Vanishing charm: A look at Singapore’s disappearing hand-painted shop signs

The next time you're walking around your housing estate, stop and admire the friendly neighbourhood sundry store's old school store sign – it might not exist effectually for long, said Vikas Kailankaje.

For the by decade, the 34-year-old blueprint lecturer at LASALLE College of the Arts has been going effectually admiring and taking photos of signage in Singapore, which are in danger of disappearing.

Tai Yong Electric Co. at Jalan Besar. (Photo: Vishesh Wanvari)

"If you go to New York or London, the signage you come across, like in the subway or metro, tell you that you lot're in that city. These lilliputian visual features that be give a city a certain character, and when yous begin to lose these layers, it creates a city that looks fairly generic," he told CNA Lifestyle.

Every bit office of the ongoing Archifest 2018, Vikas is belongings a talk titled Singapore Gothic on Sunday (October 7) about Singapore's manus-painted, handmade signs. Information technology'due south the result of years of research with fellow store sign enthusiast and designer Marker de Winne.

COMMON UNTIL THE 1980S

While such signs were fairly common up until the 1980s, there were very few being made past the 1990s. By so, materials such as vinyl replaced wood, plastic or plaster, and much of the signboards were manufactory-made. Urban planning and tight regulations of signs also meant these old ones were considered visual ataxia.

Hiong Kee Co. at Lengkok Bahru Manor and Friendship Packaging (Pte) Ltd. at Toa Payoh Industrial Park. (Photos: Mark De Winne and Vikas Kailankaje)

Present, remnants can more often than not be establish in the less modernised areas. "They'd be in older industrial estates or HDB estates that are sometimes 40, 50 years erstwhile. You might see some interesting 'caution' signs like 'don't play football game' – and some of them are hand-painted," said Vikas.

Vikas Kailankaje with the proprietor about the fifty-year-old carved timbre signboard for Chu Yew Contractors Co. in Whampoa Bulldoze. (Photograph: Vishesh Wanvari)

"There are some neighbourhoods that accept remnants of plasterwork signs, like in Kampong Glam or Serangoon Route. Even if some businesses accept changed, the reliefs are still kept on the columns only they might be painted over."

UNIQUE TO SINGAPORE AND MALAYSIA

While some might consider these as aesthetically outdated, Vikas said local signage is actually quite unique. The use of multiple languages – sometimes even up to iv – is one characteristic Singapore's signs share with Malaysia. Another is the playful mix of lettering styles, where Chinese characters are done in a rounded brush fashion, in dissimilarity with the geometric English characters.

Rad Son Radio Visitor at Maude Road and Rochor Medical Centre at Rochor Center. (Photos: Vishesh Wanvari, Vikas Kailankaje)

Each merchandise would also have its unique characteristics. "For electric shops, quite oftentimes the Chinese characters are at the top and in red, while English language letters are in blue and form the base. For some of the older medical halls, sometimes they would use gold leaf instead of pigment for the letter – then even if information technology'due south looking dusty, at that place's a certain sheen to it," said Vikas.

So there are the illustrations. "Hardware shops often take paintings of the products they sell, like a diamond cutter. Someone standing across the road might mistake these equally photographs but they're really hand-painted," he added.

THE HERITAGE OF HUMAN HANDS

Despite such signs slowly fading away – frequently quite literally – from public consciousness, Vikas said we shouldn't be lamenting the turn of events too much.

"These are commercial signs and it's in their nature to disappear when the business organisation folds or changes direction."

Koon Eng Auto at Bukit Merah and Yong Leng Trading Co. at French Route (Photos: Mark De Winne, Vishesh Wanvari)

However, he also added that there's a need to respect the traditions Singapore apply to have. "What we do lose is a certain consideration for what the human manus can impart (and the idea that) we don't always need to iron out all the kinks we see in the urban center. If nosotros accept we have a city that has a bit of a collage experience to information technology, nosotros tin can comfortably trace the historic period. Otherwise, it ever feels like you're creating a make clean slate every time in that location's redevelopment."

For more than details on Archifest 2018, visit http://www.archifest.sg

brunismadving.blogspot.com

Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/entertainment/old-singapore-heritage-hand-painted-shop-signs-gone-219271

Share this post