News

Homegrown Singapore designer - Nathan Yong x   We were astounded by its petite and iconic wooden box  and how heavy it weighs.  Freewheeling inside is a cylindrical object wrapped in kraft paper, fitting the size of one's palm. It is a solid piece of white marble with 4 holes drilled from the top. It is a pen holder....a chic one. The marble trend has evolved from interior design to other creative industries like fashion, art, food styling, graphic design, statioary etc. Designers race to either use the marble's print on unexpected objects or the actual material itself in their...

We managed to get our hands on a set of ang baos specially made for Chinese New Year by Quirk.      The main flower-like motif, made up of eight (huat ah!) interlocking "Q"s, repeats itself to form a mind-boggling overall pattern. The designer seems to have realized this and she accentuated "Q"s at strategic areas to catch viewers' attention.  The continuity of this design has a mathematical feel and it reminds us of M.C. Escher's works. We found a website for those interested to know more about the mathematical aspects of Escher's works.  From all of us at Shop Oryx, we...

What do we see? What do we hear?  What do we feel? What do we smell? What do we taste? Is there a story? Or is it a message?  

Famous for his children books, William Wondriska is a celebrated illustrator and writer.  Wondriska was born in Oak Park, Illinois and studied at Yale University and the Art Institute of Chicago. In the 1960s, Wondriska founded Wondriska Associates, a design firm which does branding work for clients such as Walt Disney Company and Boston Symphony.  From the simplest books that teach children numbers and the alphabet, to more complex ones that convey certain morals to readers, Wondriska's works contain freshness and energy that allow the old and young alike to see familiar stories told in a different style.  Many of...

We discovered this German issue of Esselte's catalogue and were immediately blown away by its metropolis-inspired cover.  From the catalogue, we initially thought that Esselte is a German company. A search in Wikipedia tells us otherwise. Esselte, a huge stationery company, is founded in 1913 in Stockholm, Sweden, but currently controlled by J.W. Childs & Associates, a Boston-based private equity firm.  Who knew that different sizes of staple can be arranged to achieve an idea of an urban landscape? Incidentally, Esselte's "metropolis" cover led us to recall one of Hans Op de Beeck's scenes in "Staging Silence 2", a video...