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ISSN 2301-3397 SGD8.00
DESIGN OF THE TIMES THE PEOPLE & PLACES DEFINING INTERIOR STYLE TODAY
Contents November 2020 | Volume 12 | No. 94 | The Privacy Issue
ON THE COVER Riz Ahmed Photography Paul Scala Jacket, T-shirt and trousers, all by Salvatore Ferragamo. This page: Victorian-era couches and textile colour books collide in Conversation Series, by Adam Goodrum for Knit! by Kvadrat.
T H I S WAY I N 12 14
Editor’s letter Contributors
BULLETIN 18 20 22 23 24 28 29 30 31
Technology Bot fraud Health Gamification Music Dancefloor mix Books Psychological fiction Cars Audi e-tron Cars Electric motorbikes Objects Caran d’Ache pens Food Salted & Hung Drinks Hemingway-inspired cocktails
DESIGN
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43 44
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48 50
54 56
Knit! textile exhibition by Kvadrat Loewe’s first Casa Loewe store in Southeast Asia is right here Arne Jacobsen’s Lily chair turns 50 Check out Kin Chui’s ‘Station 13010’ at National Gallery Singapore Ong Shunmugam adds rattan to her porcelain table range Cartier’s latest range of lifestyle objects Jonathan Saunders’s debut furniture collection A home in a garden called Eden Interior design trends of 2020 and beyond
Photographs by Luke Evans
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Contents
November 2020 | Volume 12 | No. 94 | The Privacy Issue
A Trifle of Colour chair-bench hybrid, by Yinka Ilori for Knit! by Kvadrat.
STYLE 68
70
74 76
82
84 96
98
100
ON THE SPINE Illustration Mark de Winne Combine issues No. 85 to No. 95 and be rewarded with the complete illustration.
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PORTFOLIO Fashion Louis Vuitton’s A View sneaker is a first for luxury fashion and skateboarding Fashion Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Sartoria collection Fashion Dior’s B27 sneaker Fashion Paul Smith celebrates 50 years in fashion Fashion Matthew M Williams’s love for Givenchy Fashion Autumn’s top trends Watches A new CEO for Longines Watches Seiko’s diver-inspired Prospex line Watches Montblanc’s 1858 Geosphere gets a new interpretation
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116 118 120
126
132
Why 2020 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for Emmy winner Riz Ahmed Neil before God Suffian Hakim’s Under a Sky of Red The issues surrounding contact tracing applications The struggles of owning a home for some Wikipedia turns 20 next January
T H I S WAY O U T 138
Esquire Endorses Taking dramatically to your bed
MASTHEAD
Editorial
Art
Production
IT
Editor-in-Chief Mitchell Oakley Smith Features Editor Wayne Cheong Associate Fashion Editor Asri Jasman Writer Joy Ling Writer Derrick Tan Sub-editor Julian Tan Editor-at-Large (Watches & Jewellery) Celine Yap Contributing Motoring Editor Daryl Lee Group Digital Creative Producer Vanessa Caitlin
Art Director Jerald Ang Junior Art Director Penn Ey Chee Picture Editor Kenny Nguyen
Group Production Director Anna Tsirelnikova Media Traffic & Client Services Coordinator Dao Thu Ha Prepress IMV Repro Senior Reprographic Prepress Technician Phuong Ngo Reprographic Prepress Technician Anh Bui Digital Imaging Graphic Assistant Nguyen Phan Anh
IT Manager Roger Valberg
Contributing
Writers & Stylists Mike Christensen, Johnny Davis, Simon Garfield, Suffian Hakim, Olivia Harding, Will Hersey, Neil Humphreys
Hearst Magazines International
Senior Vice President/ Editorial & Brand Director Kim St Clair Bodden Deputy Brands Director Chloe O’Brien
Photographers & Illustrators Paul Scala, Adam Simpson
Management Advertising
Marketing & Digital
Accounts & Administration
President Michael von Schlippe
Sales Director Audrey Wu Senior Account Manager Cornelius Cheng
Esquire International Editions
Marketing Director Natasha Damodaran Marketing Manager Gabriela Edna Chan Regional Head Steven Khu Digital Project Manager Ilias Kimpaev Digital Creative Production Something Else PR, Events & Marketing Consultant R.S.V.P. PR & Lifestyle Communications Agency
Administrator HuiYing Soh Administration and Finance Manager Denson Toh Editorial, Sales & Marketing Assistant Tash Mahnokaren
Editors-in-chief China Wen Hongwei Czech Republic Petr Matějček Germany Dominik Schuette Greece Nikos Kontopoulos Hong Kong Kwong Lung Kit Italy Alan Prada Japan Atsushi Otsuki Kazakhstan Artyom Krylov Korea Min Byungjoon Latin America Alfonso Parra Middle East Matthew Baxter-Priest Netherlands Arno Kantelberg Poland Andrzej Chojnowski Russia Sergey Minaev Serbia Milan Nikolic Spain Jorge Alcalde Taiwan Joseph Chien Thailand Satiya Siripojanakorn Turkey United Kingdom Alex Bilmes United States Michael Sebastian
Published by Indochine Media Pte Ltd (201214107E), MCI (P) 112/08/2020, 1 Syed Alwi Road, Song Lin Building #02-02, Singapore 207628, Tel: (65) 6225 4045. By permission of Hearst Communications, Inc., New York, New York, United States of America.
Esquire Singapore is available on board all Singapore Airlines flights in first- and businessclass cabins.
Printer KHL Printing Pte Ltd, 57 Loyang Drive, Singapore 508968. The views expressed in the articles and materials published are not necessarily those of Indochine Media Pte Ltd (201214107E). While every reasonable care is taken in compiling the magazine, the publisher shall not be held liable for any omission, error or inaccuracy, and accepts no responsibility for the content of advertisements published. Please notify the publisher in writing of any such omission, error or inaccuracy. Editorial contributors are welcome, but unsolicited materials are submitted at the sender’s risk and the publisher cannot accept any responsibility for loss or damage. All rights reserved by Indochine Media Pte Ltd (201214107E). No part of this publication may be reproduced and/or transmitted in any form without the publisher’s permission in writing.
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A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
MITCHELL OAKLEY SMITH Editor-in-Chief
In moving to Singapore, from Sydney, the thing that initially took the most getting used to is now the thing I think least about. And, no, it’s not the humidity, but rather the constant checking in and out of metro stations, restaurants and workplaces. Of course, now it’s so second nature that I don’t even blink at the absurdity of having to oftentimes do it multiple times within a single building, of being corralled into a line to show my phone screen to the electric temperature-wielding attendant, but when I first got here it really shocked me. Back home, Australia’s idea of contact tracing was writing your name and number down on a sheet of paper on entry to a pub or restaurant. Certainly nowhere else. And I can assure you that half of the names and numbers listed weren’t real ones. Did I feel like my privacy had been infringed, the Ministry of Health being able to put together an entire map of my day’s physical whereabouts? Not necessarily. It’d certainly be boring to look at (gym, office, supermarket, home—sometimes a restaurant or café thrown into the mix). And truthfully, when you read the news and read about the way Europe’s numbers are ballooning into a second-wave, or that the US never really ever managed to get itself under control to begin with, you can’t help but feel lucky to be here on our little red dot, strict as it might feel sometimes. I’ve had friends in New York that have been infected by Covid, others in London that are being forced to endure a second lockdown after months of no financial income. Apart from checking in and our now-ubiquitous face masks, life feels almost normal again here in Singapore. At least normal by what we remember of it from the Before Times, anyhow. But now that we’re so accustomed to all of our data being collected, collated and cross-checked, will we actually ever return to before, or is this just our new normal, as we so breathlessly keep referring to it? And now that ‘they’ have got our geographic whereabouts, our contact details and so on, what’s next? Microchip implants?
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Increased surveillance? And is it for our own safety, or ‘theirs’? It’s something we asked ourselves in putting this issue together, in which we took a look into the concepts of data rights, deep fakes and, above all, the rise of the new currency: privacy. Contributing writer Mike Christensen takes a deep-dive into the world of tracking and tracing apps in his feature on page 120, while writer Simon Garfield explores Wikipedia at 20 (yep, a full 20 years of the beast) and how this open-source encyclopaedia has changed the way we understand and contextualise our history (page 132). Meanwhile, I couldn’t be more thrilled to finally have Riz Ahmed grace our cover, right as two of his best and most important films—Mogul Mowgli and Sound of Metal—are being released. Riz is a creative polymath, yes, but he’s also one of those deeply intellectual, super stimulating people that you could speak to, spar with and learn from for hours, and no matter how many words I gave his interviewer, Mike, for the cover story (page 106), it’d never be enough to contain Riz’s thoughts and ideas. While it’s been a rough year for him on an intimate level, for which we send our utmost condolences, 2020 has also been something of a high point for Riz with the release of these very personal projects, and as a voice of reason and pragmatism amidst the noise and confusion that this year has offered. Until next time.
Photograph by Georges Antoni
Checking in is the new going out
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CONTRIBUTORS
Stylist Olivia Harding has worked with some of the world’s most stylish leading men, including Jeff Goldblum, Troye Sivan, James Franco and Anwar Hadid, so when it came to outfitting actor and musician Riz Ahmed for this month’s cover shoot, we immediately picked up the phone. Harding took as her theme luxurious outerwear—there are coats by Ermenegildo Zegna, Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo and Lanvin—and crafted a wardrobe that Ahmed pulled off with his signature looks of steel. She teamed up with photographer Paul Scala again for this issue’s fashion story.
British writer Mike Christensen grew up near to Riz Ahmed, so he was incredibly excited by the opportunity to interview him for this month’s cover story, to which he brought his knack for getting inside the mind of his subject. It’s a skill Christensen honed as the editor of Australian GQ before returning to his motherland earlier this year. Now, he splits his time between a raft of different publications, including Newsweek, Men’s Health and Mr Porter. Christensen also penned our feature on the rise of our new currency—privacy—in light of the contact tracing apps that we’re now accustomed to. You’ll find the brilliant read on page 120.
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Simon Garfield is the author of an appealingly diverse canon of non-fiction, including the bestsellers Mauve, Just My Type and On the Map. His study of Aids in Britain, The End of Innocence, won the Somerset Maugham Prize, while To the Letter was one of the inspirations for the theatre shows Letters Live. Luckily for us, Garfield’s writing graces the pages of this month’s edition of Esquire Singapore with ‘What we know and can agree on—Wikipedia at 20’. It’s an insightful and enthralling read about the user-generated platform that replaced the encyclopaedia, and begins on page 132.
Photograph by Paul Scala. Styling by Olivia Harding
Australian-born, UK-based photographer Paul Scala is the man behind the lens of two stories of this issue. On a Bank Holiday long weekend in August, Scala photographed our cover star, Riz Ahmed, in a London studio. Additionally, the photographer brought his exacting eye to our fall fashion spread (page 84), in which Zhuo Chen showcased some of the season’s standout looks. When he’s not shooting for Esquire, Scala can be found creating images for brands including Hugo Boss, Lancôme, Dsquared2 and Karl Lagerfeld, and magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Numero Homme and Man About Town.
INTRODUCING THE
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DESIGN OF THE TIMES THE PEOPLE & PLACES DEFINING INTERIOR STYLE TODAY
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Bulletin 18
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Bad bots, begone!
Gamification’s here to stay
Big, comfortable and quiet
White Ops uses a multi-layered detection methodology to identify bots on the web.
Turn your exercise into a game—that’s your fitness goal for now.
Meet the e-tron, Audi’s first volume-production electric car.
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BULLETIN Tech
Who’s a bad bot?
Words by Joy Ling. Getty
One company’s crackdown on bot fraud and mitigation.
Imagine someone living hidden within the walls of your house, observing your every move, studying your every interaction and shadowing your behaviour until the day he can flawlessly mimic you. Only, it isn’t human. While sounding like the premise of Parasite and Annihilation combined, the setup isn’t spun off the imagination of a sci-fi author. It is happening as you read this. Sure, you’ve heard of cybercrime, but how much do you really know about the extent of it? Like us, bots evolve. What were once limited to data centres operating by rudimentary rules and running predictably are now occupying user devices and residential IPs, doing pretty much what we’ve just described in the opening line. There are good bots, of course, responsible for a huge portion of what makes the Internet so great by crawling, analysing and cataloguing data in search engines and antivirus companies. But like every decent story, there’s yin to the yang. Bad bots hack accounts, duplicate login credentials, and steal from e-commerce transactions. What’s most dangerous about these bots, however, is the fact that they mask their activity by pretending to be human. More frightening than that, they are undetectable to the naked eye, and even to most bot-detection software. Incorporated into larger organised botnets, both scale and damage are maximised. And sometimes, allowing them to pass the threshold into your personal digital space just takes a pair of free shoes. Rather, and worse still, the empty promise of a pair of free shoes. Just late last year, Android users were offered a deal that was hard to pass up—receive a complimentary pair of sneakers, coupons or event tickets simply by installing an app and filling in your details for them to be mailed to your doorstep within two weeks. If you’re thinking you wouldn’t fall for it, 65,000 unwitting devices (as of June 2020) did. With no apparent advertisements or monetisation scheme in place, it all looks like a harmless stint on the surface. In reality, users are getting a concealed browser program loaded onto their phones generating false ad impressions. On their end, battery life seems to be draining quicker than usual. To proper paying advertisers, the same host adeptly disguises the apps’ appearances to resemble that of legitimate brands and tricks them into bidding for the advertising space with the inaccurate click rates.
Not only then will the legitimate brands it imitates lose credibility on top of potential ad revenue, the ecosystem loses trust from all stakeholders. Ad fraud botnet Terracotta, unearthed and coined by New York-based cybersecurity company White Ops, has since seen a significant decrease in traffic after its takedown by Google. And this wasn’t even White Ops’s biggest operation. Together with Google, Facebook and the FBI among several other partners, the team led the wipe out of 3ve, a sophisticated counterfeiting operation amounting up to more than three billion daily bid requests, and subsequently millions of dollars in losses. Specifically, more than 5,000 counterfeit websites spoofing over 60,000 accounts with digital advertising companies, and 1.7 million personal computers affected at its peak. “To unravel the internal mechanics of such a fraud operation requires a multi-layered approach of real-time detection and prevention,” White Ops co-founder Tamer Hassan told Digital Guardian. “3ve was remarkably sophisticated. It showed every indication of a well-organised operation with best practices in software development. It exhibited reliability, resilience and scale, rivalling many state-of-the-art software architectures.” These coordinated attacks don’t just stop at bad guys piloting bad bots to pillage the innocent—the team of researchers discovered that 3ve operators were reselling fake traffic to third parties who wanted to commit ad fraud. And it’s easy to understand why; it’s one of the most lucrative crimes that simultaneously involves the least amount of risk. The World Federation of Advertisers even goes as far as to approximate how ad fraud as a syndicate, based on annual revenue, could soon become second only to illicit drug trade. While we don’t necessarily have the capacity to harpoon these traffickers on our own, there are ways the ad-tech community can do their part. App publishers simply need to add an app-ads.txt file to protect their inventory from impersonation. Advertisers, apart from purchasing inventory from app-ads.txt verified sources, should ascertain that the ad verification partner has robust tag evasion defences, since advanced ad fraud malware has proven to be able to selectively avoid running code from ad verification companies. As for the rest of us regular folk, it surely pays to be a little more careful with the downloads. More so when what they proffer is free because, chances are, they really aren’t.
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BULLETIN Health
Are you game? Move aside, hot bods. Gamification is the
The rewards reaped from exercising are no longer restricted to just maintaining physical and mental wellbeing. Sure, staying active regularly does benefit you and reduces the health risks of cardiovascular disease, obesity and more. But this isn’t enough to motivate some individuals that lack discipline in integrating exercise into their lives. Hence, gamification, data and material incentives come into play. National Steps Challenge, Singapore’s first-ever nationwide physical activity programme involving steps movement initiated by the Health Promotion Board since November 2015, uses technology as an enabler to encourage Singaporeans to adopt active lifestyles and take responsibility of their own health. Here’s how it works: registered participants accumulate steps and track their progress via a free step tracker or Fitbit paired with the Healthy 365 mobile app. They can also track their diet and the total calories they consume and expend daily. As a bonus for accumulating steps daily, participants earn health points that are redeemable for retail vouchers. Was this a success? According to a press statement by Smart Nation Singapore, season one—which ran from November 2015 to May 2016 —recorded over 156,000 participants from all age groups, with 70 percent of previously inactive participants averaging more than 7,000 steps per day, and 30 percent of participants clocking about 10,000 steps a day on average. Also, 63 percent of participants continued well beyond the formal programme. Subsequent challenges saw 30,000 out of 696,000 participants clock an average of 5km a day over six months—almost 1,000km in total. The 41,000 who had taken part in all three editions of the National Steps Challenge also walked more in the third season. Their average daily number of steps went up by eight percent to nearly 10,000 steps. This introduction of technological wearables and mobile applications certainly helps in engaging individuals to exercise through the enjoyment gained from such rules or game principles. Gamification, which is the use of game design elements in nongame contexts, allows the incentivisation of participants’ efforts with either tangible or intangible rewards or both. Based on a research done by Queensland University of Technology and Digital Creativity Labs, gamification can motivate the initiation and continued performance of health and wellbeing behaviours. But beyond this, engaging with gamified
applications can directly contribute to the wellbeing by generating positive experiences of basic psychological need satisfaction as well as other elements of wellbeing like positive emotions and accomplishment. In addition, gamified systems using mobile phones or activity trackers can encompass practically all trackable everyday activity, unlike health games that require people to add dedicated time and space to their life. For instance, although the Apple watch primarily tells the time and is able to perform various tasks mirroring a smartphone, this smartwatch also touts an Activity app with a goal to close three rings daily—Move, Exercise and Stand. The Move ring can be completed by hitting a personal goal of active calories burnt that’s trackable by the Apple watch. Most movement, even walking, contributes to closing this ring. Similarly, the Exercise ring measures brisk activity like climbing stairs instead of riding a lift or a specific exercise done in correspondence to the various recorded with the Workout app. This can be closed with at least 30 minutes or about of activity. Lastly, Stand encourages wearers to get up and move about for at least one minute during 12 different hours in the day. Besides closing rings, Activity awards are rewarded for achieving personal records, streaks and major milestones. Some awards have specific requirements in order to obtain them, such
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Words by Derrick Tan
latest fitness aid.
BULLETIN Health
A P P S T H AT ’ L L M O T I VAT E YO U T O M E E T YO U R FITNESS OBJECTIVES
NIKE RUN CLUB
Join fellow Nike enthusiasts on guided running workouts, custom coaching plans, or organised challenges that’ll make your daily run enjoyable. The app celebrates progress and accomplished achievements with personalised messages which can be shared with friends. This continuous encouragement boosts confidence while also raising engagement with the app. MAP MY RUN
When synced with Under Armour smart shoes, the app tracks everything from pace and stride length to cadence. Users get personalised coaching tips along the way if they have a smartwatch like a Garmin or an Apple watch. Its social element allows users to find support and motivation from other runners, plus create challenges among friends. Also, you can create and discover new running routes via the app. DISTRICT
Using urban exploration as a motivator to boost active living, District allows unexpected discovery with virtual checkpoints and challenges spread across the city. There is no set route or distance so you can strategise and plan your own routes, choosing which checkpoints and challenges to clear to maximise your score. Each challenge requires different skills to tackle—speed, city knowledge, dexterity and problem solving.
as completing any workout of at least 15 minutes every day of the week for the 7-Workout Week badge, and unique monthly challenges involving random goals like closing all Activity rings six times a month. Such badges are a form of reward that function as a status-affirming experience, source of reputation, and achieving a goal. Bragging rights included. A research examined by Dion Hoe-Lian Goh and Khasfariyati Razikin in ‘Is gamification effective in motivating exercise?’ explains these virtual badges provide a form of recognition for the effort app users put into their exercise and will motivate them to improve further. They are more likely to continue engaging in exercise of their own volition too. Another fitness-tracking wearable leader Fitbit also captures data like distance, steps, calories and pulse rate to incorporate them with game mechanics, such as scoring, competition and challenges to motivate and encourage desired behaviours. This includes exploring a city virtually via a smartphone while wearing a Fitbit. Without a doubt, gamification applications can encourage increased frequency of exercise and improve attitudes when paired with enjoyment. And digital technologies like data from behavioural insights and tracking capabilities make this possible.
L U M I H E A LT H
In partnership with Apple, this personalised programme designed in Singapore encourages healthy activity and behaviours using an Apple watch. Users travel through worlds with a friendly intergalactic explorer who guides them through tasks that are personalised based on their age, gender and weight. They include weekly activity goals that can be met through not just walking, but also swimming, yoga and other activities.
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BULLETIN Music
Fresh frequencies
Inner Song Kelly Lee Owens
1999 Rich Brian
Trusting the voice within, Welsh singersongwriter-producer Owens hung up her nursing grabs for the DJ deck and induced a trance on the dance floor. For her emotive sophomore record, she continues to amplify hypnotic grooves and tight pop rhythms while experimenting with deconstructed harmonics. The album’s opener, an instrumental cover of Radiohead’s ‘Weird fishes/Arpeggi’, best depicts this. Delving further, the anthemic ‘Melt!’ renders the urgency in climate change and dreamy closer ‘Wake-up’ encourages us to reflect what really matters in life.
Since being a part of the 88rising collective, the Indonesian rapper has grown tremendously career-wise. Reflecting this on his self-written and produced EP, the 21-year-old enforces his roots into the compositions and declares to remain authentic despite the pressures from success as heard on ‘Sometimes’, ‘Don’t care’ and ‘Long run’. Interestingly, Brian ventures out of his comfort zone by providing mellow vocals on the nostalgic pianobacked ‘When you come home’. Afterwards, ‘DOA’ switches the vibe into an energetic mood with a stab on upbeat ’80s pop that oozes charisma and hooks onto you immediately.
Róisín Machine Róisín Murphy
Purple Noon Washed Out
Since her Moloko days, Murphy’s never one to conform. From bossa nova to Italo disco and even trip hop, the Irish alternative electro star tackles genres effortlessly and deserves a spot in every playlist created. Her latest cut is straightforward unapologetic dance, but that doesn’t make it any less avant-garde. Slotting in previous one-off singles (‘Simulation’, ‘Jealousy’) alongside newer productions (‘Something more’, ‘Incapable’), Murphy showcased deft eclecticism under an alwaysshimmering disco mirror ball. We daresay she’s the epitome of lush and chic.
Chillwave is Ernest Greene’s specialty. Sublime downbeat rhythms that ease moods within seconds. On his fourth LP, break-up and struggles embed under the glossy synthbuilt tracks and are expressed via mature emotive vocals. While this consistency is deemed safe and uncomplicated, Greene has honed the streamlined Balearic sound well. There are still hints of vibrancy and pops of neon with jams such as ‘Reckless desires’ and the warm radio-friendly ‘Too late’ while tranquillity occurs with the guitar-driven ‘Game of chance’.
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Words by Derrick Tan
Anywhere can be a dancefloor once you spin these polished records.
BULLETIN Books
Into the unknown Psychological fiction reads that won’t let you sit easy.
Words by Joy Ling
Whether you’re a detective following an old lead or a sister plotting the perfect domestic crime, the ride isn’t going to be smooth with these books. Prepare for winding twists and unsettling moments where privacy is invaded and nothing can be trusted.
A Nearly Normal Family By MT Edvardsson
The Better Liar By Tanen Jones
All titles are available at Kinokuniya.
If the title isn’t enough to grab you, know that its complex, multilayered domestic drama will. Presented in three accounts from each family member, this emotionally gripping story is about a teen accused of the brutal murder of a shady businessman and what her parents—a pastor and an attorney—are willing to do in her defence. A slow burn character study, pushed through the initial recounting for insight into this dysfunctional Swedish household.
When the only criterion to claim an inheritance is to receive it with her estranged younger sister, Leslie is left in a dilemma when she discovers that her remaining kin is dead. Firstly because she desperately needs the money, and secondly that lookalike Mary might just be able to help her pull it off. As the plot stews in the middle with red herrings aplenty, the story finishes neatly while bearing a deeper message on psychological self-harm.
Tender is the Flesh By Agustina Bazterrica
The Whisper Man By Alex North
In The Clearing By JP Pomare
In a society where humans are divided into those who eat and those who are eaten, the premise of the world where cannibalism isn’t just sanctioned but a profitable commercial industry is dark and twisted, to say the least. Bazterrica is merciless in challenging your view on meat and cultural norms, and the ugly humanity in raw prose is truly a graphic and distressing mirror. Be warned: it’s really not easy to stomach.
A crime debut that’s equal parts disturbing and suspenseful, the narrative of a serial child killer and what seems to be an act of a copycat murderer over 20 years later comprises several individual threads that eventually converge in the best way possible. Easily a one-sitting read with its eerie and atmospheric tone, and also an exposition on grief and the consequences of the actions it spurs.
Alternating between the perspectives of a teenage girl raised in a cult and an overly protective mother who has lost her first son, you step into their skins in this bendy read of how their lives collide. The sophomore creation from the Melbournebased New Zealander writer is taut with tension and chillingly pragmatic in its depiction. Do not overlook the parts where the pace draws out because the embedded clues add up at the end.
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BULLETIN Cars
Electric blue The e-tron, Audi’s first volume-production electric car, is finally here and it’s barely any different from other full-sized SUVs… for better or worse.
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BULLETIN Cars
Broadly speaking, buyers of electric cars in Singapore at this point in time can be lumped into three main camps—namely, the early adopters, the Elon Musk ‘give me electric or give me death’ zealots and the criminally insane. Of course, it could also be argued that all the above groups are one and the same, but that’s another discussion for another time. And with that demographic firmly in mind, electric car manufacturers have tried to pander to them, with some form of gimmickry put into their cars. The BMW i3 with its controversial sci-fi egg silhouette, the Jaguar I-Pace with its near-vertical tail and the Tesla Model X with its articulated ‘falcon-wing’ doors. And... in rolls the Audi e-tron, which is conspicuously shorn of gimmicks, design or otherwise (save perhaps for those optional insect-eye wing mirror cameras that sadly aren’t available here yet), a clear sign it’s trying to preach to people other than the figurative
choir. It looks about as inoffensive as inoffensive gets, virtually identical to the carmaker’s other full-sized SUV, the Q7. The only real clues to its electric nature are some safety-orange accents, a blanked-out grille and its lack of tailpipes. You see, the purpose of the e-tron, the carmaker’s first massproduced electric car isn’t to shock (pun intended, obviously) but to appeal to as many people as possible by looking and driving as close to a ‘regular’ car as possible. It is, in a word, inoffensive, and that’s entirely the point of the car. The most important question the e-tron answers is how to make an electric car appeal to the non-geeky, and the sort of person who just wants a big SUV, the added bonus being that it’s electric. Of course, the e-tron has a veritable laundry list of traits that defines a car in its segment. Loads of interior space and practicality? Check. A high-rent cabin filled with all manner of touchscreens
BULLETIN Cars
and touch-sensitive surfaces? Check. Cruising refinement and quietness? Triple check, owing to its electric drivetrain that makes even the most refined combustion vehicle feel a bit lawnmower-y. Even driving it, there’s very little to hint at the e-tron’s electric nature. Unlike some electric cars that have a pronounced engine braking-like effect on backing off the throttle (so-called ‘onepedal’ driving), the e-tron behaves just like a regular car. It’s a car that, despite its newfangled electric nature, requires very little adjustment to, and with a range of 400km (claimed), it’s even in the region of what you’d get from a similarly sized combustion vehicle. However, unlike a regular combustion car at roughly the same price point, the e-tron has truly blistering pace. All 561Nm of its torque output (664Nm can be had for short bursts) is available at your disposal instantly, and while its 0-100km/h time of 6.6 seconds doesn’t seem all that quick, flooring the throttle in the e-tron results in acceleration not unlike a sports car. It’s a borderline surreal feeling to feel pinned back in your (plush leather) seat from the acceleration in a vehicle this big and weighing a whisker under 2.5 tonnes, largely down to the 95kWh lithium-ion battery pack. On the topic of borderline surreal experiences, it’s odd to have a car weigh this much in a body that’s not the size of a small lorry. In all fairness, the e-tron isn’t neutron star levels of dense, but you can feel the pounds in the way it heaves itself over crests in the road and flops into dips. On the plus side, because the batteries are mounted underneath the floor, it doesn’t impinge too much on the e-tron’s handling. In fact, it handles surprisingly well, all things considered. Thanks to the surefootedness of all-wheel-drive from its duo of electric motors and the instantaneous shove, the e-tron is remarkably agile. Well, perhaps agile is the wrong word to use, a term that implies some sort of finesse. What the e-tron has is brute force, which is a quality all of its own. Again, this coming from a car this heavy and with middle-of-the-road lines. Of course, that last bit is the kicker, and depending on your point of view, could be the deal-breaker/deal-maker. Of course, you’d also know that Audi has at least two more electric cars with the e-tron badge coming in the near future—the Sportback as seen being driven by Tony Stark in Avengers: Endgame and the GT, a sleek four-door coupe that should add some visual spice to Audi’s electric car lineup. Still, the e-tron is what we have for now and while it has a little too much visual normalcy for our money, that’s just the thing, it’s not our money. If you happen to be the sort who wants a big, comfortable, quiet, reasonably priced full-sized SUV that so happens to have shocking reserves of thrust and also happens to be electric, the e-tron is just the medicine the doctor ordered.
Electric mobility that’s sustainable and climate-friendly.
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Words by Daryl Lee
Touchscreens inside and more.
BULLETIN Cars
S P E C I F I C AT I O N S ENGINE Dual electric motors
0-100KM/H 6.6 seconds
FUEL CONSUMPTION To be confirmed
POWER 360HP
TOP SPEED 200KM/HR (electronically limited)
VES BAND A2 (SGD10,000 rebate)
TORQUE 561NM
TRANSMISSION Single-speed
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PRICE SGD367,500 (including COE, excluding options)
BULLETIN Cars
Two wheels different The overdue arrival of electric motorbikes.
It’s a little surprising that by the end of 2020 electric motorcycles haven’t quite taken off yet; figuratively speaking that is. Don’t rule out flying bikes at some point but right now, they’re just fast, technical, sustainable, easy to run and virtually silent. Which may go some way to explaining the slow uptake. Bike culture, even more so than cars, is still in thrall to the petrol engine, and understandably so. The growl, the throb, the smell, the tinkering and the opportunity for unnecessary revving are precisely why many buy motorbikes in the first place. And a booming, Instagram-friendly vintage and custom-made market has extended their appeal in recent years. It might be wiser then to see the electric motorbike for what it is—different. And with it comes a different rider, perhaps completely new to two wheels. The fact that Harley-Davidson, a brand that embodies the leathery world of traditional bike-riding probably more than any other, introduced an all-new electric model this summer is proof in itself that something has shifted. And the LiveWire shifts like a superbike, with a city range of 158km and a one-hour full charge time. You’d have to say it’s already one of Harley’s bestlooking machines. In California, Zero Motorcycles has specialised in electric motorbikes for over 10 years and is the de facto market leader
with eight models in its range, from the stripped-back, urbanoriented FX to the menacing SR/F which it describes as the world’s first smart bike, thanks to its customisable dash and dataheavy app that monitors everything a rider didn’t know they wanted to monitor. Zero’s recent rounds of investment to the tune of US$250 million again supports a turning tide. While the gadgety nature of electric bikes will be attractive to buyers of a certain mindset, so too will be their environmental credentials. Tarform, a Brooklyn start-up, was founded by a Triumph-owning web developer who wanted to offer the romance and looks of vintage British bikes without the waste and emissions. Creatively incorporating natural materials, its striking Luna has a pineapple ‘leather’ seat, woven flaxseed panels instead of plastic, and algae replacing toxic paints; a city bike built to be recyclable and biodegradable. And perhaps most importantly covetable, if you like its postwar meets post-apocalypse looks that is. It’s a long way from Marlon Brando in The Wild One, but at least Tarform makes the first tentative case that one day these machines might spark a bike scene of their own.
Words by Will Hersey
The hand-built, electric-powered Tarform Luna is designed to be upgraded, as an antidote to disposable culture. harley-davidson.com; zeromotorcycles.com; tarform.com
BULLETIN Objects
Fine lines Japanese architecture plus Swiss
Words by Johnny Davis
know-how equals next-level pens.
One is a legendary Japanese architect known for his use of stone and wood to create buildings in harmony with their natural surroundings. The other is a venerable Swiss brand of writing instruments whose tins of rainbowcoloured pencils separated the well-off kids from the rest of us in sixth-form geography. Now, Kengo Kuma and Caran d’Ache have teamed up to produce a ballpoint, a rollerball and a fountain pen inspired by traditional Japanese architecture, crafted from hinoki cypress, a so-called noble wood revered for its high quality and its deployment in temples, shrines and traditional Noh theatres. “Since discovering Caran d’Ache in junior high school, I’ve always felt I could draw precise, clear lines with their instruments,” Kuma tells Esquire. “Their tools enabled me to express the rhythm of my inner self.” The pens’ material and pattern are closely connected to Japan. “Hinoki cypress is a special tree for Japanese people,” Kuma says. “For example, it is used to create buildings like [Japan’s most sacred
shrine] the Ise Grand Shrine. We also use the chidori [plover] pattern for various architectures, so I tried to reproduce the pattern’s rhythm onto the body of the pen. Yet this is not a nostalgic design, but rather a design for the future.” Wood and metal, Kuma says, are perfectly balanced: together they feel natural in the hand. And could these elegant products turn the user into a worldclass draughtsman? “Handwriting and drawing can be the purest form of expressing the inner soul on paper,” Kuma says. “When others see the distinct, hexagonal lines I have created with Caran d’Ache in our collaboration, I hope it inspires others to try their hand, too.” In other words, no. For more information, visit carandache.com
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Above: wood/brass limited-edition Kengo Kuma Varius fountain pens by Caran d’Ache.
BULLETIN Food
Jerusalem Artichoke, an ensemble of artichoke, wing beans, confit egg and toasted buckwheat.
Salt of the earth Contemporary Australian restaurant Salted & Hung has weathered through good times and bad. This Covid period is no different but chef Drew Nocente manages to keep his restaurant afloat. His takeaway menu during phase one yielded the Wagyu Pastrami Sandwich, a generous middle of shaved beef held together by the sheer will of buttered sourdough bread. While it’s not on the new dinner menu, it is still available as a takeaway or for lunch. The interior of the restaurant has undergone a slight change. Gone is the mural—a scene cribbed from Animal Farm, a pig with a baseball bat spouting, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” An audacious display of having an anthropomorphic animal extolling the virtues of certain meats over others. It’s dark humour, tongue-nestled-firmly-in-cheek attitude. When asked about the artwork’s disappearance, Nocente offers, “we had to evolve” sans further explanation. His slight shrug a punctuation to that inquiry. But that audaciousness still continues in his food. The new dinner menu is built on Nocente’s philosophy of ‘minimal wastage’. A seven- or 10-course dinner (from SGD128) starts with tasting snacks that are based on his favourite dishes: fish and chips, cheeseburger, uni. Then, the mains and then desserts.
The highlight was the Jerusalem Artichoke meal, with the sweet flavours of the vegetable when paired with wing beans. A confit egg added a gooey texture to the mushroom dashi that went rather well with the crunchiness of toasted buckwheat. The Whole Fish showcases Nocente’s creativity: the bones of a pearl grouper are used as a broth to steam-bake the fish. Then, the bones are roasted and infused with soy for 30 days before being desiccated and blended into a powder to serve with the fish. The dish looked simple but it gave out a complex flavouring that the humble fish had to offer. We would also be remiss if we didn’t point to the perfect end to the meal, the Gold’n Gaytime. Inspired by the Australian ice-cream, Golden Gaytime, this desert is a toffee ice-cream and malted chocolate crème covered in olive crumb and almond honeycomb. It’s not a new item on the menu but it is a welcomed dish nonetheless. It is the best example of Nocente’s minimal wastage ethos, where everything on the plate is polished off. Not a scrap was spared. Even with the absence of spoons or that the vessel that the meal came in prevents you from draining the jus directly, you’ll break protocol and lower your face to slurp up the remains.
Salted & Hung is located at 12 Purvis Street, Singapore 188591. For reservations, call 6358 3130.
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Words by Wayne Cheong
Salted & Hung stubbornly remains relevant, thanks to a new menu guided by the idea of ‘minimal wastage’.
The Sun Also Rises named after the American novelist’s 1926 novel.
Culture in a bottle The Hemingway-inspired watering hole now delivers its cocktails.
Words by Wayne Cheong
“Don’t bother with churches, government buildings or city squares. If you want to know about a culture, spend a night in its bars.” – Ernest Hemingway
For Whom the Bell Tolls might be a downer of a novel, but as a drink it excites your senses. It’s made from cocoa nibs sous-vide Batavia Arrack, sour strawberries, rotary evaporated burnt butter, Appleton rum and avocado burst. One of our favourites is A Moveable Feast. The contents: gin, clear spiced cherry tomatoes, coconut, basil-tomato seeds, rotovap sea water (yup) and oyster leaves. You have a salty, spicy, umami flavour profile, almost like you’re sipping drinks by the ocean while your hair is whipped by the winds. And while he may not have drunk while he wrote (Papa averred that we’re thinking of Faulkner), if you’re so inclined, maybe read a Hemingway story that corresponds to your drink. Who knows, maybe For Whom the Bell Tolls might end on a chirpier note?
Famous writer and unrepentant sot Ernest Hemingway’s legacy endures long after his death. The Old Man Singapore pays tribute to Papa with spirits and cocktails inspired by his novels and history. The Old Man Singapore updates its drinks menu, calling it ‘Best of the Old Man v2’. Conceptualised by Agung Prabowo and his team, the menu includes new libations inspired by Hemingway’s world. Based on his 1926 novel, The Torrents of Spring is glutinous rice cooked mescal, grain mixed with Wild Turkey whiskey, Amaro Nonino, Campari and finished off with pomegranate-beet shrub and charcoal.
The Old Man bottled cocktails retail from SGD150 and can be purchased at theoldmansg.com
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YOUR DESTINATION FOR DIGITAL DISCOVERY FOUR DAYS OF TALKS, PERFORMANCES, WORKSHOPS, GAMES AND MUCH MORE
this november
SIGN UP NOW TO BE THE FIRST TO REGISTER
A gathering of Singaporeans who have a head for success and a heart for community. From business leaders and policymakers peacocking in pinstripes, to consultants and creatives brainstorming in T-shirts, The Esky Club exists to challenge and break down mediocrity (and that carcinogenic notion of ‘good enough’) in order to stir up and instigate purpose-driven action on social issues—both at home and abroad. It’s iron sharpens iron kind of stuff. Sure, there might be cuts and bruises (to your ego), but they will be soothed with generous lashings of whisky, thought-provoking debates and soul-building conversation on matters that, well, matter.
Want to join? You need an invite. Best way to secure an invitation? You do you, and the rest will follow.
S N D E I G
Tubular armchair, by Jonathan Saunders. See more scintillating pieces by the fashion-turned-furniture designer in his debut collection, on page 50.
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50
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Talking textiles
From fashion to furniture
Design files
Artists and designers from across the world re-imagine Kvadrat fabrics.
Jonathan Saunders’s debut line of furniture follows his penchant for colour and pattern.
These are the interior trends of 2020 —and far beyond.
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Employing different design approaches and selected from around the world, the creative talent behind textile exhibition Knit! share a common goal of rethinking what design can be.
together
knitted
DESIGN
DESIGN
Words by Mitchell Oakley Smith
Doric Columns, Kinetic Object by Objects of Common Interest (US) from Knit! by Kvadrat at the Danish 3daysofdesign festival. Facing page: Victorian-era couches and textile colour books collide in Conversation Series by Adam Goodrum (Australia).
Despite the fact that it’s largely an ingredient brand and doesn’t produce or sell tangible objects, Kvadrat—a Danish supplier of high-quality textiles—has earned cult status among designminded customers. Kvadrat’s roster of collaborators includes such fashion, art and design luminaries as Benja Harney, Raf Simons and Pipilotti Rist, and through these creative projects with talent beyond its own corporate culture, Kvadrat is able to challenge tradition in the textile manufacturing industry. In its latest project, Knit!, Kvadrat brings together some 28 designers from around the world to explore the infinite potential of knitted textiles for furniture and interior spaces, with each selected for their curiosity in experimenting with material, form
and colour. Employing the form-shaping ability of Kvadrat’s knitted textiles, the resultant objects and installations demonstrate the breadth of possibility inherent in the fabric. Originally showcased in Copenhagen as part of the 3daysofdesign festival, the Knit! exhibition has been made available to a global audience through an interactive digital platform. Herewith, we present three of our favourite pieces. INTERPERSONA BY BENJA HARNEY
Benja Harney is a Sydney-based paper engineer who works under the banner of Paperform, creating sculptural objects that defy our understanding of the material. But for Knit!, Harney has traded
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DESIGN
Above: Duct-Taped Blankets by Studio Bertjan Pot (The Netherlands) inspired by taped seams found in sportswear. Below: A Trifle of Colour by Yinka Ilori (UK), a chair-bench hybrid upholstered in Kvadrat Febrik’s Sprinkles textile.
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DESIGN
his paper cutting mat for fabric, making full use of Kvadrat’s range of colours and textures and using them as upholstery for a range of jigsaw-like cardboard shapes, resulting in a playful landscape of abstracted characters. “I guess it’s a series of interlocking personalities,” he explains of the piece, which can be continually modified by its user. “Because the fabrics are things that people use and touch, we really wanted the participants to be able to actually interact with our project. So it’s largely kind of fabriccovered shapes that have a series of Velcro dots on them, and there’s also an accompanying series of lips and eyes so you can manipulate the shapes to kind of make weird personalities.” C O N V E R S AT I O N S E R I E S B Y A D A M G O O D R U M
There’s something so intriguing in the colour palette of industrial designer Adam Goodrum’s Conversation Series, a collection of interlocking seating that allows, as its name suggests, for discussion between its users in the way they are seated. With its vivid combination of burnt orange, white, navy blue and maroon, the overlapping coloured upholstery nods to the form of fabric sample books, a concept further enlivened by the threedimensionality and texture of the knit, and adds a newfound modernity to Victorian-era love seats that, in Conversation Series, can be joined continuously to create a weave-like pattern. “One thread that follows through my work [is that] I have a fascination for bold colour,” explains the Australian designer. “I love accentuating components and geometry. I have a good friend who used to come to my studio and show me this beautiful range of products [from Kvadrat Febrik] and I used to love the fan of colour and different textiles, and that was something I definitely wanted to communicate in the piece.”
Photographs by Luke Evans, Benjamin Lund and Christopher Morris
A TRIFLE OF COLOUR BY YINKA ILORI
In the piece created by London-based designer Yinka Ilori, we’re invited to look at the chair as a social tool, and how the way in which we sit not only shapes our bodies but impacts our behaviour and our interactions with others. The chair-bench hybrid is made with removable and adjustable backrests, allowing each sitter to design the chair’s configuration for their own comfort, with four options available. The multiple layered sheets of upholstered ply-board create an intriguing pattern of colour that’s constantly in flux. “The beauty of the fabric Sprinkles is that each side has a different colour, texture and pattern, so we wanted to play with this unique detail and celebrate this through the upholstery in the most exciting way,” explains Ilori.
From top: InterPersona by Benja Harney (Australia) featuring interlocking shapes of surrealist eyes and lips; Adam Goodrum’s Conversation Series inspired by Victorian love seats.
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when a house is a home With the introduction of a home fragrance series and Southeast Asia’s first Casa Loewe boutique in Singapore, there’s evidently more to Loewe than luxury fashion.
DESIGN
Words by Asri Jasman
“ T H E I D E A O F C A SA LO E W E I S A L I V I N G S PAC E , I T I S R E F L E C T I V E O F T H E C O L L E C T I O N . I T I S A M O V I N G S P A C E . . . I T I S M O R E O F A H O M E L A N D S C A P E .”
Stepping into most Loewe boutiques in the past six years has been a starkly different experience than before. I vividly remember the look of Loewe’s 2013 flagship at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. It was covered almost entirely in various hues of wood, with a solid dark-wood table placed right smack in the middle of the boutique’s entrance, an assortment of the house’s leather bags neatly displayed on it. And in the background was a wall arrangement of bags floating atop a glass-top display. Step further inside and one would be flanked by more of Loewe’s collection of leather goods, each side dedicated to either the men’s or women’s segment. Product was the main focus of Loewe boutiques pre-creative director Jonathan Anderson; it is, after all, the reason why physical boutiques exist in the first place. But that age-old concept no longer works in an era where shopping for luxury can be easily done online. A luxury boutique needs to function more than just an avenue to push product and sales, and Anderson fully understands this. “The idea of Casa Loewe is a living space, it is reflective of the collection. It is a moving space, not something precious like a gallery; it is more of a home landscape,” Anderson tells me. It’s this approach to a luxury boutique—one that would typically very often seem intimidatingly imposing and elitist—that has softened both the interior and the vibe of each space. Anderson often credits Kettle’s Yard as the place that has, in some ways, informed the vision for Casa Loewe. “I like that it is someone’s home that is as well a museum,” he enthuses. The Cambridge house was home to art collector Jim Ede and his wife Helen from 1956 to 1973. The series of four 19th-century cottages was renovated and converted into a single house with the help of architect Rowland de Winton Aldridge. Ede would then open the house to the public, especially university students, every weekday afternoon during term for them to explore his vast personal collection of British art.
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There are certain similarities that Casa Loewe and Kettle’s Yard share, namely in the way that they both are inherently more than just one thing. While the latter’s natural light-filled, white-walled interior is a wellcurated assortment of British art laid out quite precisely as part of a home, Casa Loewe’s similarly neutral space meshes together Loewe’s craft-centric collections with equally artful menageries of Anderson’s own curation of art. The artworks that share real estate with Loewe’s own fashion and home creations vary in each Casa Loewe boutique. Yet, even if they may seem incongruous at times, the overarching idea of craft ties them all together and tells a story of how craft—in its many different forms—is central to the house. When asked about the considerations he makes when selecting artworks for Casa Loewe, Anderson indulges, “I think the art that always inspires me is art that is based within the craft world, such as ceramics, textiles, etc. It is very important to Loewe because it’s part of our foundation and our DNA. These are artists that really inspire the brand and it is important that we continue to support artists.” Anderson started the annual Loewe Craft Prize in 2016 (the 2020 edition marks its fourth but has been postponed to 2021 due to COVID-19) as a celebration of craft and to acknowledge as well as support the talents of artisans. Entries from all over the world are welcomed to take part each year. In fact, previous winners include 2019’s Kyoto-based lacquer artist Genta Ishizuka and 2017’s German-born Ernst Gamperl—who impressed the jury with his oak containers—while Singaporean artist Ashley Yeo was one of 30 finalists in the 2018 edition. Other than being exhibited in dedicated Loewe Craft Prize exhibitions each year, selected works have also been fixtures in Casa Loewe stores worldwide. The first-ever Casa Loewe boutique debuted in Madrid, Spain back in 2016. It was then followed by a string of openings in 2019 beginning with London, followed by Tokyo and Beijing. Singapore’s Casa Loewe will be the first in Southeast Asia. “Singapore has, for long, been a key destination for the development
of Loewe in Southeast Asia where we have been present for over 25 years. Singapore has a unique positioning in the region, offering a wide range of services and attractions that makes the country extremely attractive for both the local and the surrounding countries. Opening a Casa Loewe in Singapore is then a natural step in bringing to the country the full Loewe universe,” explains Anderson, who was last here in 2016 to grace the opening of Loewe’s Paragon boutique. There’s little doubt that with the Casa Loewe boutique in Singapore’s ION Orchard—the largest in Southeast Asia—that the same sense of familiarity is set to permeate through. The nods to the original Loewe stores as designed by Javier Carvajal, the inviting interiors that seem to be constantly bathed in natural light, the harmonious exchange of dialogues between branded craft and those created by other artisans, and the all-encompassing experience of being sucked into the Loewe world are all elements that make a Casa Loewe boutique feel homely and remain present in the new boutique. The 340-square-metre boutique will be home to familiar Casa Loewe furnishings such as John Allen
Josh Faught’s ‘A positive light’ (2019), which will be on display at Casa Loewe Singapore alongside works by eight other international artists.
DESIGN
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carpets, benches by Loewe Craft Prize 2019 finalists Jim Partridge and Liz Walmsley, and Conoid Cushion chairs by George Nakashima. In addition to that, Casa Loewe Singapore will also exhibit the works of nine international artists. ‘A positive light’ by American textile artist Josh Faught will make its way to Singapore after a run in London and Beijing, sharing the same space as works by Japanese artist Shihoko Fukumoto and British ceramicists Betty Blandino and Nicholas Homoky. An area in the entrance of Casa Loewe Singapore has been dedicated to act as a pop-up space. It’s here that further art projects as well as the house’s special capsule collections that it does quite often, will make their presence known. It begs one to wonder if Anderson already had an extensive forward-thinking plan at the start of his appointment at Loewe, to architect a seamless transition from leather goods to ready-to-wear to craft and then to home fragrances, for them all to be housed in one space and in a manner that makes total sense. It may be rather far-fetched a theory, but I won’t be entirely surprised if he did.
DESIGN
for your pad
That the Lily was described as Arne Jacobsen’s most elaborate chair is a good primer on the Danish designer and architect’s aesthetic, and the simplicity of mid-century modern design as a whole. Unlike Jacobsen’s equally recognisable Egg and Swan chairs, the original 1968 model 3108 didn’t even have arms. It got its nickname for its resemblance to the open petals of a lily; Jacobsen moonlighted as an enthusiastic botanist, landscape gardener and painter, travelling around Europe to paint foliage and flowers, adding their Latin names in his best neat pencil. The Lily was redesigned for Denmark’s National Bank—armrests were added—and it was unveiled at the Danish Furniture Fair in 1970. Known as model 3208 or the Series 8, it was made from laminated veneer that underwent a nail-biting moulding process to achieve its distinctive curves. The Lily’s 50th anniversary this year is marked by a new version in natural walnut, something previously thought impossible to achieve without splitting the wood. The Lily is also notable for being the last chair Jacobsen designed. In everything he did, the Scandinavian designer embodied the concept of gesamtkunstwerk—each aspect being part of a total work of art. He chose details such as ashtrays in the rooms at the world’s first designer hotel, Copenhagen’s SAS Royal Hotel, and the species of fish in the ponds at St Catherine’s College, Oxford—both buildings he designed. “People buy a chair,” Jacobsen said once. “They don’t really care who designed it.” A half-century of hindsight would suggest otherwise.
Words by Johnny Davis
The Lily turns 50.
Arne Jacobsen’s Lily in walnut and chromed steel.
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An Exercise of Meaning in a Glitch Season is on at National Gallery Singapore until 21 February 2021.
next of kin
Words by Mitchell Oakley Smith
In its imagining of a world of possibility, Singapore artist Kin Chui’s work offers a glimmer of hope in a year of despair.
DESIGN
When it became clear earlier this year that the Covid pandemic would put an end to long-planned forthcoming exhibitions—the insurance value of international artworks multiplied and their shipments were indefinitely delayed, all while museums closed their doors for an unforeseen period—the National Gallery Singapore’s curatorial team had to think quickly. How, when they’d be able to reopen to the public, would they keep people entertained? Rather than ignore the crisis, the team decided to tackle it head-down—thematically at least—and, in concert with 11 other local institutions, the museum initiated Proposals for Novel Ways of Being, an umbrella concept that challenged more than 170 artists from Southeast Asia to “imagine new possibilities for the future… and explore new ways of living in a world changed by the pandemic”. The National Gallery’s contribution to the multisite programme is An Exercise of Meaning in a Glitch Season, in which it brings together 10 Singaporeborn artists that seek to hold a mirror to the many undercurrents the world is grappling with in light of Covid. Syaheedah Iskandar, the exhibition’s guest curator, believes that while Covid is not the first pandemic in human history, it’s certainly a trial for many more to come. “As history tells us, there is always more than one contributing factor that will be instrumental to that tipping point, milestone, change, evolution or revolution whatsoever,” she explains. “These past few months, there have been rigorous questions about the ill effects of globalisation, our unsustainable modus operandi, the climate crisis, an upsurge on tackling systemic racism and many others. The exhibition presented these ideas from a local standpoint, and the curatorial strategy was to experience the exhibition as a whole as all the artworks echo and confront each other.” Featured in the exhibition is the work of 30-year-old local artist Kin Chui, whose piece, ‘Station 13010’—an encompassing collection of PVC banners illuminated by neon strip lighting—envisions possibilities for
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greater harmony through ritual exercises. When it was first created earlier this year, for an installation at Grey Projects, the pandemic had not yet escalated, yet Chui’s work contained a prescient acknowledgement of a dystopian future that seemed on the horizon. “It was like a premonition of sorts,” says Iskandar. “What was particularly engaging for me was how Kin is able to incorporate concepts of spirituality and ecological consciousness together. Oftentimes the discourse of the future is entangled in technological advancement and spirituality seems incongruent to that course.” Through Station 13010’s play on symbiosis and the recording of memory through the codes of ritual and icons, Chui’s work provides a commentary on our current reality revolving around the digital. “The work is very much a piece of science fiction,” offers the artist. “Its narrative stems from musings of what cultural practices of a post-dystopian society might look like, and what within the present would be built upon in the realising of such a future. The show is also a reminder that our ecology consists of a multiplicity of matters and experiences. We do not live in silos; survival has always been a collective effort, the wellbeing of my kin—both human and non-human is of as much importance as my own wellbeing. [American writer] Audre Lorde best explained it when she said that there is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live in singleissue struggles.”
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Following her foray into homewares, Ong Shunmugam adds a familiar material—rattan—to her porcelain table range.
that oldworld, newschool look
DESIGN
Words by Wayne Cheong. Photographs by Ivan Tan and This Humid House
DESIGN
Ong Shanmugam’s rattan furniture line starts from SGD199 and is available on a pre-order basis.
Because the models are so new, there are no templates to work from; Shunmugam has to design from scratch and the craftsmen had to work from her drafts. Using Malaysian Rotan Manau, Rotan Mantang and Rotan Sega species, she mixes it with Indonesian batik and synthetic rattan, Chinese jacquard and indigenous Iban weave patterns that all skews from the look of traditional rattan furniture to give us something special. You have natural rattan dining chairs with jacquard upholstered backrests, a dining table with a handwoven flower-shaped centrepiece and an Ibanpatterned panel, planters with intricate hand-bound details… the rattan range is a product of a tribal lineage that is filtered through the lens of modernity.
Ong Shunmugam has been busy and more so during the lockdown. Designing during a lockdown in London, Shunmugam drafted out a range of furniture and basketry, expanding on her Suvarnabumi homewares range. Her porcelain tableware was a success. And now Shunmugam casts her sights on a material that your grandparents might be well familiar with: rattan. That old-world climbing palm used in a sepak takraw ball or the caning punishment tool of our judicial system, rattan is easier to harvest and transport. Given its quick growth and versatility, rattan is also lightweight and durable —a boon when you’re choosing furniture that can be passed down through the generations.
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emblems recontex
Just in time for the holiday, Cartier’s new range of home accessories and objects takes inspiration from several of its iconic jewellery lines, including its emblematic panther, which first appeared in 1914.
DESIGN
Words by Asri Jasman
From objects of desire to objects of time, Cartier’s creations have always offered a sense of refined elegance. It’s now set to build on that attribute for the every day.
tualised With the many undertakings of Cartier as a storied luxury house, elegance is intrinsically at its core. It’s in the blend of heritage house codes with contemporary design stylings of its timepieces; the constant juxtaposition of timelessness with unexpected characteristics of its series of jewellery; down to the sculptural bottles of its fragrances and the scents they hold. What else should one expect of a luxury house that’s made the panther its icon? Yet, as much as it’s inherently sophisticated in nature, Cartier isn’t one to take itself too seriously. There’s whimsy in the way the design process is approached; the ordinary becomes somewhat extraordinary at Cartier. A nail gets fashioned into a bracelet, while a rectangular-faced timepiece is updated with an asymmetric slant. And even the signature deep red Cartier boxes trimmed with gold guirlande have been transformed into functional fashion accessories. They may have simple origins but the results are a testament to Cartier’s craftsmanship and ingenuity of creating luxurious expressions where there were none. This idea of breathing new meaning to seemingly everyday objects—an elevation of value, if you will —isn’t something that’s new to Cartier. It was back in the ’30s that the house’s Department S was set up by Louis Cartier (the founder’s grandson) together with chief designer Charles Jacqeau. ‘S’ was in reference to the silver that was largely the material used in the creation of luxury gifts and objects such as lighters, cased notepads and picture frames. Louis likened these objects to jewellery, stating in an interview back in the day: “Jewellery like ours is as capable of adorning a woman’s shoulders with a dazzling necklace as it is of filling her handbag with a powder compact, a mirror, a small comb, and even business cards—all stamped with the same seal of originality and art.” Cartier is now ready to reintroduce this part of its heritage in a series of lifestyle objects spanning four design languages, each recontextualising Cartier’s many emblems.
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The first refers to its most revered icon: the panther. Its first-ever expression as part of Cartier’s design lexicon was in the form of panther spots on a 1914 watch. That abstract form has turned into more realistic and, at times, graphic iterations over the decades. In the Panthère de Cartier series, the panther takes on a regal form—both visually and in the curation of the series —flanked by Art Deco motifs and etched in gold on white porcelain trinket trays, vases, a tea box and a solitaire game set as well as a collection of stationery. While the panther is its chosen emblem, it’s by no means the only animal that has been a Cartier fixture throughout its history. The house has often included various animals—both wild and domestic —in a multitude of decorative objects. Quite fittingly, the Cartier Baby series adopts the house’s affection for animals by fashioning them into a menagerie of childhood trinkets. The Entrelacés de Cartier series is complementary to that of the panther-laden one with a similar offering of trays and vases. Its name literally means intertwined and is distinguished by the motif of interlacing of Cartier red ribbons prevalent throughout the series, wrapping around hardcover notebooks, cards and envelopes. The motif also makes an appearance on lacquered jewellery and watch boxes crafted to store one’s collection of Cartier luxuries. Rounding off the collection of objects is the Diabolo de Cartier—a host of the house’s whimsical signatures. Familiar icons including the Cartier bellboy, Jeanne Toussaint’s L’oiseau libéré (freed bird) that was created to celebrate France’s liberation, and the Cartier wax seal are translated as floating motifs. They appear on the collection’s more playful offerings (a chest of beech tree wooden blocks, for instance) as equally lively illustrations. This is a new Cartier collection. But more importantly, it’s an official re-entry into the lifestyle space for the house. It’s a reiteration of house codes that it has held onto for decades and now designed to be part of the every day.
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art to live with He may have left the fashion industry, but Jonathan Saunders’s unique skill with colour and materiality is on full show in his debut line of furniture, writes Mitchell Oakley Smith.
The Covid crisis and ensuing lockdown of countries has wreaked havoc on the fashion industry, not only altering the way it does business—factory closures in manufacturing hubs, such as China and Italy, earlier in the year led to delivery delays; curfews and social distancing measures imposed almost universally across the globe through the middle of the year reduced retail’s physical footprint entirely—but also in our relationship to it. Are we producing too much, too regularly, and using too many non-renewable resources? Are we buying too much and wearing things too infrequently? And does what we actually own suit our new normal? This reckoning has led to a shift in paradigm whereby the industry has irrevocably changed more over the past six months than it had over the past decade, but they were questions that, for Jonathan Saunders, had been necessary to have long before the pandemic. “I was personally feeling the need to do things in a different way because I got a little tired or the charm had disappeared,” explains the Scottish fashion designer who, after shuttering his namesake label in 2015, also
Bauhaus-inspired ‘Repetition of Form’ tubular table, an item instantly recognisable as being designed by Jonathan Saunders thanks to its bold colour combination.
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stepped down from his role as the chief creative officer of Diane von Furstenberg in December 2017. “I was doing consultancies, six collections [per year] for men and women, and it was all-consuming,” he says. “The speed at which I was doing it meant I never got to live with something I was creating to be able to develop it properly. I came to that conclusion and made that change, and I hope for so many of my close friends who are fashion designers that they’re able to use this current opportunity to do things that work for them as a creative.” With his newfound freedom, Saunders used 2018 as a creative reset and found that, after a 15-year and positively critiqued career in fashion, he was being drawn to furniture. Having originally studied product design at the Glasgow School of Art (he graduated with a BA in textile design, which he further pursued with an MA in the subject at Central Saint Martins in London), the allure of products that are designed to truly last a lifetime, and which a designer can spend as long as he chooses developing and refining, was exactly what he’d
been craving in fashion. This year, he unveiled his debut collection of made-to-order furniture, under the banner of Saunders, at art fair Frieze Los Angeles. Saunders likens his venture to that of the Bauhaus, the German movement of the early 20th century, he says he was fascinated by when he was younger. “I think what was interesting is this combination of ideas and mediums all working together in unexpected ways. It’s something that really inspired me as a designer.” While the Bauhaus is evident in Saunders’s new approach to design business—which, for now, is madeto-order but uses oftentimes simple or inexpensive materials such as resin and metal—it’s also there in the aesthetic, with the largely geometric forms and often clashing combinations of colour, like red with olive green, or canary yellow and beige. “I never plan it,” he says. “Maybe it’s because Glasgow is pretty wet and drab, it’s my reaction to that? Maybe it’s the result of me working as a fashion designer, imagining how someone might mix garments together from their wardrobe. I mean, it’s clear that I love colour.” He’s also hands-on with his furniture in a way that he hadn’t been able to be in fashion, instead overseeing teams of young designers and those with specialist skillsets. “I missed that, so I’ve really tried to come back to the hand-processes, like screen-printing and marquetry,” he explains, adding that he chose to start out with practices he was familiar with as a way of dipping his toe into an industry he’d never really actively worked in. “I was nervous because I’d been out of product [design] for so long, so I started working with very simple materials, very traditional processes. I had this desire to work on my own more, to get my hands dirty again and not to have a two-month time limit and having to rush it, but I’m doing this for me. It’s personal, so I don’t necessarily feel the pressure of fitting into a formula. And I’m really enjoying it, and while there are definitely similarities it’s a very different experience from working in fashion.” The greatest difference, Saunders says, is committing to your ideas. In fashion, designers have the luxury of draping fabric on a mannequin, of creating toiles to experiment with shape and style. “With furniture you just have to go for it, and mentally that’s taken a lot of getting used to,” he says. But that he’s creating pieces bespoke for clients’ homes, things that they’ll have for decades to come, is the reward. “It’s a very different type of consumer behaviour, one that hopefully will be embraced in fashion, too.” For now, Saunders is making no plans to grow the line into something produced and sold on a commercial scale, but he’s also not ruling it out. “At the moment I’m just enjoying learning my craft, exploring it, and seeing where it takes me. I’ve always worked very hard, but now that I’m not responsible for a big team it feels manageable. I’m working at a pace that allows me to explore ideas, and that’s really liberating.”
Marquetry stool (top right) and screen printed textiles (below), both from the debut furniture collection of designer Jonathan Saunders, pictured opposite.
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“I [ I M AG I N E ] H OW S O M EO N E M I G H T M I X GA R M E N TS TO G E T H E R F R O M T H E I R WA R D R O B E . . . I T ’ S C L E A R T H AT I L O V E C O L O U R .”
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out
Comprising just 20 apartments— each an entire floor—Eden is, as its ‘starchitect’ Thomas Heatherwick describes it, “a home in a garden”.
of
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eden Singapore’s newest residential building fully commits to the modern city’s founding father’s vision of a city in a garden, writes Mitchell Oakley Smith.
While we tout our little island as a garden city, most apartment buildings and condos in Singapore are surprisingly bereft of much greenery, and often, many plants are plastic rather than the real thing. Not so at the appropriately named Eden, a new Swire-developed residential property just off Scotts Road in the Newton district, which is not so much a building decorated by plants as an all-encompassing forest, dense with greenery, propelled vertically into the sky, but a barely visible structure. “What me and my team are excited about is that we had the chance to make somewhere that is extremely green,” explains Thomas Heatherwick, the awardwinning British architect responsible for the design of Eden, which is home to some 30,000 plants of more than 100 different species. The building marks a significant departure from the glass and steel tower typology that dominates most of Singapore’s upper skyline, attempting to offer its residents a private and calming oasis despite being located in one of the country’s most lively precincts. “The luxury is that we’ve let everything be as natural as it can be, and I hope it will be an emotional response that a resident has as they walk in and have that connection to nature.” The sense of privacy is achieved in part by Heatherwick’s subversion of the conventional
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residential tower: in moving the services to the perimeter, each apartment is afforded a large central living space surrounded by smaller individual rooms and wide, shell-like balconies. This design in turn aids in the building’s sustainability credentials, the natural cross-ventilation of each apartment eschewing the need for electric cooling and the cocoon-like outer structure protecting the glass windows from thermal conductivity. Every element of Eden is a lesson in detailorientated design, demonstrating the architectural potential of common materials. The building’s primary structure, for example, is crafted from concrete, chosen for its thermal massing qualities; but rather than a flat grey surface, the external walls are moulded with an abstracted topographical map of Singapore’s terrain, adding a tactility to the building. Inside the 20 freehold apartments, imperfections of natural materials are embraced, such as the knot marks in the handmade parquetry floors that remain intact, and the 180-millionyear-old cross-cut Jura limestone of the bathroom’s walls and floors that retains its fossilised imprints. “There’s something so powerful about materials that are millions of years old and doing nothing more than polishing them, bringing out their life,” says Heatherwick, as he reclines in an outdoor chair sculpturally crafted from stone. Heatherwick—whose most famous works include the UK Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo 2010, the 2012 Olympic cauldron, and The Vessel at Hudson Yards’s Public Plaza in New York City—explains that his inspiration for Eden was the manifesto of Lee Kuan Yew more than 50 years ago, in which Singapore’s first prime minister set out a vision for ‘a city in a garden’. “I feel that we’ve been loyal to that original vision,” says Heatherwick. “I’ve designed a living building which has different tree types, grasses, leaves rustling… the whole idea is that this is a living, changing thing. I can’t wait to come back in years and see how people adapt to their spaces and the plants, I hope, have matured and enriched the experience for everyone that lives here.”
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interior ideals We’re spending more time at home than ever before so it’s little wonder that while the economy has been rocked by the pandemic, the interior design industry has boomed as we delineate and decorate our personal space. Here, we break down the four trends that will come to define 2020—and beyond.
Edited by Mitchell Oakley Smith
Designed by Thomas Dariel for Maisondada, the Major Tom armchairs, pictured on these pages, reference the fictional character in David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’, which depicts an astronaut that slips beyond the bonds of the world and journeys beyond the stars and, in the film clip for which, Bowie wears a space-inspired outfit designed by Pierre Cardin. The lunar shapes and curved silhouettes are evident in these matching chairs.
growth
for
room
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The gym has turned into a status symbol in recent years, and as a result of social-distancing measures, it’s also become a solitary space. Take your home workout up a notch with these ultra-luxurious sports toys.
PENT bills itself as a purveyor of luxury fitness equipment, and with handmade leather yoga mags and exercise balls, and natural wood, steel and leather pushup bars, it’s certainly a step-up from most.
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Glossed-nylon duffle bag, by Saint Laurent from Mr Porter.
Printed wooden skateboards featuring the artwork of JeanMichel Basquiat, by The Skateroom from Mr Porter.
Michael Jordan print, by Sonic Editions from Mr Porter.
Leather and canvas jump rope, by Louis Vuitton.
Wooden beach bat and ball set, by Frescobol Carioca from Mr Porter.
Stainless steel purifying water bottle, by Larq from Mr Porter.
A sportsinspired look from Valentino fall/winter 2020.
Wood, steel and leather exercise bench, by PENT.
Oak and bronze kettlebells and custom stand, by Coreform.
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weaving a legacy Woven cane has its roots in ancient Egypt, where baskets were made from palm stems as early as 8000 BC. More recently, it became the material of choice for Mexican and Latin American mid-century movements, and still feels modern today, adding texture and personality to a space.
Bodystuhl beechwood chair, by Nigel Coates from Gebrüder Thonet Vienna.
CH25 Easy vintage oak chair, by Hans J Wegner from Noden.
058 Kangaroo oak chair, by Cassina.
NYNY beechwood, woven cane and brushed brass sideboard, by Gebrüder Thonet Vienna. PK22 Easy vintage stainless steel and wicker chair, by Poul Kjærholm from Noden.
Woven wicker trays, by Cabana from Matches Fashion.
Baraka three-seater sofa, from Layard Interiors.
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Allegory beechwood cane desk, by GamFratesi from GebrĂźder Thonet Vienna.
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the bold
Ugly furniture is having a moment, with the bulbous, overstuffed and oversized styles of the 1960s and ’70s making a return, whether in vintage, re-edition or entirely new forms. It’s comfortable, it’s cool, and we’re here for the versatility of it all.
and the beautiful
Sundae armchairs, by Jason Ju from DesignByThem.
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Sesann leather, wood and metal armchair, by Gianfranco Frattini from Tacchini.
Pig of the Sea cashmere-upholstered sofa, by Misha Kahn.
Sumo armchair, by Maisondada.
Camaleonda sofa, by Mario Bellini from B&B Italia.
Leather-scented candle, by Tom Ford from Mr Porter.
LC2 Poltrona leather armchair, by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand from Cassina.
Ruff armchair, by Patricia Urquiola from Moroso.
A head-totoe leather look from Fendi fall/ winter 2020.
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american vintage
17th- and 18th-century vintage tapestry stool, by Walid from Matches Fashion.
New York-based menswear label Bode has a lot to answer for, having kickstarted a design craze for vintage, antique and deadstock fabrics and finishes that bring to mind an upstate log cabin. Sustainability is at the heart of this trend—reuse and recycling are important practices—and the nod to Hygge is comforting when we’re increasingly spending more time at home.
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Équilibre d’Hermès natural oak and stitched leather dining chair, by Jasper Morrison from Hermès.
Natural teak coaster, by Grey & Sanders.
Virgin wool blanket, by Pendleton from Mr Porter.
Printed ceramic mug, by Pendleton from Mr Porter.
Embroidered wool cushion, by Gucci from Matches Fashion.
Kuno petrified wood table, by Layard Interiors.
Scented candle, by Diptyque from Mr Porter.
A look created from vintage flags and patches from Bode fall/winter 2020.
Ohio aged oak sideboard, by Grey & Sanders.
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A treat for the senses
50 years and counting
All dressed up
Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Sartoria collection is opulent and rich in detail.
Paul Smith the brand, that is; and why the British designer is fashion’s most-loved man.
A look at what’s influential from the runways, and how to wear it.
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Two years in the making, A View sneakers, by Louis Vuitton in collaboration with Lucien Clarke, represent the first partnership between luxury fashion and skateboarding.
STYLE
What goes around... Louis Vuitton’s pre-spring 2021 menswear collection features its debut skate shoe,
Words by Asri Jasman
one that’s been given the go-ahead by skateboarding’s most fashionable icon.
“It’s about supporting someone who’s been doing it for as long as I have. It’s about figuring out how to connect the two worlds—fashion and skateboarding—in a natural way,” Lucien Clarke says when asked about how a collaboration involving a luxury fashion house and skateboarding can be as authentic as possible. Clarke is a Jamaica-born professional skateboarder based in London, and skates as part of the Palace Skateboards crew. The 31-year-old is also no stranger to the luxury fashion world. Since Virgil Abloh’s appointment at Louis Vuitton, Clarke has been a regular fixture at his menswear runway shows, walking for the spring/summer 2019 and 2020 seasons in Paris. The two connected thanks to their common passion for skating as well as the arts, and according to Abloh, he was introduced to Clarke “through Lev Tanju and Gareth Skewis of Palace Skateboards, who are friends of mine”. The relationship has now deepened with an unprecedented move by a luxury fashion house. Abloh announced in August that Louis Vuitton had signed Clarke to what the former referred to as “the first skater deal of this type”. Besides being the face of a campaign that appeared within the pages of skate magazine Thrasher, Clarke revealed he’s been filming in the name of the partnership for the past year. And most importantly, the linkup has afforded Clarke the opportunity to design a proper skate shoe for Louis Vuitton. A View takes on the shape of a traditional skate shoe with a build and silhouette that’s not too far off from those by renowned skate brands. While it does take reference from ’90s-styled skate shoes, the make is all Louis Vuitton. Crafted with a combination of calf leather and technical textile base,
A View features reflective detailing as well as a framework of technical foam and polyurethane sole cushioning. “Virgil and I have been talking about this shoe for two years. After his first show for Louis Vuitton, I ended up taking the white multi-pocket vest I wore on the runway back to London and actually skating in it. I made a little clip and showed Virgil, who really liked it. That’s how this project began,” Clarke shares. He also elaborates that there has been a considerable number of trials to ensure that the shoe does what it’s been designed to do. Aesthetics aside (“You’re looking down at them all the time while you’re skating”), A View needed to also embody a deft balance of flexibility, durability and comfort. On average, a skater would tear through a pair of skate shoes every two to three months, depending on its quality. While we await a review from the skate community at large (at least from those who might deem Louis Vuitton worth of the half-pipe), Clarke’s involvement and expertise in the area is a confident seal of approval. Couple that with Louis Vuitton’s level of craftsmanship, A View could perhaps be the first honest-togoodness, legitimate marriage of fashion and skateboarding. In any case, A View is part of Louis Vuitton’s pre-spring 2021 menswear collection. And as with anything Abloh-designed, the skate shoe is not solely for tre flips and kicks. Abloh’s constant exploration of merging streetwear with traditional notions of luxury has exemplified how those seemingly disparate worlds can be and have been interconnected. A View fits into that concept seamlessly—it’s a stylish pair that enables one to always be ready to skate. If luxury fashion has been accused of appropriating skate culture and streetwear, this is a full-circle moment that’s one for the history books.
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the What
world
In a year starved of beauty, Dolce & Gabbana’s opulent,
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needs now
detail-rich Alta Sartoria collection is a treat for the senses.
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Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, Italy was hit incredibly hard, forcing the nation into a prolonged lockdown that saw the closure of its fabled garment manufacturing and textile development hubs which, for so many decades, have imbued the descriptor ‘Made in Italy’ with such value. So it was fitting then that during the menswear trade fair Pitti Immagine Uomo—which typically takes over the city of Florence in June but was delayed to September —Italian designer house Dolce & Gabbana staged a sumptuous Alta Sartoria runway show, a tribute to and celebration of Florentine craftsmanship. “We are lucky enough to live in a country that has an incredible artistic and cultural heritage, and we are proud to be able to give light, without work, to the craftsmanship that still represents excellence today,” explains Stefano Gabbana of the Alta Sartoria collection, the brand’s male equivalent of haute couture. “Alta Sartoria is all about creativity and invention and one-of-a-kind. What lies behind the purchase of these garments is not the necessity to dress, but the search for personal fulfilment. It is a dream to wear, an experience.” Alta Sartoria follows the launch, in 2014, of Dolce & Gabbana’s made-to-measure tailoring service, Sartoria su Misura, and is largely characterised by decadent fabrics and embellishment reminiscent of the renaissance. The line was born out of the designers’ desire to offer male customers the degree of personalisation and artisanship
for which their women’s collections are known. “But also,” adds Domenico Dolce, “to differentiate the types of garments that a man can be looking for.” To wit, the collection shown in Florence featured Roman-style tunics printed with architectural renderings of Florence’s bridges, fur-trimmed robes and velvet topcoats decorated with engraved brooches and amulets. The designers staged the show at the Salone dei Cinquecento (Hall of Five Hundred), a regal, 15th-century royal council hall within Florence’s Palazza Vecchio that, on its ceiling and walls, is home to frescoes by painter Giorgio Vasari. The imposing venue added context to the collection on display, and served as inspiration for Dolce & Gabbana in the design process. “We fell in love with the majesty of [it],” explains Gabbana. “It completely bewitched us.” Dolce is similarly effusive in his impressions, and notes that Florence more broadly offers an endless well of creative ideas. “It’s an incredible city; you can just leave the house and take a walk to be amazed by its incredible beauty and history. Getting lost in the streets of the city, observing the workshops and artisans at work, the architecture, the culinary tradition…” While Dolce & Gabbana shows are typically presented to packed audiences, social distancing guidelines and travel restrictions
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Words by Mitchell Oakley Smith. Photographs by Branislav Šimončík
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Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Sartoria collection was both inspired by and dedicated to the city of Florence—a fitting tribute to the notion of made-in-Italy in a year that saw widespread lockdowns across the country. The looks, on this page and opposite, showcase the detail-rich artistry of the Italian brand’s menswear line.
limited this show to little more than 100, and chief among the guests were many of the artisans and workshop owners—a lot of them longtime family-run affairs—that contributed to the making of the collection, adding a particularly personal element to the event. For Florence mayor Dario Nardella, the heartfelt tribute was most welcomed. “This event, the first one to actually take place
since the outbreak of the Covid emergency, fills us with pride,” he says. “In the year of the inevitable and painful postponement of so many events, this is, without any doubt, one of the first steps towards a return to normality and further proof that Florence has always had a primary role in the panorama of creativity and international culture.”
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Not just for kicks
The B27 low-top sneaker in calfskin and Dior Oblique Galaxy leather with rubber sole.
The sneaker feature continues on at Dior Men with the release of an all-new style that’s part of its spring 2021 collection.
If it’s not already crystal clear, Dior Men’s artistic director is obsessed with sneakers. Kim Jones’s debut for the fashion house back in summer 2019 consisted of soft tailoring and couture-level techniques grounded almost exclusively by sneakers; and when they were not, the footwear were fitted with chunky sneaker outsoles. That collection introduced the B23, an eradefining sneaker with Dior Oblique motif in technical canvas and transparent panelling. Fast-forward to 2020 where the Dior Men fall 2020 collection involved a limited-edition Air Dior capsule collection done in collaboration with Jordan Brand. The resulting sneakers—the Air Jordan 1 OG Dior in high and low variations—were an homage to Jones’s passion for the Air Jordan 1s that he’s collected since young. Jones’s streak of introducing new sneakers is showing no signs of stopping anytime soon. Right on the heels of that phenomenally successful Air Dior collaboration, he’s expanding the house’s sneaker offerings with the B27. While the B23 is fashioned after a sleek high-top with little to no structural bells and whistles, the B27 takes on more familiar sneaker silhouettes along the lines of Jones’s personal favourites. Its lowand mid-top models are crafted in a mix of materials—a smooth calf-leather base coupled with panels of nubuck detailing that are all seamlessly edge-dyed and
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topped with colour-matched topstitching. The mid-top B27 is fitted with an ankle strap detail decorated with the house’s Dior Oblique motif. Available in three different colourways—white, grey and black— the white B27 is kept minimal with the addition of the Dior Oblique Galaxy motif reworked as leather perforations along the quarter of the sneaker. The grey and black colourways, on the other hand, stand out with contrasting Dior Oblique jacquards. The B27 is constructed with precise layering of each panel to achieve a threedimensional effect, likening the placement of the different Dior Oblique motifs to that of a window showing its inherently Dior attribute. And just in case the Dior branding isn’t already apparent, the name is inscribed along the outsole and embossed prominently on the heel, while the CD logo takes shape as a fabric tag on the tongue as well as a subtle eyelet detail. The references are clear with the B27 sneaker but visualised through the lens of a couture house. Jones has already proven that Dior’s longstanding couture house codes aren’t singular and can be amalgamated with the contemporary. The B27 sneaker is another fine example of that expression, and thankfully, not in a limited run.
D I O R’S B 2 7 S N E A K E R E X E M P L I F I E S K I M J O N E S’S UNIQUE STREETWEAR S E N S I B I L I T Y.
Words by Asri Jasman
Dior branding is inscribed along the outsole and embossed on the heel.
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As he celebrates 50 years in business—a record achievement in a year of upheaval—Sir Paul Smith remains as down-to-earth as ever. Mitchell Oakley Smith sits down with the British designer.
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“A S W E G E T
WE THINK OF ALL THE
B U T W E S H O U L D H AV E A S E N S E O F
W H Y YO U C A N ’ T,
OR
[ A S T O W H AT ] T H I N G S C A N B E .”
In a year that’s placed significant pressure on the fashion industry, where businesses are shedding staff, stores are closing and supply chains are immensely disrupted, it’s heartening to highlight success where it can be found. For Sir Paul Smith, the (yes, knighted) British fashion designer, that’s celebrating 50 years since the foundation of his namesake business. “I’ve been through lots of different recessions and all sorts of strange occurrences in England,” he reflects when we speak, by phone, in late September. “What we’re experiencing now is completely unprecedented because it’s so major, and it’s worldwide, but I think the benefit of being an independent business is that you can act in a far more humble way. For a company like ours, you can be more flexible and deal with things better.” While the designer had planned something of a worldwide tour this year to mark five decades of his brand— a trip that would have taken in Singapore, where he has a long-time partnership with Club21—he’s instead in London. And for Sir Paul, the celebration has shifted from being about the milestone of his business to the fact that, by virtue of not being bought out by larger conglomerates, he’s managed to steer the Paul Smith brand, beginning with a three-square-metre store, through recessions, periods of civil unrest and now a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. Since that first store, which only operated two days per week, opened in Nottingham in 1970, Sir Paul has grown his business into a global operation, a rather considerable achievement for a young Brit who left school at 14 to become a racing cyclist. His first foray into fashion, inspired by the pulsing art scene of 1960s London, began in tailoring, with a stint at Savile Row establishment Lincroft Kilgour. “I started the company when I was three years old,” he jokes. “Obviously I’m giving some secrets away about my age celebrating this anniversary, but honestly it was just a very humble little shop in my hometown for the first six years, and wasn’t really until the mid-1980s that it became a real, what you’d call a grown-up business.” The industry has changed significantly since Sir Paul opened his first store, but what’s remained constant is his sole ownership of his namesake business, something that he seems most proud
of in our discussion. “One of the really negative things about life today in business is that people are expected to find success too quickly, and I don’t just mean in fashion— a football manager goes to a new club and if in a year he’s not helped them reach a win, then they ask him to leave and that often costs the club millions. Everybody’s moving so fast, but it’s not necessarily what you have to do, and that’s really my main advice to young designers: you can move in a more gentle way,” he explains. “I also believe that remaining independent you can act in a far more humble way, so when you’re faced with a crisis like that we’re in now, you can deal with things better. This has been an absolute nightmare, as it has been for everybody, but the heart of our business is very downto-earth, there’s a lot of loyalty, and so we seem to be doing okay considering the circumstances. It’s almost like this is our time, if you like. I hope that’s not too egotistical to say.” That sense of humility is evident to everybody who knows Sir Paul, from the staff in his stores to the young designers he mentors, right down to the students that tour his office on a regular, preCovid basis. “Everybody’s on the same level in my head, and I have an appreciation of rock stars as well as the man that sweeps the street,” he says. “Everyone has a job that’s just as important.” Early in his career, Sir Paul stocked the “rather unusual looking” (his words) vacuums of his friend, James Dyson, in his store, alongside books, ceramics and other objects. “We sold something ridiculous, like 30-odd vacuum cleaners, in a men’s clothes shop! It was the most bizarre thing, but the vacuum was super innovative for its time, and a lot of my customers were young architects—Richard Rogers and Norman Foster—so there was this likeminded thing happening.” The designer has continued to support young talent even as he has matured, providing scholarships to final-year students at the Slade School of Fine Art at University College London. He’s particularly interested in design through the eyes of young people because of the possibilities they can imagine. “I’ve always tried to adopt a childlike approach, and that might sound a bit silly, but kids never question why you can’t do something,” he explains. “As we get older we think of all the reasons why you can’t, but we should have a sense of wonder or possibility [as to
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STYLE Sir Paul wearing the original Spaghetti shirt from the fall/winter 1994 collection which, along with other archival pieces on this page, inspired the 50th anniversary capsule collection.
A vintage rose print adorns this tie and, above, waistcoat, in the spring/summer 1989 collection.
Bomber jacket with a photo-print of an apple, shown here in the spring/summer 1990 collection.
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Looks from Paul Smith’s capsule collection of reimagined archive prints, including the vintage rose and spaghetti prints seen on the previous page.
STYLE
what] things can be.” He’s funnelled this thinking into his work far beyond fashion, designing objects in partnership with cycle clothing retailer Rapha, suits for the Manchester United football team, a redesign of a Lasonic boombox, a furniture collection for Cappellini, and a textile collection in partnership with Maharam.
“Early on, if I was designing a bike for Pinarello or a camera for Leica, I’d be a little scared because designing those things is totally different to the process of taking a pair of scissors and cutting into some fabric and modelling it on a mannequin and within, what, 45 minutes to an hour you can have the shape of a new jacket, the width of a lapel, and do all that with some pins. With something like a camera the whole process is different, and it can take years. That lateral thinking is exciting and brings a whole new point of view to the way I make clothes.” Some of the objects Sir Paul has put his name to are featured in a monograph, out this month and edited by legendary creative director Tony Chambers and published by Phaidon. For the 50th anniversary celebrations, the book is accompanied by a capsule collection of reimagined archive prints. Having pioneered the use of photographic and digital prints in his menswear of the 1980s, this series of collectible garments (for men and women) honours the tradition by reviving and reworking prints from Sir Paul’s extensive archive. Demonstrating his fascination with surrealism and pop art, the images include a display of fake spaghetti Bolognese and a shiny green apple, and appear on 2020-appropriate casual garments such as bomber jackets, trainers and tees. “Obviously with modern technology, and all of the fabrics we can use these days, we can really move the prints to a new place for today’s world,” Sir Paul explains, noting that the spaghetti print, for example, has been exploded so as to be rendered completely oversized from its original form, while others have been reduced and repeated to create repetitive motifs. “No one was really doing photographic prints onto fabrics when I started doing it, and I intentionally tried to make them quite kitsch. Oddly enough, quite a lot of other fashion designers I’ve met have said that one of the first pieces they bought was a shirt of mine with a photographic print, which is fantastic. Now, though, the fabrics have changed so much—we can print on breathable, waterproof… really anything! The possibilities are so infinite.” The through-line of Sir Paul’s design signature is still evident in the fashion collections he designs today. “From the very beginning I’ve always designed clothes that aren’t too attentionseeking or confrontational,” he says. “I mean, obviously when you do a fashion show you’re adding things that have that extra pop, but generally speaking if you go into my stores you’ll find clothes that have longevity, just very wearable clothes that have a little twist or sense of humour.” Fifty years on, where is it that you’re most likely to find Sir Paul on any given day? Pop by one of his stores and you might just strike up a conversation with the designer, who is known for regularly visiting—and sometimes spending hours in—his namesake boutiques. “You know why I do it? I do it because I love it,” he says. “There’s really no other reason, it’s just a joy to meet the customers.” He’s most often in the Mayfair store, just off Bond Street in London, and with its close proximity to the Royal Academy and several of the city’s famous hotels, the clientele tends to skew international. “I’ll spend a few hours in there of a Saturday and people from all over the world will come in—architects from Chile or graphic designers from Shanghai—and it’s just wonderful not to lose touch of what my customers want. And there’s lots more to come, too.”
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STYLE
Love-locked There’s a new creative director at Givenchy, and he’s about to go at it hard.
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Words by Asri Jasman
Matthew M Williams is on a meteoric trajectory in fashion. The newly appointed creative director of French couture house Givenchy was probably not the first name one would’ve thought of to succeed Clare Waight Keller. While the latter was known for her romantic approach to fashion—Waight Keller often drew inspiration from founder Hubert de Givenchy’s life and career, translating them into elegantly chic ready-to-wear—Williams is undoubtedly edgier with a more contemporary aesthetic that has streetwear leanings. It’s apparent in the way that Williams made a name for himself in fashion. Under the 1017 ALYX 9SM brand he founded in 2015, the roller-coaster buckle became a signature that has spawned many copies but nothing quite as memorable as the original. The appeal of the hardware made its way to the couture walls of Dior Men under Kim Jones, who Williams is close friends with, juxtaposed against Dior’s fine craftsmanship. Now that Williams is at the creative helm of a LVMH-owned couture house, he’s poised to bring that sense of disruptive energy to Givenchy. And it begins with his very own interpretation of love and romance. Williams’s exploration of a modern attitude for Givenchy began with his own life experiences, especially of his new life in Paris. A photo of the famed love locks that adorned many bridges in Paris became the starting point for a fresh perspective on new Givenchy signatures. In the house’s first campaign under Williams, these love locks were translated into metallic Givenchy-branded ones. They set the tone for the debut collection and are already set to be a key defining trait of Williams’s Givenchy. Finished in gold and taking the form of U-shaped locks (designed in a couple of securing mechanisms), the Givenchy locks come in various sizes as seen in Williams’s debut for spring/summer 2021. In the collection’s series of reworked icons—such as the many interpretations of the Antigona, from the small to the gigantic—the Givenchy locks act as bag charms. They’re affixed front and centre on bags, hooked onto zipped openings, or decorate bracelets. And while they don’t necessarily work to secure the contents of one’s belonging, they’re symbols of a new Givenchy that’s hardier, edgier but still with notions of romance. The spring/summer 2021 collection also introduced several other symbolic hardware. Chain links were ran through a Givenchy mould with the flat and angular links reshaped to form a ‘G’. They’re subtle and almost unnoticeable when linked up as oversized adornments, but especially visible as a cleverly used single belt buckle. For something a tad more obvious (but even then, not too outstanding), a series of interconnecting Gs acts as metallic strap details on accessories. Considering how Williams has made the roller-coaster buckle his, there’s little doubt that locks will soon find their link to Givenchy in the consciousness of fashion lovers. You can pretty much securely lock that prediction in.
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HE’S HE’S HE’S
GOT GOT GOT
Photographs by Paul Scala
THE THE THE
LOOK LOOK LOOK
Styling by Olivia Harding
Knit, trousers, socks and shoes, all by Prada; earring (worn throughout), by Shiitake Unlimited.
Knit, by Stefan Cooke.
Jacket and trousers, both by Fendi; boots, by Sandro.
Coat and turtleneck sweater, both by Bottega Veneta.
T-shirt, by Guy Lab; trousers, by Off-White; belt, by Dries Van Noten; boots, by Sandro.
Trousers and boots, both by Lanvin.
Knitted shirt and trousers, both by Bottega Veneta.
Coat, trousers and gloves, all by Dries Van Noten; boots, by Sandro.
Hat, by Gucci.
Jacket and trousers, both by Fendi; boots, by Sandro.
Grooming by Clarie Moore using REN Skincare. Model: Zhuo Chen/Next Models
Trousers, by Off-White; belt, by Dries Van Noten.
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In good spirits After decades of playing to its strengths, Longines bounds for new frontiers, and freshly minted CEO Matthias Breschan is exactly who should lead the way.
Change is in the air at Longines. After 32 years with former CEO Walter von Känel at the helm, the Swatch Group-owned brand closes one chapter as it opens the next, one that is to be written by Matthias Breschan, who may be new to Longines but not at all to the Swatch Group. Breschan has spent nine years as CEO of sister brand Rado, and just before that seven years at Hamilton, bringing a wealth of experience into the top job at Longines. But it’s not so much experience as rejuvenation that the brand now needs. The company he inherited from von Känel, the indefatigable Swiss army colonel-turned-luxury watch CEO, is the world’s fourth largest by revenue after Cartier, Omega and Rolex. According to LuxeConsult’s 2018 Morgan Stanley industry report, Longines generated CHF1.65 million (SGD2.45 million) that year, with the same results in 2019. This year, obviously Longines as much as all other firms within the luxury industry have taken a hit in retail sales as cities worldwide went under lockdown between March and June, along with continued political instability in Hong Kong. But things began to turn around for Longines as quickly as in July. “In the past two months we have already seen strong signs of recovery. In China, for example, we are in 2020 already above
2019,” Breschan tells Esquire Singapore via email in September. His appointment in the midst of a pandemic, however, wasn’t a corollary of the crisis wreaked by COVID-19. On the contrary it was long in the tooth, and if the pandemic did indeed play a role at all, it was only to accelerate plans that were already in place. Heading up one of the world’s most beautiful traditional brands is no cakewalk, not even for someone as qualified as Breschan, and least of all during what has been widely described as the most challenging year in the history of watchmaking. But the 46-year-old Austrian remains inspired. He enthuses, “On a broader level, I find the watchmaking universe particularly exciting. Indeed, this is the only sector I know which builds on its traditions to go further and innovate. In watchmaking, perpetuating a tradition is what makes us alive. This is particularly true for Longines: a brand with a deep historic dimension, launching technically very performant products.” Yet Breschan is keenly aware that having a long and storied history, as Longines does, isn’t equivalent to living in the past. Choosing to appear in a sporty black leather jacket rather than the usual business jacket for his CEO profile image,
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he elaborates, “At Longines, heritage and innovation are interdependent keywords. Building a brand’s universe around what makes Longines unique: this is the strategy we want to achieve in the coming years.” As the brand uses its rich history as a springboard to spur technical and aesthetical innovation, Longines has enjoyed great success among watch collectors with numerous vintage re-editions such as the Heritage Classic Tuxedo, the Heritage Classic Sector, the Avigation watches and many more. These watches may have been inspired by historical models but they’re more relevant than ever now, because of how they perpetuate the idea of heritage and craftsmanship—values which are most highly sought after by luxury consumers of today, including the much-vaunted millennials and Generation Z. Breschan agrees. “We think this is a sign that, for many people and especially for
STYLE
Words by Celine Yap
Longines Spirit is available in 40mm three-hand date and 42mm chronograph models.
younger ones, watchmaking and tradition cannot be set apart. With a Longines Heritage model on your wrist, you are not only wearing a watch, you are part of history [of watchmaking, of Longines, of this piece in particular]. This important aspect resonates for all generations.” Thus there is always a delicate balance between past and present in all Longines timepieces, including the 2020 Spirit collection named as a tribute to the pioneering spirit of exceptional men and women who’ve left an indelible mark in aviation history, and who’ve done so with a Longines by their side. Amelia Earhart, Paul-Émile Victor, Elinor Smith and
Howard Hughes are just some of these incredible individuals. Introduced in two key models, a 40mm three-hand date and a 42mm chronograph, the Longines Spirit is new but not altogether unfamiliar. Classical aesthetics for the case and dial are entrenched in traditional watchmaking, while state-ofthe-art technology on the inside places the watch firmly in the 21st century. The Longines Spirit runs on selfwinding chronometer movements Calibre L888.4 and L688.4 equipped with silicon hairsprings and extended 64- or 60-hour power reserve, and the row of five stars on the dial symbolises the unwavering
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quality and reliability of its movements. An aviation timepiece for modern-day explorers and adventurers, heroes- and heroines-to-be, the Longines Spirit is also Breschan’s favourite daily model. But he didn’t choose it for practical reasons. “A Longines watch is more than a practical object,” he shares. “It is a status symbol; it tells people who you are, what are your tastes, what’s your mood… For example, even if I’m wearing a HydroConquest, that does not make me a professional diver; it’s about displaying a sporty and dynamic image. Wearing a Longines timepiece gives a clear message: my watch has a story to tell, and so do I.”
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Dominion over sea A trilogy that brings us back to
professional deep diving.
In times as uncertain as the present, one thing that we all really miss—much more than going out in large groups, or going to the cinema, more than even travel—is certainty. Up until the pandemic hit the fan, we could so easily make plans a week, a month and even a year in advance we took everything for granted. All you need is your smart device and you’re good to go—such a great feeling. That’s got to be how professional divers in the ’60s felt when they had their Seiko watches with them underwater. Submerged at great depths for long periods of time, their job requires them to dwell in an extreme environment where the likelihood of accident, or death, is a constant threat. And there’s little one can do to mitigate the risks other than ensuring that the equipment he uses are reliable, visible (because there is little to no light at such depths), robust and accurate.
Created in 1965, Seiko’s first dive watch—a self-winding steel model water resistant to 150m—was all of that. Everyone was happy… except one guy who thought the company could do much better. Even when the watch had supported the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition from 1966 to 1969, and even when Seiko followed up in 1968 with an improved high-beat version water resistant to 300m. That same year, a professional diver from Hiroshima wrote to Seiko. He explained that most watches simply could not function at depths beyond 300m, the realm of diving bells and saturation diving. Speaking plainly, he declared there was no dive watch (in Japan) that could withstand the rigours of his daily job. Ever humble, the Seiko watchmaking team promptly answered the man’s challenge and, with the help of a specialised R&D team, succeeded in creating a 600m dive watch that looked
Words by Celine Yap
the time Seiko revolutionised
like nothing else in the world at that time. Nicknamed the Tuna for its resemblance to a tuna can, the 1975 model was the first professional diver’s watch with a titanium case. With over 20 patents registered just for the exterior, this model also debuted one of Seiko’s best-loved features today— a corrugated rubber strap. As a tribute to this beautiful chapter in Seiko’s history, the brand released a trio of re-editions within the Prospex collection, all completely faithful to the original in design, but thoughtfully updated with the latest materials and technology. Here, the watches are cased in Seiko’s proprietary Ever-Brilliant Steel which is more corrosion resistant than standard steel, and shinier too. They feature more durable sapphire crystal in place of mineral glass, and an intense gradated blue-grey dial reflecting the colour of the sea at its most profound depths.
The Prospex 1965 and 1968 re-creations are powered by the high beat 8L55 movement while the 1975 re-creation carries Calibre 8L35.
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WATCHES
WATCHES
Montblanc 1858 Geosphere with ricegrain bracelet.
Can you take me higher? With the world at its feet, Montblanc’s 1858 Geosphere
Words by Celine Yap. Photographs by Theresa Kandl
is a watch that inspires us to strive for more.
As a watchmaker, Montblanc has two distinct sides. The first is perpetually in tune with the modern urbanite, absorbing and drinking in everything we’re constantly surrounded by, staying ever relevant in our increasingly fast-paced world. The second is enrobed in history and watchmaking culture, deep-diving into the beautiful nuances of haute horlogerie but always interpreting them with a contemporary eye and giving them the Montblanc touch. Within this heritage-rich universe is where we find its most distinctive timepiece to date, the 1858 Geosphere. So named for the two domed hemispheres of the globe set onto its dial, the 1858 Geosphere is an unusual watch, to say the least. Indeed it’s been dubbed by some as one of the most original world timers ever made, a review that Montblanc would surely take as a compliment. Because right from the outset, the manufacture had every intention for the 1858 Geosphere to stand far out from the crowd. Introduced in 2018, this watch was more than just some fancy novelty; it was the Chosen One. It had to distinguish Montblanc from all other luxury watchmakers. It had to encapsulate the essence of Montblanc’s horological philosophy,
and carry the team, so to speak, as Montblanc strives to put its timepieces on the horological map. Turns out, the first step was to put a map on its watches. Those two domed sub-dials give the 1858 Geosphere a striking appearance but as delightful as they are to admire, they are not purely ornamental. Representing the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, they are geared to the watch’s hour and minute wheels, and thus rotate about themselves as the hours go by. A 24-hour ring complete with day/night chapters surrounds each hemisphere. Together with longitudinal and latitudinal lines covering the hemispheres, they tell you what time it is anywhere in the world, everywhere in the world. For your convenience, Prime Meridian has been clearly marked out and a third sub-dial at nine o’clock lets you single out and keep track of a more specific time zone. Such thoughtful, utilitarian features take us back to the 1858 collection’s point of origin—historical pocket chronographs by the legendary Minerva manufacture. Ultra-precise and highly coveted, these exceptional timepieces are rooted in sports, military
Facing page: Singaporean actor Lawrence Wong wearing the Montblanc 1858 Geosphere.
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WATCHES
Sketches of the 1858 Geosphere. Facing page: sub-dials representing Earth’s two hemispheres.
and exploration. Located in Villeret, Switzerland, Minerva is of course now a part of Montblanc’s watchmaking division, which also includes another watch production facility in Le Locle as well as the Montblanc Pelletteria in Florence, Italy. Described by Montblanc watchmaking division’s managing director, Davide Cerrato, as a goldmine for creative inspiration, the Minerva manufacture is one of the last remaining bastions of classical, authentic, time-honoured haute horlogerie, and vestiges of its signature icons can still be seen in the Montblanc watches of today. Indeed Montblanc timepieces, and by extension, Cerrato, are constantly mixing vintage with modern, technical innovation with whimsical anachronisms. In the 1858 Geosphere, you get traditional cathedral hands, the period Montblanc logo featuring its namesake mountain, a classical chemin-de-fer minutes track, and numerals reminiscent of old Minerva timekeepers. Yet look closer and you’ll see where Cerrato and team made the watch decidedly modern, particularly in the 2020 collection dressed elegantly in blue. Meant to evoke the ice-blue landscapes surrounding glaciers and snow-covered mountains, this new interpretation of the 1858 Geosphere features a rich textured dégradé blue dial that goes from darkest around the edge to lightest at the centre. This
creates a beautiful three-dimensional quality that also does a great job accentuating the two world time hemispheres. Along with a chronograph and a time-only model, this watch brings mixed materials to the fore. Brushed grade five titanium for the case meets polished stainless steel for the bezel, which is fluted and comes with a matt blue ceramic insert marked with the four cardinal points. As always, the watches offer vintage Sfumato calf and alligator leather straps made in the Pelletteria in Florence, plus a woven fabric NATO strap. But new for this year is a vintageinspired bracelet featuring big rectangular links on the outer edges hugging five rows of extra-small rounded polished links. Known as a ricegrain bracelet, what makes Montblanc’s rendition different is the surprising juxtaposition of satin-finished titanium for the big links and polished steel for the small ones. Yielding an unexpected yet pleasing effect, it is a subtle and tactile reminder of the modern-vintage dichotomy that makes Montblanc such a unique watchmaker.
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Portfolio 106
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Riz Ahmed’s biggest year yet
Big Brother is watching
The search continues
The 37-year-old actor and musician talks about his latest films and what makes him tick.
A look at the issues plaguing contact tracing applications for tackling the pandemic.
Free online encyclopaedia Wikipedia turns 20 next January. How far has it come?
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PORTFOLIO
THIS
B R I T I S H - PA K I S TA N I ACTOR, RAPPER AND ACTIVIST RIZ AHMED TA L K S A B O U T T W O O F H I S L AT E S T F I L M S WHICH EXPLORE THE THEMES OF IDENTITY A N D D I V E R S I T Y— M AT T E R S T H AT A R E
CHARMING
C L O S E T O H I S H E A R T.
MAN WORDS BY MIKE CHRISTENSEN P H OTO G R A P H S BY PAU L S CA L A STYLING BY OLIVIA HARDING
Shirt and coat, both by Lanvin.
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“ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL THINGS YOU CAN DO IN THE BIGGER FIGHT F O R R E P R E S E N TA T I O N I S T O D E F I A N T LY P R E S E N T W H O Y O U A R E . ”
PORTFOLIO
Coat, by Gucci; trousers, by Salvatore Ferragamo; shoes, by Ermenegildo Zegna.
Very is an overused superlative, but when it comes to Riz Ahmed, it’s necessary. He is a very thought-provoking human being. He is a 37-year-old British Pakistani very well versed in championing diversity and calling out the right from the wrong. He is a very thoughtful creative and society’s wellbeing hangs upon his conscience more so than most. He is also a very famous Hollywood actor and Qawwali rapper, both of awardwinning acclaim. You will recognise Ahmed from the intense roles he nails on the big screen in Four Lions, Venom, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Nightcrawler and Jason Bourne as well as his small-screen-stealing parts in The Night Of and The OA. If you haven’t, watch him in The Road to Guantanamo too. His music —born from university days as Riz MC, then that of underground Swet Shop Boys fame—has an avid following with hits like ‘Englistan’ and Cashmere respectively. More recently, his solo album The Long Goodbye—dubbed as a poignant break-up with Britain—was well received and perhaps presents the clearest indication to date of what Riz Ahmed is about. Today, on an August bank holiday Monday in London, sitting two metres away from us in a Hackney studio, Ahmed is just playing himself. His jumper, like the exposed brick behind him and the wooden bench between us, is beige—noticeably unremarkable. His beard is tittering on unkempt and his brown eyes offer a semblance of security while in his periphery. His phone, visible in the pocket of his distressed jeans, remains there, untouched for the duration of our time together. He is relaxed and nowhere else but present. We are here to discuss his two latest films, Sound of Metal and Mogul Mowgli, but currently we’re mulling over the cultural implications of being left-handed. “They say it’s linked to creativity,” muses Ahmed—which would make sense in his talented case. He proceeds to relay how his grandmother was left-handed but had her left hand tied behind her back and was forced to write with her right hand due to, we surmise, the social pressures of being left-handed and a cultural perception of bad luck dating back to biblical times. “It’s weird, isn’t it?” ponders Ahmed. “But not a completely flippant thing to bring up when talking about the evolution of our consciousness in today’s world.”
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PORTFOLIO
That evolution has been disproportionately accelerated this year and part of the shift undoubtedly involves us deconstructing many of the old ideas and preconceptions we’ve had, not only about the global system but around our own identity too (like being left-handed). So to do anything other than tackle the effects of the pandemic head on, we agree, would be doing the world a disservice. “For there to be long-term positive outcomes from this challenging year, we need to face up to everything the pandemic has exposed that isn’t right,” says Ahmed, who has lost two relatives to COVID-19 and been confined to unfamiliar territory of inactivity. “From the planet and the economy to how people still refuse to realise our wellbeing is so interconnected, and how systemic racism has been hardwired into global capitalism—one gave birth to the other,” says Ahmed, leaning in and on a roll. “It’s a matter of, are we ready to really understand the level of sacrifice we need to make collectively, and shift the way we live and the way we think? Is that possible for us overnight?” He pauses to let what he’s just said sink in, before continuing, “I am hopeful but we have a lot of unpicking to do.” Unintentionally or not, the ‘we’ stands for men more than humanity, for it is us men who have the most unpicking to do. Since the #MeToo movement gathered pace in 2017 and amid other unspeakable men in the public eye, what masculinity means has continued to be challenged, which has not gone unnoticed to Ahmed. “The archetype of masculinity has had some really positive aspects to it, the idea of taking care of the people around you, the idea of standing up for what’s right for your community, for your wolf pack in nature. But we’ve also attached a lot of really toxic ideas to masculinity,” he says. Author Liz Plank, a friend of Ahmed’s, wrote For the Love of Men: A Guide to Mindful Masculinity and in it she points out that the word masculinity has ‘mask’ at the start of it. “It’s the idea of this impenetrable, archetypal self that serves a purpose in protecting us from hurt, on an individual level, but leads to an inability for us to reach out and admit vulnerability,” says Ahmed, sounding everything like the PPE Oxford graduate that he is. “There is something really disorienting about how masculinity is being deconstructed right now. A lot of men feel like they’re being told to be two completely different things at exactly the same time, which I think is actually healthy as we need to unravel that mask of masculinity.”
Coat, by Salvatore Ferragamo.
The questioning of societal norms around masculinity is at the centre of both of Sound of Metal and Mogul Mowgli. Directed by Darius Marder, Sound of Metal details the story of Ruben, a drummer in a band with his girlfriend, Louise (Olivia Cooke), who live and tour happily in their RV. Suddenly, Ruben loses his hearing and with it his ability to pursue what he loves most: music. What follows is an exploration into how Ruben, a recovering heroin addict, comes to terms with his deafness, how the close-knit deaf community embraces him, and ultimately his life-changing decision to embark on surgery to have a double cochlear implant, which is where the film got its title. As Ruben, Ahmed dons bleached hair, a ‘Please kill me’ tattoo across his chest and an impressive wardrobe of sleeveless T-shirts to show off his ripped physique. In Mogul Mowgli, Ahmed plays Zed, a British-Pakistani rapper whose career is taking off in New York as he gets ready to embark on a huge US tour. In a similar vein to Sound of Metal, Zed is then hit for six when he’s diagnosed with a rare muscle-wasting disease. The film, which Ahmed co-produced and co-wrote with director Bassam Tariq, embarks on the emotional roller-coaster of dealing with illness with his family after years of being on the road and the difficulty of letting go of his dreams. The film feels eerily personal to Ahmed, who excels with the kind of intense performance we’ve become accustomed to from him. “They’re both about workaholics who define themselves through the external validation they get as performers, through their success and the roles that they play in the world,” says Ahmed, aware of the parallels between the two roles, let alone his own career. “When everything’s been stripped away, they’re forced to have a look at who they are underneath all those masks, underneath all that armour, underneath all those labels. It’s difficult to sit with yourself in that void, or perhaps we don’t realise we’re workaholics until we’re forced to stop and we suffer that withdrawal.” As we discuss Ahmed’s work at length, a clear priority for him becomes apparent: relatability. He wants his films to resonate with audiences and this has become more prevalent in his thinking since the world has been locked down. Ahmed isn’t asking people to identify with being a rock star or rapper like Ruben and Zed. Rather, it’s this idea of life being dominated by
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“FINDING THE BOLDNESS TO JUST PRESENT ALL THE DIFFERENT SIDES OF WHO YOU ARE IS A WAY O F S T R E T C H I N G C U LT U R E , A N D T H A T ’ S W H A T B R I N G I N G F I L M A N D M U S I C T O G E T H E R H A S A L L O W E D M E T O D O . ”
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Coat, by Gucci.
work to the point it’s an unhealthy obsession, not a job. “I think everyone can relate to that journey because it’s kind of the story of lockdown,” says Ahmed. “It’s this idea of, okay, we’re all out here chasing these fumes of success and ambition but it’s all a mirage. Once the shit hits the fan, you’re left to realise what really matters, and it’s those fundamentals of health and community and family, and who you love, rather than all that external stuff.” Ahmed stops to have a mouthful of his lunch as he’s on a tight schedule today. He continues, “In a way, both Zed and Ruben find themselves in a purgatory where they’re forced to step away from the world, step away from their old identity and face their true selves underneath all of that. That’s actually something millions of people around the world have experienced this year, so strangely these films are very much in sync emotionally with what a lot of people might have been going through recently.” Another recurring male trait both films go into compelling detail about is dealing, or not dealing, with vulnerability. Talking generally, Ahmed agrees it can be “scary to let people in because you have to show your underbelly, you have to allow yourself to be vulnerable and admit you don’t know the answer and maybe you’re scared and lost”. He believes it is why so often men would rather impose their ideas and argue their case as opposed to face up to what they’re saying and acknowledge there might be a hint of truth in it. In Mogul Mowgli, the uncomfortable truth comes in realising we’re not individuals. “Individualism is a myth, the planet and our wellbeing, it’s all interconnected,” says Ahmed firmly. “Zed doesn’t get to make his own fate; he’s inherited this condition from his dad but he’s also inherited music of his ancestors, and if he’s willing to let go he can hand on his music to a new generation. So for Zed, it’s a big realisation that we’re all just a link in a chain running a section of a relay race, but none of us are going to get to the finish line.” The more we talk to Ahmed, the more we see how proud he is of Mogul Mowgli for how it tackles the intricate reality of cultural appropriation, with Zed, a British-Pakistani rapper borrowing from a black art form. “I try to rebalance that by thinking about what I contribute to the art form from within my own culture, from Qawwali music, from Suvi traditions, from Bhangra to Bollywood, and what we can contribute to the palette of hip hop whilst recognising where it comes from,” says Ahmed—it feels like on behalf of both Zed and himself. This
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Grooming by Tara Hickman using Shiseido
is essentially where Mogul Mowgli derives from—a mongrel identity taken from a Mogul lineage and a Mowgli reality of being lost in a concrete jungle but not by your own choosing. In Sound of Metal, the uncomfortable truth is less about inheritance (or lack of ) and more about facing yourself. For Ruben, it’s the idea that he thinks he’s worthless without his work, worthless unless he’s taking care of his girlfriend, or unless he’s up on stage performing. Despite Ruben’s difficulties though, it’s important to note that deafness is never treated as a disability in the film. It’s a culture, a community, and in that sense Ruben is not deaf—rather, he is resisting the idea of being deaf. All the cast in the film are either deaf, culturally deaf or have cochlear implants, which speaks volumes about the importance of creating a film that strikes a chord with both the deaf and hearing communities. “It was incredibly humbling and I hope that people connect with the film, that people who haven’t felt seen feel seen, and that people who haven’t seen some of those things before see things they haven’t,” says Ahmed, visibly emotional. “I just want to say that it was one of the most enriching and powerful experiences of my life, getting to spend every day for up to a year within the deaf community learning to sign, making good friends and understanding a new way of being.”
Knit, by Jacquemus.
not a political stand; it’s asking for room to breathe, asking to be seen, asking to be heard. It’s quite basic human needs that you’re expressing. You don’t necessarily pick these causes, they pick you. “I remember [American novelist] Toni Morrison saying, ‘Racism is a serious distraction. It’s stopping me from writing other things. It takes up my bandwidth and brain space.’ I thought that was interesting about the Black Lives Movement this summer because it was essentially about saying, ‘Hey, this isn’t a problem for black people to solve, it’s for people who aren’t black to solve.’ “The black population globally has been othered like no other, since the advent of colonialism to this very day, so it’s right that we stand in solidarity with the people who are experiencing the sharpest end of the blade of this system of injustice, don’t you think?” When Ahmed talks, especially when he’s impassioned, he has this habit of softening what he says with a cursory question, like this, at the end of the sentence. The effect is his articulated thoughts linger longer in your mind. Now at an impressive juncture in his career, Ahmed admits he’s been exploring how he can bring together his music and his film work. Sound of Metal and Mogul Mowgli are obvious proof of this. “Music was always like, ‘Okay, I get to do me, I get to speak really personally from the heart, from a personal experience.’ And acting was like, ‘I’ll step into the story you want to tell.’ Now I’m finding I want to apply the same barrier to entry that I placed for myself in music to film, which is to create from a more personal place. We can often compartmentalise these different experiences in our heads, but bringing them all together reminds me of how similar it all is,” he says, empowered by his own actions. “I’m realising one of the most powerful things you can do in the bigger fight for representation is to defiantly present who you are, because trying to represent other people sets a heavy burden and can also be a bit patronising. You’re not going to represent three million brown people [in the UK], so finding the boldness to just present all the different sides of who you are is a way of stretching culture, and that’s what bringing film and music together has allowed me to do.” Like we said, Riz Ahmed; ever present and here to present; ever thought-provoking and always thoughtful.
Spend any amount of time with Riz Ahmed and you quickly realise the intensity he generates within every role he plays is manifested naturally from his own desire to aptly represent that character. But Ahmed himself is not an intense person to be around. He has a calm reserve, he’s well-mannered and he thinks before he speaks. It explains why he is at the peak of multiple industries, and why his opinion is widely coveted by the likes of the UK Government and British Vogue, where he was recently appointed a contributing editor. Despite the power his thoughts can generate and the spokesperson he’s often seen as, he’s quick to rebut the idea of being a political activist of sorts. “If you happen to live inside a certain body, in a certain place, in a certain time, you don’t really have a choice in speaking out,” he says. “The very existence of a gay person, or a trans person, or a Muslim person, or an African-American person is
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Neil before God Esquire Singapore asks Neil Humphreys to explore his visceral response to our monthly theme. In November, he channels his rage in dealing with sadistic trolls and explains why his mafia family takes care of them.
The online headline could hardly be misconstrued. Why Neil Humphreys must die. That was the actual headline back in 2006 and may well still exist in the omnipresence of cyberspace. (I haven’t Googled my own name since a CNA reader once threatened to beat me up outside my Sengkang hawker centre, which was a bit of a surprise. Nothing exciting ever happens at my Sengkang hawker centre.) But the blogger’s death threat deserved praise. Media students are encouraged to present unambiguous claims in the argument-forming process and the ‘who, what, why, when’ and so on were clearly stated. The succinct headline could almost be a rallying cry at Hong Lim Park. Who do we want? Neil Humphreys! What do we want? Death! Why must he die? Read the blog! As simplistic trolling goes, this early example was flawless. Trolls are essentially overeager anglers, forever dropping their cyanide-coated bait into the swamp of social media in the hope that their target bites. Or maybe this particular troll really did want me dead. It’s hard to tell. I was annoying a lot of people in 2006. The wise response to such online abuse is to make a trite comment about not feeding trolls, as they misinterpret the replies as recognition. They want to be seen, if only by harming strangers in the dark, a psychological trait often called ‘negative social potency’. Trolls deliberately push buttons. They get a sadistic kick from hurting or enraging others, so the only educated, middle-class response is to ignore them until they get bored and move on to the next victim. But I wasn’t raised in educated, middle-class circles. My upbringing was one of ceaseless bullying for anyone considered too poor or too bright for his own good.
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I was a poor, bright kid in an East London council estate. Back then, trolls lived under rickety bridges and terrified goats. Bullies beat up poor, bright kids and stole their lunch money. Terminology changes. The behaviour doesn’t. So I struggle with my anger management when it comes to online bullies and those that form the Dark Triad (a term that usually encompasses psychopaths, narcissists and Machiavellians) or even the Dark Tetrad (a newer term that includes sadism: i.e. folks that derive pleasure from inflicting pain. Cyberbullying is their happy place.) When I was a kid, the odious relationship between bully and bullied was at least simplified. A bully demanded the victim’s lunch money. Victim resisted, in the vague hope of buying a packet of everlasting gobstoppers. Bully kicked the victim in the nuts and the transaction was swiftly concluded. It was wrong, but the exchanges were consistent. (And many years later, the bully contacted the victim on social media and asked for a signed copy of the victim’s latest book. The bully got blocked. Karma can be a beautiful thing.) But psychologists might be shaking their heads at this juncture. Apart from being petty, my online engagement with an old bully was counterproductive. In our Orwellian existence of misinformation, interaction is futile. Never engage. The logic is undoubtedly sound. Last year, British politicians and celebrities supported a campaign to stop the spread of abuse online. Their advice was as obvious as it was rational. Do not feed the trolls. The trouble is I hear the advice, but see an 11-yearold boy being beaten up for his council estate ‘crimes’ of being both clever and poor. Bullies bother me. Silence feels too much like weary acceptance. Saying nothing almost ratifies the abuse. If trolls are the only voices being heard, do they not win by default?
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Bullies bother me. Silence feels too much like weary acceptance. Saying nothing almost ratifies the abuse. If trolls are the only voices being heard, do they not win by default?
Certainly, my family feels the same way. Against my wishes, my sister replied to the “Why Neil Humphreys must die” blogger. To be honest, she went a bit Connie Corleone on him, the younger sibling taking care of family business. I’m surprised he didn’t wake up with a horse’s head on his laptop. I almost felt sorry for him. After all, trolls just want to sew a little social discord, make a little hate and inflict distress upon others. Why can’t they be left alone to rail against the perceived threats to their racial and gender privileges? And that really is the point, isn’t it? Should trolls be left alone? If victims challenge the gaslighting, the trolls get what they want. If the abuse or misinformation is allowed to spread, unchecked, the trolls also get what they want. They either provoke a response, which satisfies their narcissism. Or they watch as the abuse festers, which takes care of the sadism. Can there even be an appropriate response to a troll? Self-censorship is already the bane of our existence. Before responding to anything online, we subconsciously run through the rubric of ‘woke’ guidelines first. Quick guesses at the faceless troll’s race, gender, age, nationality, sexuality, religion and political persuasion are often required before a witty riposte of any kind can be sent.
Recently, a follower took offence at the foul language on my Facebook page. The alleged foul language was the word ‘f***’, written as presented, with an ‘f’ and three asterisks. And I’d written the word as part of a made-up quote—given to a monkey. I’d posted a video involving long-tailed macaques and imagined what they were saying. It was as daft as it was benign. And yet, a word, not spelled out and given to a talking monkey, offended someone. Apart from the obvious drawbacks of engaging trolls, there are also the unintended consequences of dealing with literal-minded types in an increasingly polarised, neurotic landscape. So I block them. It’s not an ideal situation. Ideally, I’d like to invite those that have wished harm upon myself—and even worse, my family—to an open public space and pitifully re-enact the series finale of Cobra Kai. But that’s obviously out of the question. There are very few open public spaces left in Singapore. But I don’t want to rage against my own inertia either. At the very least, blocking bullies satisfies my Dostoyevsky obsession with crime and punishment. A troll’s action demands a reaction. Every time. So I block them. And if that doesn’t work, I send in my sister.
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Underneath a Sky of Red Chapter 10: Lightly roasted and paired with a Merlot WORDS BY SUFFIAN HAKIM
D AV I D , L E S TA R I A N D S A R A H W O N G stepped out into the sun, dressed in clean, fresh white linen. They had just exited their luxury prefab into the evening moon and followed the gorgeous fairy lights on the boardwalk. The smell of roasted meats and wine filled the air. Karen Lee was the first to greet them as they stepped onto the seaside deck where a dinner buffet was being served. “Did you rest well?” she had asked David, but her gaze kept veering towards Sarah. David and his wife expressed their positive, enthusiastic answers, but Karen seemed rather taken by Sarah. Sarah smiled uneasily at the prime minister. “Sarah, was it?” The girl nodded. “Speak up!” David said heartily, happily scanning the tranquil… civility before him. “You’re not mute!” “Yes, ma’am,” Sarah said to the floor. “So exotic,” the prime minister said of the girl. “Oh, we love the Chilays here. So familiar but also with that tinge of spice. Just perfect.” “Chilays?” asked Lestari. Karen laughed her politician’s laugh. “Oh dear me, I completely forgot you spent so long out there, you look like one of us already!
It’s just a term we use around here for those delightful children of Chinese and Malay parentage.” Sarah did not know if she was supposed to feel pride or shame at being a ‘Chilay’. Lestari seized on this and asked Karen, “Madam Prime Minister, our son is still out there. With your permission, we’d like to go back out there and find him.” Karen held one final, lingering, almost lustful look at the other woman’s daughter before fixing her gaze firmly at Lestari. “Don’t you worry,” she said with the practised confidence of a career politician. “We will send a patrol out to look for your son first thing tomorrow. If he’s anything like the rest of you, we’ll find him.” One of the prime minister’s aides approached them and whispered into her ear. Karen then excused herself and disappeared into the night. The Wongs, in the meantime, helped themselves to an array of food, from fruits to sweet pastries to skewered seafood. David parked himself for a while at the durian station. Everybody upon the deck was dressed in white. There were some exceptions: Karen, for example, wore a crimson sash around her waist. A few others wore black belts. David smirked, remembering the martial arts classes he used to attend as a child.
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Illustration by Penn Ey, Chee
“I remember Holland/where I used to get high/yellow flowers under the bluest sky Now it’s sunk and we mourn/the Dutch people who never got to be born It’s only good in Singapore/but how long is it gonna be good for?” – ‘I Remember Netherlands’ by Flexman J from the album The End Is Nigh, released March 2036
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“Up to your nonsense again,” David said dismissively. “Why should we leave?” “Because we’re coming to save the children.” “The children?” There was a knock on the door. “Hide it,” Lestari whispered to Sarah, passing her daughter the vis-comm. Sarah sprinted back into the room just as the door opened to reveal Karen. After checking in on their wellbeing, Karen invited them to join her for dinner. David agreed on behalf of his family while Lestari was still looking for a way to diplomatically tell her no, so she could go back to speaking to Adam. “It’s an omakase dinner,” Karen added, sweetening the deal only for David. “Sarah, we’re going for dinner!” Lestari called. “I’m not hungry!” she shouted from her room. “Teenagers huh?” quipped the prime minister. Karen led them away from the boardwalk, towards a restaurant built from the remains of what was once the world-renowned resort Capella. “I always treat our newcomers on their second night here,” she explained. “I think it’s important for me to get to know you, so our project to rebuild Singapore can begin on a foundation of trust and teamwork.” “Of course, Madam Prime Minister,” Lestari said politely. The restaurant was elegant. There were eight rows of long teak tables. The customers sat on one end, while their chef prepared food at the other. Furnishings of gold and white adorned the place. White silk draped from its ceiling. Most importantly, David noted, the meat smelled divine. The three headed to their table at the end of the restaurant. Several of the customers would speak to Karen or shake her hand as she passed. She seemed to be a popular figure here. When they finally took their seats, their chef, a Japanese man, called, “Bring in the meat!” David clapped his hand excitedly. He turned towards a door where the sounds of sizzling could be heard. Beside him, Karen said, “We have a very refined palate here. I hope you can partake in one of our unique delicacies.” The door David was staring at opened. A cart was pushed through. On it, skewered like a kebab, was clearly a human leg, only roasted to crisp perfection. The man pushing the cart did it with the nonchalance of a baker wielding his bread. Another cart pushed through. This one was much larger. When it came into view, David and Lestari did all they could to stifle their screams. It was a child there, naked and badly maimed, still alive, held up by two skewers that ran through the stump at his thigh and out his armless shoulder. The contraption included a vertical flame grill that was not yet on. The boy was too weak to do anything, but his eyes looked helplessly around the room. They carted the child to the prime minister’s table. While Lestari and David felt their insides knot with fear and disgust, Karen clapped her hands happily. “Oh, this one’s a BurmeseIndian boy!” she cooed. “They’re delicious when lightly roasted and paired with a Merlot!”
The Wongs mingled. The denizens of Sentosa were a friendly bunch. Most were obviously very educated and/or very rich before the war (and after as well, it would appear). David mentioned seeing former prime minister Harvey Foo in his fort among the detritus of Bukit Timah, and none of them reacted with surprise. “Crazy old hoot, isn’t he?” one said, causing the group to break into canned laughter. When they retired to their spacious three-room prefab later that evening, David was in a good mood. His wife and daughter, however, seemed apprehensive. “I don’t like it here,” Lestari said to her husband as the three of them collapsed into the plushest sofa they’ve ever sat on. “What? You’re crazy! We have everything!” “They’re acting like people aren’t suffering and killing one another out there! I asked one woman what she thought of the mainland, and all she said was, ‘The food has to come from somewhere.’ These people are not right in the head!” David, not wanting to start a fight and already looking forward to his next durian, took a bath, retired to bed and slept deeply.
Lestari was first to wake up the following morning, to find a man in grey overalls in their living room. “Hello?” she greeted, friendly but cautious. The man went over to her, his manner urgent. “I’m a friend of Adam’s.” Lestari opened her mouth, but he raised a hand to stop her. “Please, they can’t know I’m here. I work at the power station.” He then took her hands and placed a thick, long, metallic black object in them. It was light and cool to the touch. “What’s this?” “A vis-comm. Sixth Star communication device. Don’t let the others know you have it.” The man looked around, his tone becoming even more urgent he was practically hissing. “These people are not who they claim to be. They’re dangerous.” “Who are you?” Lestari asked the man, but he had already fled into the blazing morning sun. The vis-comm came to life when the sun began to set, with a familiar voice straining through its speakers. “Mama? Papa? Sarah? Are you there?” “Adam? Adam!” Lestari was beside herself. Sarah sprinted to her mum and gazed lovingly into her brother’s face. “Oh my god—Adam! We’ve missed you so much.” “I’ve missed you too,” his voice crackled over the vis-comm. “Mama… Sarah… Where’s papa?” “Here,” came the gruff call. David lumbered his way to the kitchen. “I’m here. How are you?” “I’m good. Listen, I joined a community called The Sixth Star. These are good people and they’re looking to rebuild. They have been rebuilding. The south-east coastal stretch has a few thriving communities,” said Adam. “Well, we’ve joined a community too,” David said, surprising himself with the haughtiness in his voice. Lestari gave him a withered look. “I’ve heard. I’m glad you’ve reached Sentosa, but you need to leave.”
Tune in to the next issue for another chapter of Underneath a Sky of Red.
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by mike christensen
TRACK & TRACE As the world bands together to contain the spread of the pandemic, some have reported success stories of using contact tracing apps. But should we be tracking the apps that trace us?
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eight months have passed since the COVID-19 pandemic grabbed the world’s attention and still the state of play is largely unknown, wracked in uncertainty. Curves have been flattened, R numbers lowered, and for many people face masks have become a mandatory style accessory. But the coronavirus still looms large, as contagious as it is unprejudiced to its victims. The word unprecedented has become synonymous with the situation, overworked and exhausted much like doctors and medical staff the world over. Talks of vaccines, cures and solutions have been bandied around with a growing urgency by countless global statesmen jostling for power and any positive press ever since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global state of emergency on 31 January. On the whole, the world has been powerless to do much more than batten down the hatches and hold its collective breath as the cumulative death toll approaches one million. On 3 April, WHO released another statement saying the pandemic had triggered an unprecedented demand for digital health technology solutions. “We need your commitment, so we can turn ideas into reality... to put this pandemic to rest,” said WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Amid lockdowns, mortalities and subsequent economic downfalls, mankind had struggled to contain this pandemic on its own, so it’s no surprise in 2020 that technology should play a key part to snuff out the danger. But few could have predicted it would be Big Brother-esque track and trace applications that would bring us the brightest glimmer of hope. Indeed, by no means without their controversies, currently 65 countries have apps either in operation or under development. Before passing any judgement, it’s important to understand how the apps work. On a general level, the idea is that they track who you’ve come into two-metre contact with, using GPS or a digital handshake between phones via Bluetooth. If a user tests positive for COVID-19, they should alert the app, then anyone who has been near them in recent days is notified that they may have been exposed. Though technically there are four types of technology powering these apps, the biggest debate centres around whether it’s a centralised versus decentralised system. Early adapters like Switzerland, Germany and Ireland had the premonitions to choose the privacy-oriented and decentralised Application Programming Interface (API) that Apple and Google developed together, which allowed iOS and Android phones to ‘communicate’ with each other via Bluetooth and also uses a complex public key cryptography infrastructure. All personal data is stored on devices rather than government databases and has built-in privacy protections. On top of that, the tech giants have forbidden governments to make their apps compulsory to ease any concerns about surveillance.
Some have chosen DP-3T (decentralised privacy-preserving proximity tracing) which forms the basis of Apple and Google’s API, but on its own is relatively primitive. The individual’s phone contact logs are only stored locally, so no central authority can know who has been exposed, meaning it is up to the individual to manually process information. On the other side of the privacy spectrum, the use of basic location and GPS in more dictatorial states like Iran and Qatar has widely been condemned as this method essentially just tracks people by their phone’s movements with limited cybersecurity in play. In May, Qatar’s app sparked an investigation by Amnesty International after hackers somehow gained access to the app’s highly sensitive personal information. Singapore’s TraceTogether app operates using centralised promixity tracking, also via Bluetooth. According to Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, the minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative, the country chose this technology because the Apple and Google app didn’t allow health authorities to identify close contacts, thus it was deemed “less effective”. Without doubt, Apple and Google combining forces was a power play that forced many governments’ hand in the initial planning. Countries that chose centralised systems immediately ran the risk of their apps not being as compatible, or function as intuitively. Although there have been reports of phone batteries being drained and a breakdown in communication between iOS and Android on centralised systems, to date both have witnessed success. In the developed world, from the stories of promise in Germany, Singapore and Ireland to the calamity cases of the UK and Japan, by early August Reuters claimed the apps had achieved some early successes. It is almost impossible to know the total number of the world’s population using an app of this nature, but a report by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology claimed that as of 30 July more than 178 million people are known to have downloaded an app of this nature. To date, that is seven times the amount of people who have tested positive for the virus. In the race to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the technologically advanced Singapore was the world’s first to launch a track and trace app. TraceTogether was available for
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Singaporeans to download on 20 March and now has 2.4 million people using it. This equates to 40 percent of the population and is one of the highest adoption rates in the world. That’s not to say it has all been plain sailing. Like for many countries, the main concerns have been around cybersecurity of the app, especially as the government opted for a centralised system. A month after launching the app, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong addressed the nation on 21 April and acknowledged that “[While] there will be some privacy concerns, we will have to weigh these against the benefits of being able to exit from Singapore’s lockdown measures and stay open safely.” His government also reiterated that a user’s data is only accessed by authorised personnel from the Ministry of Health if a user tests positive for COVID-19, and all data was also stored in an encrypted format that would be indecipherable to unauthorised users. A recent study by the Data Protection Excellence Centre found that the TraceTogether app is the best at assuring privacy to users compared to other similar apps in Southeast Asia. As of 6 September, there have been 27 fatalities in Singapore. Since TraceTogether was launched, the app has undergone numerous updates to improve its effectiveness. Of particular note, it has introduced a TraceTogether token, which “was developed to cover the older, less tech-savvy segments of the population who are digitally excluded,” says a spokesperson for the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group. It functions similarly to the app by using Bluetooth signals to record other nearby TraceTogether devices. There is no GPS or cellular connectivity and proximity data is stored in the token, only to be extracted if a user contracts COVID-19. “The initial batch of tokens was offered to 10,000 seniors who are physically frail, living alone and/or lack family support,” the spokesperson adds, with a wider distribution of the tokens to the public now occurring. While Lee’s speech back in April was designed to allay a nation’s privacy fears, his words now echo a growing sentiment that a collective spirit and effort is required from humankind to club together and tackle this pandemic, no matter what the perceived threat to our personal information. Indeed, as the threat of second spikes of the virus begins to crop up around the world while the world waits for a vaccine to be approved, it’s become apparent that for the time being the primary way COVID-19 can be sufficiently managed is if everyone complies with social distancing rules, wears a mask and engages in track and trace systems. Australia, which has long had a reputation as being something of a nanny state, launched its COVIDSafe app on 27 April.
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison compared downloading it to the ease of applying sunscreen, adding that “more app downloads would bring about a more liberated economy and society”. It was duly downloaded by about a quarter of the population, with many Australians considering it a duty of care to actively participate with the app. Morrison’s liberal party did, though, come under a certain amount of criticism surrounding clarity of how exactly COVIDSafe worked, as many people misunderstood what the app was going to do and what information would remain private. One user Esquire Singapore contacted said they were hoping the app would “give me an alert every time someone with Covid came within 100m so that I could know to avoid them, a bit like a computer game”. Some of the uncertainty around its data privacy was dispelled once a cybersecurity review by the Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre confirmed that the personal information collected for COVIDSafe was limited, with one Australian we spoke to concluding that “in the end, it came down to social responsibility. I’m willing to wear a mask to protect myself and others, so why wouldn’t I be willing to download an app? It felt like such an easy step to potentially help out.” Furthermore, in August, New South Wales (NSW) unveiled plans to trial a COVIDSafe Check-in feature alongside the COVIDSafe app—a move similar to Singapore’s SafeEntry digital check-in system—which was rolled out for use in April. Essentially, the feature uses a QR check-in code to register who goes to which busy establishments, workplaces and potential hotspots. For Australia, specifically NSW, tackling COVID-19 with a digital-first approach has come at an interesting time. “The digital Driver’s License that NSW recently launched got high saturation and authenticates ID,” says Victor Dominello, the NSW minister for customer service. This means for the check-in feature it fixes the problem of confirming a person’s authenticity because the licence is proof of ID, the QR code negates the need for paperwork and health authorities can execute contract tracing immediately. It only keeps data for 28 days and data isn’t shipped overseas or used by any marketing companies, which allays any privacy fears and makes the new check-in process a seamless one. And Dominello is quick to highlight the different perspective when weighing up a digital approach versus an old-school, analog method of tracking people’s movements. “Don’t forget that digital gives you that level of transparency and accountability that you just don’t get in a paper world,” he says. “In the analog world because we can’t see it, we think it’s all good, but it’s quite the opposite.” Melbourne has been by far the worst-hit city in Australia, with the vast majority of the 694 deaths (as of 10 September) attributed
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to the state of Victoria. Dr Kieran Kennedy, a medical doctor and psychiatry resident in Melbourne, has seen and felt firsthand how deadly this virus can be. He has made it his prerogative to ensure he is doing as much to help protect himself and others inside and outside the hospital walls, so for him endorsing Australia’s digital first approach is a no-brainer. “If joining the app and providing some of my data means I might help collectively protect someone’s grandmother and medically vulnerable child from contracting COVID-19 and passing away, then I’m all for it,” says Kennedy. He goes on to say he feels comfortable that the information he is providing isn’t going to be used for nefarious purposes in the future. “Coming through the pandemic will take all of us coming together. That might mean there’s an increased sense of government monitoring and contact tracing, but when it comes to how these viruses spread and the epidemiology behind how we might track and stop them, it’s vital we come together.” Kennedy is also keen to specify the long-term importance of tracing contacts on an individual level to limit spread and provide more detailed analysis of where and how the spread of COVID-19 is occurring. “This will particularly be the case in densely populated areas, when restrictions in lockdown and movement between areas start to eventually relax,” he continues. Rhetorics around nefarious aims behind government’s guidelines and restrictions have been riding really high on social media, with misinformation and conspiracy theories sparking concern among people all over the world. And though a high proportion of the media coverage about track and trace apps has focused on their supposed ineffectiveness or said misinformation, in truth it is still too early to draw any conclusions on the technologies. As Kennedy alludes to, the majority of countries that have rolled out apps coincided with lockdowns and other suppression methods so it has made some efforts look like failures because the turnaround in results hasn’t been noteworthy. But Peter Lorenz, who has been working on Germany’s widely praised Corona-Warn-App, thinks people should remember we didn’t have this the first time around so it’s bound to make a big difference if
a second wave were to come. He is very much of the belief the apps will prove more effective as part of an overall approach to battling the disease, and it’s hard to argue against this. Dominello adds, “What the world has seen is that Covid demands a response that is both quick and agile. Digital is the only medium that can deliver this and real-time information gives you a laser-like focus. When I think about countries leading the way, I’m thinking South Korea, Taiwan, I’m thinking about Singapore.” The negativity towards track and trace apps has come to highlight the short-termist thinking of those critical about their potential impact. COVID-19 has taught the world that it is time to adapt to a digital way of thinking, and to accept that the potential for progress outweighs the risks. The important thing to focus on is not what they haven’t done yet, rather what they can do to fight a virus like COVID-19 in the future. With the infrastructure already in place in many countries and updates to the technology ongoing, the world is certainly in a stronger place than it was eight months ago. Reports like the fact 44 percent of Singaporeans are already “tired of rules to limit COVID-19” won’t disappear overnight because mankind, as a race, doesn’t like change. But, crucially, it is totally capable of adapting. The public, businesses and public services are working together to reach as high a proportion as possible of smartphone users, hence why the relative successes shouldn’t be undermined. As the world has seen with the 65 apps, there’s plenty of technology out there, the challenge is now to get more people to adopt it. “It’s getting that change-culture in place, with the appropriate oversight around security, trust, privacy, transparency and ethics,” says Dominello. “If you don’t have these in place it erodes trust, and if you erode trust then you will stymie adoption.” Broadly speaking, the emergence of track and trace apps has seen governments and tech giants club together for a common goal—to prevent the spread of COVID-19. So ultimately, mass adoption is now where the real power and potential of the apps lie. As Prof Christophe Fraser, a key researcher at Oxford University, estimates, even with lower numbers, the apps will create a reduction in the number of coronavirus cases and deaths. But most significant of all, he says, “The epidemic can be stopped if contact tracing is sufficiently fast, sufficiently efficient and happens at scale.”
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“Foxes have dens and birds have nests…,” so goes the verse. In Singapore, homeownership is available to all but the policies to purchase a government flat might not be favourable to some. For one such community, some members take it upon themselves to educate others to work the odds in their favour. Words by Wayne Cheong
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C A S E S T U DY 1 :
Illustrations by Penn Ey, Chee
It was the 1960s. Reeling from World War II, Singapore was saddled with a housing shortage due to low construction rate and population boom. Slums and squatter settlements mushroomed; sanitation left much to be desired; personal space became a pipe dream. After the People’s Action Party won the election in 1959, the colonial-era Singapore Improvement Trust was replaced with the Housing and Development Board (HDB) to resettle residents into low-cost state-built housings—housing crisis averted. All land is finite and to cope with an increasing population, flats are constructed—built upwards instead of spread out. Today, Singaporeans or permanent residents (PR) married to Singaporeans are eligible to buy new public housing flats (related PRs are also eligible for purchase of HDB resale flats). With HDB housing schemes, grants and financial aid as well as the use of Central Provident Fund (CPF)—a compulsory savings and pension plan for Singaporeans and PRs primarily to fund their retirement, healthcare and housing needs—Singaporeans can purchase their own flats. To date, Singapore has one of the world’s highest homeownership rates at 91 percent with up to 80 percent of Singaporeans living in HDB flats. One of the most popular acquisition avenues of new flats is the Build-To-Order (BTO) programme. It’s a flat allocation system whereby eligible buyers can apply for flats at specific sites launched. If there is at least 70 percent of interested applicants, the tender for construction will be called. Waiting period for the flats to be built is between three and four years. Each flat comes with a 99-year lease; this ensures that after 99 years, the flat returns to the state, whereby the land is redeveloped and new flats are planted over it for the future generation to buy their own BTO flats. The circle of public property in Singapore. The BTO system favours families and couples. While property cost in Singapore is high, the cost is buffered by grants, subsidies and CPF. The popularity of BTO flats among young couples has led to this joke that the Singaporean marriage proposal isn’t “will you marry me?” but rather, “shall we apply for a BTO flat?” There will be people who will not get the joke. These are either people with a sense of humour or people like William Tan.
With one of the world’s highest life expectancies, Singapore also had the lowest fertility rate according to a 2017 survey. One of the ways to bolster population growth is enticing people to marry and have kids. For couples, there is the BTO priority allocation scheme and housing grants that offset property cost; for first-timer married couples expecting their first child, there is the Parenthood Priority Scheme. But these advantages are only beneficial for heterosexual couples. Under Singapore law, marriage is valid when it is between two people of different sexes. This excludes William Tan, who is gay and in a long-term relationship. Tan eventually bought his first HDB flat from the resale market at 35 (the age that single Singaporeans can purchase a flat from the HDB). “I realised that there are things that I could have done better,” Tan says. Like many of his peers, he had no prior knowledge when it comes to property buying. “HDB has this minimum occupation period that you can’t sell your flat for the first five years of purchase. So, when I do sell my place and purchase a resale flat at 41, bank loans become tougher to secure. Housing loans become more limited.” Years later, when Tan attained his realty licence, he wondered if there was a forum where the LGBTQ+ community could trade housing information and real estate advice. “I’d always felt that there were certain LGBTQ+ issues that aren’t normally addressed.” While local realtors are proficient in getting the property that you want, if they are not well versed in LGBTQ+ issues, the services they offer is often bespoke towards a straight person’s lifestyle.
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“Because I’m gay, I’m able to meet an LGBTQ+ person’s needs: are you buying the property alone or with your partner? If you’re buying this alone, is there an intention for you and your partner to move in together in the future? These and other questions will further tailor something to your lifestyle.” In his free time, Tan wrote a few blog posts and published them on his website and social media channels. He even formed a closed Facebook group for LGBTQ+ people who are interested in buying property. And when that swell of interest started to spill over, Tan felt that there needed to be a proper platform where his community can find information so he decided to form Prident. The name is a portmanteau of ‘prudence”, being the careful planning of things and ‘pride’, which references LGBTQ+ culture. “It’s to outline the LGBTQ+ community to ‘think prudently, so [that] you can live proudly’,” Tan beams. Before Prident, there were attempts to aid the LGBTQ+ community in matters of property purchase. Last year, there was a co-hosted session between 99.co, a property search portal, and Prout, a LGBTQ+ meet-up and support platform, called Meet Your Next: Housemate. Aimed at educating the LGBTQ+ community on basic housing and rental processes, the event also provided a space for the community to network. Around that same time, 99.co also replaced the ‘All races welcome’ tag with a ‘Diversity friendly’ tag. The expansion calls for owners and agents to welcome buyers and renters regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, age, gender identity, sexual orientation or physical ability. While this addition as a search option is seen as a progressive first step, Tan is doubtful about the accuracy of the listings. “Diversity friendly is such a broad term that it’s not clear if the landlord is okay with all the categories of diversity or just some of it,” he says. “There is no proper QC for the Diversity friendly listings. Sometimes the listings are uploaded by the agents who misuse the option to get more eyeballs and clicks.” (A quick jaunt around 99.co’s webpage and the Diversity friendly option isn’t immediately available on the site’s landing page. You’ll have to click on ‘More filters’ that has a pull-down menu and select the Diversity friendly option.)
While other LGBTQ+ platforms are focused on mental and emotional wellbeing, Prident is a collective of professionals offering free advice on “wider financial matters such as financial planning, insurance, real estate and investments”. Along with articles posted on its site, there are workshops and future fundraising events that will benefit the LGBTQ+ community. At this point of writing, Prident’s roster consists of Tan, who deals with realty; Corin Seah and Kelvyn Choo, both financial service advisers. There are plans to include other professionals to consult on issues such as life insurance, financial planning and medical. “Everything is connected,” Choo says. “We are hoping that the more experts that come in, the stronger the support system. “Prident is inundated with calls from interested parties who wanted to be involved, but there is a fear that some of them just want to get leads. “You get a sense from some of them that they are just after the pink dollar. We need people who want to give back to the community. We want to educate the market.” The vetting process isn’t long or tedious. Those interested in partnering with Prident will fill out an online application form. Questions include whether they can write or they have conducted seminars before. They would need to divulge their social media handles. “We’ll dig into their history to see if they had done community work before,” Choo says. “You can’t fake this sort of thing.”
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C A S E S T U DY 2 :
Leonard and Mike are a Singaporean gay couple. They got married in San Francisco and now live in a lovely Bedok flat that Leonard purchased under his name. One day, Leonard suffered a stroke and is now in a coma. If Mike was the opposite sex, the flat would have gone to him, but because their union isn’t recognised in Singapore, it goes to Leonard’s immediate family. What are Mike’s options? The above scenario is based on a real-life account that Tan was mired in. Thankfully, Leonard has recovered. According to Tan, what they should have done is draw up a lasting power of attorney in the event of a calamity. Had Leonard remained in a coma and there isn’t a will or lasting power of attorney to be found, the property will go to his parents. If they are not around, the flat will go to his siblings. If they too are not around, ownership goes to the nephews and nieces or uncles and aunts. This Interstate Succession Act will exhaust all branches of your family tree before it ultimately goes to the government. There is nothing on the HDB website that caters to a gay couple with regards to buying a flat. So, barring one’s sexual orientation, an LGBTQ+ individual is classified as single. As a single, one could procure an HDB flat via three schemes: Public, Single Singapore Citizen Scheme or Joint Singles Scheme (JSS). Quite simply, other than the HDB rules and stipulations, you’ll need to fulfil certain criteria to the main takeaways. If you want to buy a flat to live with your parents or siblings, Public Scheme is the one for you. For Single Singapore Citizen Scheme, you’ll need to be at least 35, unmarried or divorced. Lastly, JSS allows up to four single persons to buy a flexi-flat together; this is the most popular scheme that LGBTQ+ couples would opt for. Assuming the LGBTQ+ couple purchased a flat through JSS, what happens when, a year in, one of them passed on? While that means the other party inherits the other portion of the flat, he or she also takes on the remaining debt. “That’s where financial planning enters,” Tan says. “It is this sort of situations that tell me that my community needs to know what they can qualify for.”
“A lot of people will talk about the party lifestyles of the LGBTQ+ community,” Choo says. “It is a big part of our culture, where they need to spend to maintain some sort of image in the scene.” It could also be that if you’re gay and you’re told that same-sex marriage is not possible in Singapore, the future becomes limited. “When you’re boxed in by these hindrances and constraints, a gay person doesn’t really think about marriage. They would rather focus on the now.” When they do plan, it would usually start two years into their first job. Choo’s advice is to focus on retirement and illness coverage. “If I’m single, I’ve only myself to look after,” he says. (To be fair, straight people also do not think about the sensitivities of property buying either. A good majority of people—gay and straight—don’t consider saving for the future only until the inevitability looms over them.) Choo has a simple desire for Prident. “We just want to make sure that the content is good and that when people approach us, they won’t have that fear that we’re trying to push a product.” An institution is only as strong as the people behind it. Choo wants to connect with other communities to see how Prident can work with them. It’s a two-prong approach where Prident needs to establish an identity in the community, and yet put on a visible and positive image. Prident will expand and flourish. Maybe in the future, there will be no need for Prident.
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William Tan.
Kelvyn Choo.
Corin Seah.
The team from Prident.
BY THE NUMBERS
82 years ago… Section 377A, which descended from the Labouchere Amendment, was introduced into the Singapore Penal Code that criminalises sex between consenting male adults. 47 years ago… American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual.
11 years ago… Pink Dot Sg was formed in support of inclusiveness, diversity and the freedom to love. 5 years ago… Supreme Court of the United States first required all 50 states to recognise the marriages of same-sex couples on the same terms and conditions as the marriages of opposite-sex couples.
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2 years ago… India’s Supreme Court decriminalised Section 377. It was only the start of a 99-year lease of a property that you had to jump through hoops for. That period of ownership, a blink in an eternity—how long will it be before everybody gets a fair shake at the promise of a home?
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what we know and can agree on—wikipedia at 20 by simon garfield
everyone else, some using Google Translate in hilarious ways, all battling for some sort of supremacy in a multiverse of ultimate truth—that doesn’t bode well. And yet that’s what Wikipedia is, an errant information community that continues to create something of brilliance with almost every keystroke. Since its creation in January 2001, Wikipedia has grown into the world’s largest online reference work, attracting more than 500 million page views per day and a billion unique visitors each month (who make 5.6 billion monthly visits in total and hang around for an average of four minutes). It offers more than 53 million articles in 300 languages, including—at 5pm on 8 September 2020—6,155,156 articles in English that have been subject to 972,684,694 edits. It is the world’s seventh mostvisited site, sitting behind Google, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the Chinese search engine Baidu. More than any other float in this parade, Wikipedia settles arguments and ignites debate. It sends you down rabbit holes so fathomless that you emerge gasping, astonished at what other people know and consider important. Its offshoots help you with your homework (Wikiversity), your wedding speeches (Wikiquote), your journals and presentations (Wikimedia Commons), your online sightseeing and travel adventures (Wikivoyage), and your spelling (Wiktionary). The rest of it just helps you with your life, and the placing of it within contexts both modern and historical. It combines every high-brow piece of technicality with every lowbrow piece of junkery. It has the track length of the fourth song on the third album by a band you’ve never heard of and never will, a list of the 74 churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust in the English Midlands, the complete text of Darwin’s treatise The Various Contrivances by which Orchids are Fertilised by Insects, and a biography of the mathematics teacher Riyaz Ahmad Naikoo (also known as Zubair), who was one of the top 10 most wanted rebels in the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir. But obscurity never overwhelms relevance. I watched in awe as its COVID-19 pages expanded in depth and sober analysis from the first cases at the end of last year to its global peak seven months later, as it diligently modified facts, trends and theories as they emerged. There was nowhere else with such a calm and comprehensive global approach, and nowhere else where the common reader could go for a comparative overview of every other deadly virus in our richly plague-ridden past. As of the end July, Wikimedia claimed that more than 5,000 COVID-19-related articles in 175 languages had been created by a collaboration of more than 67,000 editors. You could make a strong case for suggesting that Wikipedia is the most valuable single site online, and the most eloquent and enduring representative of the internet as a force for good. It has
E A C H S U M M E R , T H E S T A F F O F W I K I P E D I A get together with their most fanatical contributors for a five-day conference called Wikimania, a sort of Wrestlemania for the brainy and pedantic. There is soul-searching, navel-gazing, pulse-taking and crystal-balling, not forgetting punch-pulling and verbal flame-throwing. Popular issues for discussion include: inclusion, deletion, citation, representation, notability, harassment of editors, empowerment of users, and the open source software operating system Ubuntu. Astonishingly, perhaps, the event sells out fast. Last year the venue was Stockholm, two years ago Cape Town, and next year—celebrating Wikipedia’s 20th birthday —it will be Bangkok. (Or, next year, pandemic permitting, it will be Bangkok, the capital and most populous city of Thailand, known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep, occupying 605.7 square metres in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand with a population of over eight million, 12.6 percent of the country’s population as a whole, the city designated as a ‘tropical savanna’ in the Köppen climate classification, the capital tracing its roots to a small trading post during the Ayutthaya Kingdom in the 15th century.) Like the textual behemoth that inspired it, Wikimania goes high and low. You turn up from all corners of the globe, get the bright yellow T-shirt, and within minutes you’re embedded in a break-out group called Wiki Loves Butterfly, or Serbia Loves Wikipedians in Residence, or Let’s Completely Change How Templates Work!. The conference also holds board meetings, and pledges to do better next year on issues of gender and racial diversity. It even announces its Wikimedian of the Year, a title held (at the time of writing) by Emna Mizouni, a Tunisian human rights activist praised for her work with Wiki Loves Monuments and WikiArabia. And then, as the sky darkens, and should you have the stomach for such things, you may join the gatekeepers of the world’s knowledge as they indulge in tequila-based Wikishots and talk about their ‘passion projects’. You would be surprised if these didn’t include making snow globes, real-life Quidditch, ‘being awesome’ and jail-friendly Power Yoga, at the very least. Wikipedia is a universe unto itself, its ambition unequalled and its scale unprecedented. Its 300 staff and contractors are fond of a single phrase: “Thank God our little enterprise works in practice, because it could never work in theory”. In theory, Wikipedia should be a disaster. The work of anarchists, trainspotters, creators, vandals, world experts, world amateurs, super-grammarians, super-creeps, supremacists and lone-wolf information crackpots, many hundreds of thousands of each from all the world’s nations, every one vaguely suspicious of
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Illustrations by Adam Simpson
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indeed completely changed how templates work. It strives for democracy in its performance and neutrality in its effect. It is ad-free, pop-up free, cookie-free, and free. It confounds human venality and appeals to our better nature. It certainly confounds its co-founder, Jimmy Wales. Wales set up Wikipedia to supplement an earlier online open-source encyclopaedia he had founded with Larry Sanger the year before named Nupedia. The problem with Nupedia was its concept: its articles were written by experts and peer-reviewed, which rendered it much too slow for mass appeal in the digital world. Wiki means quick in Hawaiian, and Wikipedia joined the growing number of online communal wikis already available that could be compiled and edited swiftly by anyone with a basic knowledge of digital etiquette. Everyone who contributed to Wikipedia was a volunteer, and from the start the site was governed by its contributors.
“Although I have often described myself as a ‘pathological optimist’,” Wales told me via email, “I don’t think I really understood the depth of the impact that we would have. I certainly didn’t foresee how some very early decisions against collecting, sharing, and selling data would end up setting us fundamentally apart from the sector of the internet that people are increasingly uneasy with.” The tech-lash against Facebook and Twitter has left Wikipedia largely unscathed. Or rather, Wikipedia is saddled with many of the same sort of criticisms and shortcomings it has always had. Wales calls these “difficult questions about behaviour”. “We are humans, and people do get into arguments, and people who ‘aren’t here to build an encyclopaedia’ show up to push an agenda, or to troll or harass. And dealing with those cases requires a great deal of calm and sensible judgment. It requires building robust institutions and mechanisms. If we were to deal with some
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“IN 500 YEARS, WIKIPEDIA WILL BE REMEMBERED AND [IF WE DO OUR JOB WELL] STILL BE INFORMING THE PUBLIC. I DOUBT MANY OF OUR COMMERCIAL COLLEAGUE S WILL EVEN B E R E M E M B E R E D, M U C H L E S S S T I L L H E R E .” - CO-FOUNDER
J I M M Y WA L E S
problems in the community by allowing the Wikimedia Foundation to become like other internet institutions (Twitter comes to mind), where policing the site for bad behaviour is taken out of the hands of the community, we’d end up like Twitter—unscalable, out of control, a cesspool.” I asked Wales what he thought of his own Wikipedia entry, which includes his nickname (Jimbo), his background in the financial sector, and his involvement in an online portal that specialised in adult content. “It’s as right as the media about me is right,” he replied. “I don’t think it mentions that I’m a passionate chef, which is a pity. But I think that’s because it’s never been covered in the press. You can mention it—that’ll set the world to rights.” Wales is now chair emeritus of the Wikimedia Foundation. When I asked him to describe his present role in the empire, he made an unusual comparison. “I think UK audiences will understand this better than other audiences. I view my role as being very much like the modern monarch of the UK: no real power, but the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and the right to warn.” I wondered whether he regretted not being a billionaire like all the other pioneers on that Top 10 chart: did he never regret not monetising Wikipedia in some way? (“Just a bit of advertising,” I suggested. “Think of what good all that money could do…”) He replied, “No, I’m content with where we are. In 500 years, Wikipedia will be remembered and [if we do our job well in setting things up with a long-term perspective for safety] still be informing the public. I doubt many of our commercial colleagues will even be remembered, much less still here.” WR ITI N G I N TH E N E W YO R K R E VI E W O F B O O KS
in 2008, novelist Nicholson Baker wrote a cute summation of Wikipedia’s early methodology. “It was like a giant community leaf-raking project in which everyone was called a groundskeeper.
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Some brought very fancy professional metal rakes, or even back-mounted leaf-blowing systems, and some were just kids thrashing away with the sides of their feet or stuffing handfuls in the pockets of their sweatshirts, but all the leaves they brought to the pile were appreciated. And the pile grew and everyone jumped up and down in it having a wonderful time.” But there was a problem. Not long into adolescence, “selfpromoted leaf-pile guards appeared, doubters and deprecators who would look askance at your proffered handful and shake their heads, saying that your leaves were too crumpled or too slimy or too common, throwing them to the side”. What is and isn’t valued knowledge, and how best to present it, has been the recurring headache of every encyclopaedia editor in history. Add in the digital world’s perfectionists, elitists, sticklers and bullies, and you have a recipe for chaos. So certain policies and guidelines evolved to keep the leaf pile both useful and valuable. While its free-form, open-access ethos still holds—anyone can contribute new articles and edit old ones—the appearance of new material on the site is subject to approval from 1,000-plus experienced ‘administrators’. You cannot, for example, just go in and write that your teacher or boss is a feeble-minded moron, however accurate that may be, and expect it to be hyperlinked to the site’s many other feeble-minded morons, or the history of feeble-mindedness, or the Ancient Greek derivation of the word moron. If you have some sort of published evidence, though, that’s a different matter; very early on, Wikipedia decided that it would not publish original material on its site, relying instead on information published elsewhere. Neutrality and reliability are what keeps it readable and vital. The funny thing is, Wikipedia used to be considered a joke. When, around 2005, an editor emailed to say that he was putting together an entry on my work and would I be prepared to supply some additional information, I ignored him. Wikipedia was unreliable and prone to so much misinformation that I didn’t think it was worth being a part of. Although many early elements were sound, large portions resembled a six-year-old’s birthday party. There are many mischievous highlights: one of the most elegant was an early article on the poodle, which remained on the site for some time and stated simply, “A dog by which all others are measured.” Nicholson Baker found incisive early entries on the Pop-Tart: “Pop-Tarts is German for Little Iced Pastry O’ Germany… George Washington invented them…”. Popular flavours included “frosted strawberry, frosted brown sugar cinnamon, and semen”. T H E FA C T T H AT W I K I P E D I A I S A N O N - P R O F I T
that doesn’t track its readers (and thus doesn’t sell on readers’ information) must necessarily raise the question of how it keeps going: it has a lot of servers and engineers to maintain, as well as its staff and headquarters in San Francisco, and it has a legacy-maintaining charitable foundation to run. Part of the answer lies in an email I received recently from Katherine Maher, Wikimedia Foundation’s executive director. The subject was ‘Simon—this is a little awkward’, and the message, which came with a photograph of the smiling sender, was an appeal for a donation.
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Two years before, I had given Wikipedia the huge sum of £2 (SGD3.50) to carry on its sterling work, and now it wanted more: “98 percent of our readers don’t give,” Maher wrote. “They simply look the other way. And without more one-time donors, we need to turn to you, our past donors, in the hope that you’ll show up again for Wikipedia, as you so generously have in the past.” If I didn’t give again, she feared, Wikipedia’s integrity was at stake. “You’re the reason we exist. The fate of Wikipedia rests in your hands and we wouldn’t have it any other way.” I ignored it. So a month later, Katherine Maher wrote to me again. There was a new photo of her, still smiling, but she had a darker message: the email was titled ‘We’ve had enough’. It explained how every year Wikipedia has had to resist the pressure of accepting advertising or selling on information or establishing a paywall, and every year they’ve been proud to resist. But “we’re not salespeople,” Maher wrote. “We’re librarians, archivists and information junkies. We rely on our readers to become our donors, and it’s worked for 18 years.” Katherine Maher now wanted another £2, although there were also click buttons to give £20, £35 or £50. Obviously these weren’t personal emails—hundreds of thousands of others received the same messages—but I thought I’d make it personal by going to see her. Our meeting in the flesh was truncated to meetings on Zoom, which meant I got to watch her eat scrambled eggs and her partner’s sourdough in her San Francisco kitchen. Maher is 37. Her name rhymes with car. She says she began editing Wikipedia as a university student in 2004—an article about the Middle East which she doesn’t think survived on the site for very long. She joined the Wikimedia Foundation in 2014 as chief communications officer after a career in communications technology at Unicef and a digital rights company. Soon after becoming executive director in 2016, she encountered a problem about herself: the freshly created Wikipedia page detailing her appointment and early career was marked for deletion. “I wasn’t notable enough,” she told me. “The thinking was, ‘just because she runs the foundation doesn’t mean that she’s actually done anything of great note in the world’.” She says she loved this utterly compliant nature of the beast she was now running, although she wondered whether the debate also had a gendered element to it. The article stayed. Our chat necessarily led to a discussion of what, after four years in the job, she would now regard as the most notable achievements of her tenure. She spoke in terms of an ongoing battle. “While Wikipedia is not a site on the internet that has really obvious issues of harassment… it is not an environment that is particularly welcoming to new people. It is not an environment that is particularly welcoming to women. It is not particularly welcoming to minorities or marginalised communities.” She says the aggressive approach she’s taken towards those editors she sees as destructive has occasionally “blown up in my face”, not least her decision last year to ban an editor she saw as “prolific, but not productive… somebody who was driving other editors away through their behaviour”. She has upset others by her insistence that the world in which Wikipedia will operate in the future will demand large additional and alternative
sources of revenue. Machine learning and artificial intelligence will require new tools that are computationally expensive. The site, though efficient, may need a complete aesthetic rethink (it does look increasingly 20th century). And the expansion into emerging communities in Africa and elsewhere will also require new resources. When we spoke again a few weeks later, our conversation turned philosophical. “I don’t think Wikipedia represents truth,” she began. “I think it represents what we know or can agree on at any point in time. This doesn’t mean that it’s inaccurate, it just means that the concept of truth has sort of a different resonance. When I think about what knowledge is... what Wikipedia offers is context. And that is what differentiates it from similar data or original research, not that that isn’t vital to us.” Original research is what news organisations push out every single day. Maher mentions a YouGov poll from 2014 that found Wikipedia to be more trusted in the UK than the BBC. “I think for a lot of companies, they would say, ‘That’s wonderful, we beat our competitors.’ My response was, ‘First, the BBC is not a competitor. And second, that’s not wonderful at all.’ If there’s a trust deficit with the sources that we rely on then ultimately that deficit will catch up with us as well. We require that the ecosystem be trusted.” Maher calls herself an inclusionist, arguing against those who wish to keep Wikipedia on a high intellectual footing, reasoning that anything that involves a learning journey is beneficial. “If we don’t have your Bollywood star, or pop singer, then you’ll come to us and you’ll bounce right off, because you don’t see anything that’s relevant to your life.” She says the people who are most excited to meet her are the ones who use Wikipedia every day; but the ones who give her frosty looks are those who have the highest public profile. She recalls sitting next to two distinguished female scientists at a recent conference. “I introduced myself, and very often in a context like that it’s, ‘Oh, another woman who’s going to be a speaker and that’s fantastic.’ So I say I run the foundation that runs Wikipedia. And the first thing I heard was, ‘we don’t like our articles’. One of the things they reflected on was, ‘Look, my body of work has changed dramatically since the article was first written, and it hasn’t kept up to date with my newest thinking in the area.’ And that’s a very legitimate concern.” But at least they had an entry, which was not the case with Canadian scientist Donna Strickland. On 2 October 2018, Strickland was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for her work on chirped pulse amplification, something that may have a direct bearing on the future of eye surgery and other medical laser applications. But good luck trying to find more information on her on Wikipedia the day after the announcement. Her absence became a cause célèbre. There had been an entry prepared about her, but it was rejected on the grounds of insufficient references from secondary sources. That is to say, because she was only famous in the world of physics, and had not previously been written about in the popular media, she then couldn’t be written about in the world’s most popular encyclopaedia. No one was keener to point out the anomaly than Maher. Soon after Strickland’s entry finally appeared, Maher blogged that as of the beginning of October 2019, only 17.82 percent of
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Wikipedia’s biographies were about women. She is proud that women gather frequently for day-long editathons to improve this figure, and flags up the site’s recent focus on improving and expanding articles concerning women’s health and the history of the black diaspora. This is not merely a worthy ambition; it’s regarded as crucial to Wikipedia’s global standing. Maher has a neat phrase for another cultural imbalance: “Too many articles on battleships, not enough on poetry.” Conversely, Maher says there is a “whole industry” based upon changing existing Wikipedia profiles from people who don’t like what’s written about them. It’s considered “blackhat editing”, and the community really gets upset by it. “We encourage people not to do it, because usually you’ll get caught, and when you do get caught whitewashing your own Wikipedia page it’s not a good look. We always tell elected officials this.” Recently, even Boris Johnson seemed to grasp the difficulty. In June, referring to the destruction of statues of dishonoured men, he columnised thus: “If we start purging the record and removing the images of all but those whose attitudes conform to our own, we are engaged in a great lie, a distortion of our history, like some public figure furtively trying to make themselves look better by editing their own Wikipedia entry.” Am I the only one to read this and think he was writing with bitter experience? Between our two chats, Maher had attended a Zoom board meeting that sounded like every other institutional board meeting in history: performance reviews, financial shortfalls, expansion or the lack of it. But then there were more specific issues: how to celebrate Wikipedia’s 20th anniversary in January, and continuing discussions about the impact of small screens on people’s ability to absorb content and make edits. Does this inevitably mean less deep reading, or does it vastly increase accessibility? Both. Between March and May 2020, 43 percent of users accessed Wikipedia on a computer, and 57 percent on a phone. Wikipedia’s mobile app is a fascinating thing in itself, not least its information randomiser. This is an addictive lucky dip through millions of its pages: you click on a dice symbol and you get a nice way to spend a minute or a day. When I last tried it at the end of June it threw up the following, in the following order: Peters’s wrinkle-lipped bat; roads in Northern Ireland; Eddie Izzard’s Live at the Ambassadors video; proper palmar digital nerves of median nerve (nerves in the palm of your hand); Vincenz Fettmilch (early 17th-century gingerbread maker); Herman Myhrberg (Swedish footballer who played in 1912 Olympics); list of Guangzhou Metro stations; Hand Cut (1983 album by Bucks Fizz); methyl isothiocyanate (chemical compound responsible for tears); and Lusty Lady (defunct peep show establishment in Seattle which once boasted a marquee wishing passers-by “Happy Spanksgiving”).
britannica.com attracted 124.7 million; though tiny in comparison, the figure is far larger than the number of people who ever consulted its print edition. In print, Encyclopedia Britannica was hefty, daunting and seemingly definitive, the revered pinnacle of human knowledge. Every school and public library had one, and if its zealous salesmen had anything to do with it, every conscientious home with ambitious parents had a set too (along with its supplementary yearbooks; just when you thought you had paid your last monthly instalment, along came one of those). The cost of its 32-volume, five-yard-long set in 2012 was £1,200. Its Zen-like spines (Excretion—Geometry, Geomorphic— Immunity, Metaphysics—Norway) perfectly defined its purpose: here was everything under the sun, and every time you picked it up you were reminded of not only how much you didn’t know, but also how much you would never understand. I grew up within that classic generation: Britannica was a worthy and burdensome presence in our living room, the benevolent, wide-bodied uncle who was rarely consulted but refused to leave. Like all printed encyclopaedias, Britannica had obsolescence built in. Humanity just wouldn’t sit still: four days after the copyrighting of the first printing of the 14th edition in September 1929, the US stock market began its perilous fall, heralding the cataclysmic global depression. A subsequent printing of the same edition appeared just too late to mention the election to the chancellorship of Adolf Hitler. Another edition was published in the same month as Germany invaded Poland. And the edition printed on thin Indian onion paper in July 1945 narrowly managed to miss the dropping of the first atomic bombs.
T H E E N C Y C L O P A E D I A I S A C O N C E P T dating back to the ancient Greeks. Many of Wikipedia’s earliest entries derived from an out-of-copyright edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica, the institution that began in 1768 and produced its last physical set in 2012. Britannica still thrives as a learning resource online, where its in-depth ‘premium’ knowledge (ad-free and written largely by scholars) costs £65 a year. Compared to the 16.83 billion visits made to Wikipedia between March and May 2020,
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You probably don’t need to be told that future mint editions would arrive on the doorsteps of homes, schools and libraries just weeks before Sputnik and just days before the first moon landing. Some would call this extremely bad luck, others might posit a jinx. To Britannica’s credit, the editor of the 1973 edition acknowledged these shortcomings with a gallant sigh: the world had a habit of advancing faster than the printing press. Wikipedia does not have this problem. Someone notable dies and the cause of their passing is on the site before the funeral. Its ‘live’ coverage of COVID-19 involved tens of thousands of edits in the first month. Innocent mistakes and deliberate mischief tend to get caught and corrected on Wikipedia with impressive speed these days, either by bots or humans. Jimmy Wales told me that while misjudgements are still made, and verbal terrorism occasionally prevails, the site is very far from the anarchy some people assume. You edit in something ‘hilarious’ about a famous person or important topic and it is unlikely ever to appear on screen. Even obscure corruptions don’t hang around for very long. Not so Britannica, of course. For all its stellar contributors —Hitchcock on film production, Houdini on conjuring, and Einstein on space-time (pretty chewy reading that one, no matter how he simplified it for the dummkopf )—there were many occasions when its less well-known experts just got things plain wrong, or plain weird, and occasionally grimly racist, particularly in its earliest editions, and the evidence is there for ever more. How best to treat tuberculosis, for example? “The most sovereign remedy... is to get on horseback everyday.” Childhood teething could, the encyclopaedia assured, be treated by the placing of leeches beneath the ears (as with medical textbooks of the period, leeches cured everything). The ninth edition, published volume-by-volume between 1875 and 1889, advised its readers on how to become a vampire (get a cat to jump over your corpse), while 30 years later its 11th edition found werewolves among ‘the people of Banana (Congo)’. I looked up ‘people of Banana’ on Wikipedia and found this: “The page ‘People of Banana’ does not exist. You can ask for it to be created, but consider checking the search results below to see whether the topic is already covered.” The search results included banana, banana republic, banana leaf, banana fish, banana ketchup, speech banana, Banana Yoshimoto and everyone’s favourite, banana bread. So I asked for ‘People of Banana’ to be created. I prepared my entry: “‘The People of Banana’ is said to be one location where you may find werewolves.” I cited “Entry on Werewolves, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition (1910–’11), as referenced in Britannica’s special 250th anniversary collector’s edition, 2018”. I didn’t hold out much hope. My submission joined 2,160 other pending submissions, 114 of which had been waiting five weeks for a Wikipedia administrator to approve or dismiss them (other recent submissions included items whose titles I didn’t understand: Dog Puller, IBTS Greenhouse and Bug Music). My administrator would probably dismiss my People of Banana entry on the grounds it did not pass muster. “There is a very good chance that the topic is not notable and will never be accepted as an article,” the guidelines inform me. Other reasons why my entry could be rejected were divided into 34 sub-categories, including “declined as copyright violations”, “declined as a non-notable film”,
“declined as jokes”, “declined as not written in a neutral point of view” and—the ultimate—“declined as not suitable for Wikipedia”. But then, with almost all hopes dashed, I found that I had mis-searched, and a place called Banana in the Democratic Republic of Congo did indeed have its own entry, albeit a tiny one. There was no mention of the people of Banana specifically, and none of werewolves, but I learned that Banana was a very small seaport situated in Banana Creek, an inlet about 1km wide on the north bank of the Congo River’s mouth, separated from the ocean by a spit of land 3km long and 100–400m wide. The article, like all articles on Wikipedia, was accompanied by its own History page, a behind-the-scenes catalogue of the edits that had made the page accurate and compliant, and attuned to house style. Often, these ‘making of’ comments are more fascinating than the article they scrutinise. In this case, a Danish contributor called Morten Blaabjerg—one of relatively few to use a real name (other editors on this Banana page plumped for Warofdreams, Prince Hubris and Tabletop)—added the ‘Henry’ to ‘Henry Morton Stanley’ (Stanley used Banana as a starting point for an expedition in 1879). That edit was made in July 2005. The page had received relatively few edits since its inception the year before, although for a short while in 2007 there was a nice little hoo-ha over whether Banana was a seaport or a township. As far as Blaabjerg goes, we learn that he now lives in Odense, but was born in 1973 in the small Danish town of Strib, near Middelfart. W I K I P E D I A I S A V E R Y L I V E T H I N G . That is its beauty; it is humanity in all its forms. The project will not be finished until we are all finished, or until something destroys Wikipedia’s servers in San Francisco, Virginia, Texas, Amsterdam and Singapore, and all its mirror sites globally, and then possibly the entire internet and our ability to rebuild it. The people concerned with Wikipedia’s security take their roles reassuringly seriously, for they realise how much may be at stake if they do not. When it began 20 years ago, its existence could not possibly have seemed so important. Its custodians are also rightly concerned with its future, and the future of how we obtain and comprehend information as we evolve. Katherine Maher talks of “the integration of structured information with unstructured knowledge”, which will allow us to enter a new, concentrated world of learning. “I always think of Wikipedia not as an encyclopaedia. It’s an information ecosystem. And so when you actually have that connected and linked together, it doesn’t just offer possibilities for Wikipedia as we think of it. It also means that we can connect all of those concepts out to any other information ecosystem that exists and links out into the net,” she says. “The Library of Congress links out to the great museums of the world and links out to movie studios. That to me is the vision of the future. It’s how you actually build and knit together the world’s knowledge. “You know, with Wikipedia, it’s merely a protocol. It’s a reference point, a place that people know has been doing this work already. How do you expand that outwards so that others can join in, getting all that knowledge together around the globe? So there’s just always going to be more to do.”
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THE ESQUIRE EDITORIAL BOARD ENDORSES…
Taking dramatically to your bed
Photograph by Annie Spratt/Unsplash
The situation: too many emails, too many cooks, it’s too hot, it’s too cold, everybody’s being a pain. Your phone won’t stop dinging at you, and everyone needs a solution right this second. We know what you want to do: tell your co-workers to eat sh*t and let your family know you’re stepping out for a pack of cigarettes—then buy a one-way ticket to Uruguay and change your name. Here’s what you should do: take a deep breath; walk away from the computer, the dishes, the fight, whatever; head toward the bed. Make like a Victorian lady experiencing an episode, or Don Draper at the end of a long drunken day, and flop down dramatically. Face-first if it’s a true emergency. Issue the sigh of a man whose earthly troubles cannot possibly be put into words, and refuse to move for a little while. Feel the freedom to moan in an ever so slightly girlie fashion. Take off your pants if that’s your pleasure. Or keep them on. We don’t care. Whining is not off the table. (Very little is off the table.) Sleep, don’t sleep, whatever. The most important element is the bed and that you take to it with some theatrics. We promise that when you come back, the world will feel just a bit easier. Taking dramatically to your bed is a retreat for mind, body and spirit that will, if used correctly, keep you from ever having to buy that ticket to Uruguay. Deploy this trick when you feel yourself about to snap at someone you love who has done nothing wrong, when you can’t decide between another night of pasta or chicken breasts, when someone is being a jerk. It’s both salubrious and a de-escalation tactic. It stops a fight as quickly as a punch, but there are no black eyes. You may even find yourself surprised by how much people get it when you tell them you just need a few minutes to lie down. In fact, we hate to tell you this, since you’re the most important person at your workplace, and no one in your immediate family or friend group could possibly function without your constant presence, but nobody is going to miss you for a half hour. Taking dramatically to one’s bed was once a luxury only for Victorian ladies, but no more; it can be yours. Just say you need a minute. No one but you and us will know that you’ve taken dramatically to your bed.
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