Outstanding Artists in Asia publication

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I’m super pleased to announce that I’ve been invited to represent Australia as  one of the many featured Asia Pacific artists in AAD’s new publication called ‘AAD Outstanding Illustration Artists in Asia’. It is expected to be released sometime in 2016 as a lead up to a possible thematic exhibition and an exchange seminar in 2016/2017.

AAD (The Asia Art Design Platform) aims to promote illustrators and their remarkable works with a heavy focus  on highlighting the style, techniques and visual expression of the artist.

AAD is a non-profit organization devoted to art exchange and design in Taiwan. Since its birth in 2013,  they’ve held a series of international design exhibitions and more than 30 international design forums across the globe. They’ve also published several books, with their new one about to be released in 2016 as mentioned above. Here are some of my favorite featured artists already on that list:

Chen Hsing Chung

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Miss Cyndi

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Miloza Ma miloza-maCroter Hungcroter-hung

Garnet Chu

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So much amazing talent, I’m proud to share the spotlight with these guys! On a side note, I’m particularly loving the comments I’m getting, especially from fellow Indonesian artists: “your surname’s Indonesian but you’re representing Australia?” Hahaha well I have been living in Aus  since 1999 after all. Stay tuned for more updates on Asia Art Design’s Facebook page!

Mon at Om Nom

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Om Nom Dessert Bar – The Alice in Wonderland of all desserts. Just recently I went with my Mom to meet fellow Indonesian and the Head Chef of Om Nom,  Christy Tania. As fans of Masterchef and anything food-related, we were keen on trying the signature dishes  mentioned  on the show. Christy has appeared as a guest chef a few times and we hear she’s at the bar most days of the week. So why not pay her a visit Mom asks. It was a Tuesday evening and Christy was sitting in front of her MacBook (designing a new menu perhaps?). She greets us warmly and Mom instantly speaks Indonesian with her.

My Mom and Christy mainly  exchange  their experiences as chefs with one  another, both agreeing and labelling the job as “stressful but rewarding”. Mom loves dining out at various places and meeting the Head Chefs when she gets the chance. Earlier this year when we were in Indonesia we visited Fukuro and a week later, Ristorante de Valentino. When Ryo (owner of Fukuro) found out mom was a chef he knew that she was his biggest critic of the night – he constantly came back to our table to check up on us, and he didn’t do that to any other table. Chef Marco of Valentino did the exact same, why? Because as Mom says, another chef’s opinion on their food matters more than any regular customer dining that night. Christy  didn’t have to check up on us, Mom loves dessert and we knew the desserts we ordered  would exceed our expectations.

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Chocola Terrarium

The first dessert we ordered was the one in the large glass casing. A huge favorite on the menu, it has  cinnamon sugared churros, chocolate ‘gravel’, pistachio and  chocolate sponge, chocolate icecream, valhrona manjari mousse and milk foam. I loved the softness of the churros, I’ve only ever eaten churros with a crunchy texture in Melbourne and in LA so tasting this was a little unusual but still tasted pleasant nonetheless! The glass case holds the structure of the dessert and gets taken off as soon as it reaches your table. I thought it was more for show but guess not. 

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Raspberry Field

I’m sure many Melburnians have seen this mushroom dessert all over Instagram and Facebook last year. I know I did. I hated ruining this awesome plate of food though. It looks relatively simple but there’s different elements and textures that kinda get you confused but you can’t stop eating it because it’s a weirdly good combination. The mushrooms are made of raspberry and lychee sorbets with a baked meringue base. Surrounding it is raspberry panna cotta, rosewater pearls and white chocolate.

I like Om Nom bar because I find it has a nice ambient atmosphere and is a good spot to relax and have a decent talk with a friend or a fancy meeting with a client, seriously. It’s really casual. But taking photos is bothersome given  that you’re in a situation  where there’s extremely low lighting in the room. I was the only one who awkwardly used a flash on my phone to take these photos, ah well despite the lame looks I got from the waiters, I’m pretty proud of how it turned out.

Zetta Florence

3Last week  I had a small photoshoot of my artworks to promote Zetta Florence folios. The folio is  a compulsory purchase for every RMIT communication designer students’ last semester of uni – it is one of the highest quality folios on the market  that professionally  presents your work without getting unwanted fingerprints and mess on each sheet. It’s recommended we bring these to any design interview but at first glance, it looked  more suited to showcasing art pieces than design work. With that impression in mind,  I decided to use it as proper storage for my artworks.

2145Presenting artworks neatly to investors and clients  is a very daunting thing to do, especially when you don’t have the right folio for it. Zetta does the job. The traditional folio with a bind doesn’t cut it due to it’s limited nature with providing  the best viewing experience for yourself and the viewer. Instead, the best option is to have loose  sheets  and let the viewer carefully examine each piece in whichever order they prefer. The Zetta folio is known for being a hand-made leather box protecting individual  sheets inside.  Even though mine have  no clamps to hold  the sheets together, the sheets are  incredibly durable and don’t move around as much as you think – in fact they fit  perfectly inside and don’t move around at all! The polypropylene sheets are purchased separate to the box and in bulk. They’re definitely not your average  A3 plastic pockets. They’re heavily coated and designed to conserve  your artwork for as long as possible, meaning the artwork will never fade and lose its color.

I’m happy uni introduced us to Zetta or else I would’ve spent many more years trying to find better ways of preserving my art. It’s also perfect for my future travels, I don’t have  to worry too much  of it being smudged or crumpled in my luggage. Thank you for answering my prayers Zetta Florence.

A right-brainer by day and occasional blogger by night, you've landed on a place where I document life in the creative field and endless travels with friends and family

Design had evolved naturally, as a passion and a lifestyle beginning at an early age when I made trips back to the motherland, Indonesia, I experienced the surroundings and the lifestyle that was vastly different from what I was used to. I found myself passing by villages where children made their own toys with whatever was left around them; scrap metal, bits of cloth, banana leaves, and even cigarette butts. Despite this, the children were happy and proud with anything they created.

This image struck me and forever inspires me to contribute my skills to places that need it the most. Design helps me make decisions, while art helps me take risks. Both areas reward me with opportunities to create something impactful and everlasting!