other designs. It's still a design I want to revisit and improve on.
Marina: Right now, I have been making lots of dolls, more than painting. I tried dollmaking many times before, but never had the mental energy to pursue that until now. I feel like it is all the love and care from Ubin and the kelong community that gives me the confidence and strength. This doll phase is something I'm hoping will continue and mature with my art.
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| One of yumu_arts' cute dolls |
Red Dot Diva (RDD): How excited are you about the upcoming SGCC? Can you give us a sneak peek or hints of what we can expect from your booth?
Desiree: I am super excited and grateful for this opportunity, although I feel extremely undeserving seeing so many awesome artists out there. I am still deep in preparation and don’t have any concrete previews but I can share some of my past work of a similar theme. I plan to utilise many of my game and comic themed molds to make cute stuff for this event. I also plan to bring some of my illustrated postcards which have a short piece of writing behind each one (as I like writing silly poetry and stories too!).
Lunaliliputian and Yumu Arts will be at Booth L1-AA50 at SGCC 2022 this weekend.
To check out their crafts and art style before you head to the convention, check out their social media sites as follows:
Lunaliliputian
Website: https://www.lunaliliputian.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lunaliliputian
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lunaliliputian
Yumu Arts
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yumuarts
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yumu_arts
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