Propaganda Design Director Chaiyuth Plypeth

You’re likely to recognise their products — they’re just that memorable — even if you don’t know the name at first. Established in 1994 by a group of four friends, who worked in the world of advertising at the time, Propaganda is now available in more than 40 countries around the world.

Their Mr.P character is a cheeky icon who pokes his tongue out at the stuffiness and seriousness of high-end design, popping up on products from lamps to chopsticks, umbrellas to clothes pins. Other product ranges include the Tooth collection, a series of clever stackable glass designs (such as the great spider set below), and their sad, marooned polar bear collection.

Some of the many forms the iconic Mr.P takes | Images courtesy Propaganda Online

Design Director Chaiyuth Plypeth, internationally recognised for his witty approach to design, tells us that his home of Bangkok is a constant inspiration and his pick for the most creative city in Asia.

1. Where do you live?
I live in the suburb area of Bangkok, away from the workplace around 25 km. Last two years, the economy was in crisis and the gas price was very high. I sold my car and decided to use taxi service believing that it helped us save the environment although it didn’t help me save money at all.

2. What makes your city creative?
Bangkok is the city that opened to all new cultures. Visitors to Bangkok would find a good match between life in the old day and modern day, Low tech and high tech. Our new generation is also influenced by many cultures especially Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. It allows me to always pop up the unlimited ideas.

3. Which city, in your opinion, is the most creative city in East Asia?
Seriously, I think Bangkok is the most creative city in East Asia because it is full of diversity of people with different nationality. You could see their art of living and their creativity through their lifestyle especially the way they dress up or the way they cook. They could mix and match very perfectly and make it become unique. For cooking, they put the art in it. Every step, every detail is neat and has meaning. You need to come and feel it for yourself.

Check out the Creative Asia series to find out what inspires creative leaders in the UK and across East Asia. What makes your city cre­at­ive? Answer these three ques­tions to join the conversation!

Spider glass set by Propaganda | Image courtesy Propaganda Online

green corridors such as park, gardens and linked backyards provide an import ecological link, connecting urban habitats to their rural counterparts | Photo by Jess Scully

Says Mark Goddard, lead author of the paper and PhD student in the Faculty of Biological Sciences at the University of Leeds,  “Gardens don’t exist in isolation, they link together to form interconnected habitat networks that should be planned and managed in conjunction with parks, nature reserves and the surrounding countryside”.

A considered approach can help create the kind of semi-unified environment needed to support the growth and development of an ecosystem. The green corridors created by backyard biodiversity provide an import ecological link, connecting urban habitats to their rural counterpart.

According to Goddard, “One person may plant a tree or create a pond in their own back garden, but the survival of many of the mobile species that live in towns and cities, such as birds and mammals, is dependent on the provision of larger areas of habitat.”

Extensive urban sprawl in many Asian and Australian cities has resulted in wildlife increasingly seeking sanctum in inner-city parks, gardens and backyards. As a result these spaces play an increasingly important role in the creation of inner-city biodiversity.

Limited space and free time has forced local Filipino maids to picnic on footpaths on their one day off each month | Image courtesy of Reclaim Land

Is there room to transform a city into community in this kind of over-regulated environment?

The creators of Reclaim Land, think it is possible. Asking the question, ‘Whose city is it anyway?’ the multifaceted website provides a forum for examination and discussion. It explores the ways governments and communities can benefit from the relaxing of regulation and how the greater population can benefit from providing the individual with greater freedom and control over the spaces that make up their city.

With a tagline like ‘The fight for space in Singapore’, co-creators and journalism graduates, Justin Zhuang, Wong Shu Yun, Kang Li and Serene Cheong cannot be accused of mincing words. Reclaim Land, which first began as a final-year university project in 2008, has a two-pronged approach to providing solutions to the challenges created by concentrated development within a limited city space — in Singapore’s case, 700km square. The first prong centres on drawing attention to the individual or, ‘ordinary people who have created their own places despite living in the city-state of Singapore’. The second presents opinions and comments from academics willing to offer their perspectives and suggest solutions.

The Stories page features a number of personal tales. In Home Maid Picnics, Zhuang talks to a group of local Filipino maids who have refused to be pushed out of their monthly picnic spot on Orchard Road — despite the fact that in 2007 the ION Orchard Shopping Centre was constructed in place of the park — and now find themselves dinning atop concrete pathways between buildings.

Images courtesy of Reclaim Land

In Balik Kampung, Cheong visits with a group of elderly people farming a section of vacant land, known to them as Kampung Sungei Pandan, that sits adjacent to an abandoned railway track owned by KTM Malayan Railway — the article outlines the factors threatening the existence of the makeshift agricultural plot and the benefits of allowing residents to utilise the space.

In the Q&A section of Reclaim Land urban sociologist, Nanyang Technological University, Ooi Giok Ling explores the notion that Singapore is quickly becoming a liveable city, not a loveable one: discussing the issues that exist with the current planning system such as a lack of forums for voicing public opinion, and tabling solutions such as allowing for more diversity in city planning. Urban sociologist at the National University of Singapore, Professor Ho Kong Chong, discusses the benefits of civil spaces, their propensity to facilitate social capital and the transition of a space to a place.

Reclaim Land raises some important questions about the potential loss of tradition and culture in the face of placelessness and globalisation and the importance of flexibility in regulation and local area government structure. The site provides a thoughtful exploration of the conditions that shape the future of Singapore and show us the reality of life in this city-state from a new perspective.

What are some of the challenges created by urban development in your city and what solutions are available? Share you story with others, or show us your city through a blog, video, photo series or in another way to be in the running to win a trip to the London Festival of Architecture 2010.

Image courtsey of The Big Green Idea

Winner Jeanette Martin, working with Mullumbimby Community Garden’s Integrated Green Waste Management Facility, is helping to play her part in the global effort to reduce carbon emissions by recycling organic matter to create biochar (charcoal which captures and stores carbon) and compost soil.

How do you plan to use the Big Green Idea grant? How will the prize money be helpful?

The Big Green Idea will assist in funding the construction of the biochar kiln and large composting rollers. It will pay for materials and the skilled inputs necessary to build a kiln of a size, efficiency and clean operation needed to operate within, and accommodate inputs (green waste) and outputs (biochar/compost soil amendments) on a scale useful to the garden and the community.

How important is community involvement in the success of projects such as this? How can such projects be successfully transferred into an urban community?

Community involvement is imperative to the success of our project because of the need of in-kind contribution, and the wide range of skills and knowledge that exist in the community. Results already achieved internationally are being resourced and further enhanced with our discussions, debates, trials and experiments. We aim to improve outcomes with new and improved techniques that originate from passionate people in our own community, which can then be duplicated and even improved on again, in other locations. Our integrated green waste facility will be compact and easily constructed in an urban locality. Green waste is a readily available resource in cities and country environments and is the core input of our project.

There is potential for biochar to become a wide spread technology for climate mitigation and soil fertility on many scales from small properties, community gardens and farms, to large waste management facilities. Our project will demonstrate the small-scale application, which can be showcased and promoted via media interest to other communities.

What kind of behavioural changes do you hope to inspire in people through the project?

Education about the relationships between using waste as a resource, biochar, composting and climate change will create behavioural changes as people of all ages are awakened to the fact that we need to re-evaluate the conventional systems that we have been using to manage agriculture against the long term benefits of organic, natural systems including biochar and composting.

Images courtesy of Amber Parkin

Compared to many other world centres, Auckland is a relatively small city. How does this affect the creative communities?

We’ve all heard the joke that everyone has only six degrees of separation with Kevin Bacon right? Well in Auckland (and New Zealand) you can make it just 3. It seems everybody knows or has heard of everybody else. This makes for a super close-knit community with a ton of crossover between different creative endeavours. It also makes it easier to connect with people who can help you, or the people who inspire you. I think the size also forces people to be more resourceful. If you need assistance there’s not always going to be an ‘expert’ in every creative skill/trade, so often people learn how to do things themselves, improvise and innovate. On a national scale, this idea of ‘DIY’ is illustrated extremely well by the agriculture and film industries.

Can you tell us a little more about the Big Ideas featured in the ‘mapped’ section of the site?

While I love the place, I appreciate that Auckland isn’t the most creative city yet, but there’s a lot of potential. After actively reading the Creative Cities site and referencing other metropolises I’ve visited, I became really inspired; “Big Ideas” is about the things that we could initiate/do more of to make Auckland a better, more interesting place to be. Most of my ideas are tiny (things I could do myself) but I think we should definitely look towards Tokyo for some ingenious ideas (pocket farms, recycling spaces) and adapt them for the local lifestyle.

You mention the multicultural aspect of Auckland, how does this international melting pot of ethnicity influence the city’s creative scene?

Right now there’s a lot of interesting fusion happening between cultures, especially in the music scene. For example Zoh Zoh is local band that blend traditional West African instruments with western European brass and guitars. The members of the eight-piece band identify with a lot of different cultures — Maori, Pakeha, Pakistani, Rwandan and Ghanaian. Get them all together and they pump out Jamaican inspired Afrobeat sounds. Generally, vibe around here is: we all respect each other’s backgrounds, but let’s mash it up and create something new!

What would you share about your city and it’s creative energy? Show Us your City for a chance to win a trip to the London Festival of Architecture!

Amber Parkin maps a personal journey through Auckland as she shows us her city.

The zine and exhibition rely on contributions from residents living in the local area | Image courtesy of Preston is my Paris

Creators Adam Murray and Robert Parkinson first began the Preston is my Paris zine to document and explore the city’s history and “to encourage the exploration of Preston as a subject for creative practice.” What began as a DYI publication of only 75 copies per run has grown into an exhibition featuring the work of residents and portraits taken in a studio set-up within the gallery space. Preston is my Paris exhibition runs until 28th February, 2010.

How did the Preston is my Paris creative network form?

We [Adam Murray and Robert Parkinson] have both known each other for about 5 years and have been living in Preston for 13 years between us.  Having both been students on arts based courses who continued down this route, we noticed that there was a lack of cultural events in Preston and, more importantly, a lack of creative work that is about Preston.  We originally set up our zine to encourage the exploration of Preston as a subject for creative practice.

How are the zine and the exhibition connected?

One of the aims of the exhibition is to make people, would not necessarily get hold of a copy of the zine, aware of the project. The work featured in the exhibition is generally [the same as] what we have included in the zine but the exhibition allows [us] to develop the format of the work.

You’re encouraging locals to become involved in this exhibition. Why are community engagement and residential documentation such high priorities for Preston is my Paris?

It has always been very important for us to engage with local residents and not simply a select few who might anyway go to a gallery.  The project is also about exploring the city. We are very aware that we look at the place from one point of view and have access to a select group of people. By carrying out the portrait exercise we hope to produce a more comprehensive archive of Preston residents than we would have otherwise.

In your opinion is there a push for creatives to move to Britain’s big cities like London, Manchester and Liverpool in order to connect with creative culture? How does that affect a smaller-scale art community like the one in Preston?

We have both noticed that the majority of people, particularly creative types, want to leave the city quite quickly.  Often people come to do a degree here and then move to one of the bigger cities. Although this can get quite frustrating, it means that it is much easier to become recognised for doing things: there is less competition!

Are you aware of a collective unlocking creativity in your local area? Has the Preston project inspired you to start one of your own? We’d like to hear about it!

On site alteration facilities are available to everyone | Photo courtsey of Kris Herbert

Social cycling made its debut at this year’s Lyttelton Summer Festival, Christchurch in the form of the Swap-O-Rama-Rama held on Saturday 20^th February. This one-day affair not only encompasses a clothing swap meet it also utilises the skills of resident. On site volunteers help swappers learn how to up-cycle clothing, turning them into desirable, usable items; saving them from becoming waste.

Creator of the Lyttelton event, Kris Herbert, invites visitors to bring unwanted clothes to trade for garments found on site; taking their pick for nix. Sewers and silk-screeners are available to help alter an almost-perfect vintage dress or customise a white tee with an original silk-screened design.

The Lyttelton event is affiliated with the US SORR, the first of which, the New York event, opened to the public in 2005. Organisers estimate the New York swap meet saves approx 7000 pounds of clothing from landfill each event.

Herbert first took the idea to Project Lyttelton after seeing footage of the US event, “I saw Swap-O-Rama-Rama on a DVD and thought it would be perfect for the creative community that is Lyttelton. I put the idea out there and the group that organises the Summer Festival (Project Lyttelton) agreed. They welcomed the event into the Summer Festival programme.”

A nip and tuck can make them perfect | Photo courtsey of Kris Herbert

This large-scale clothes swap and alteration event, held at the Lyttelton Recreation Centre, has been added to the Summer Festival schedule for the first time this year. The Lyttelton Summer Festival — which began as the Lyttelton Summer Street Party six years ago — is a 10-day event encompassing wine tasting, photography, organice food, cooking demonstrations, farmers markets, a radio bazaar, a street party, DJ’s and experimental music and a touch of puppetry.

What role does art play in communicating the role of communities?

Work-Life gives creative leaders an opportunity to meet and discuss the importance of communities. Forum moderator Sasi (T.Sasitharan) opens the discussion with this video explaining the term. It’s simpler than you think.

Sasi explains that “communities are made and created every day in our lives”. Communities have the potential to spring up whenever an audience forms, so whenever we do anything remotely creative, any act that involves imagination, transmission and reception, we’re making communities, whether we are conscious of it or not.

Sasi applauds the spontaenous nature of most communities, but acknowledges that we occasionally need to examine the nature of communities more closely to determine what brings people together to become a community, and how these communities adopt their own identities. It’s a short, beautifully-produced video and well worth watching for an introduction to the ideas explored at the forum:

This is a jumping-off point for Work-Life: The Making of Community, a series of panel discussions, presentations, workshops, and site visits on March 5 and 6 at the National Museum of Singapore and the Tiong Bahru Heritage Estate.

16 leading artists and an audience made up of educators, artists, community workers and representatives from government organisations will discuss why and how art can be used to better understand the role of community in an intercultural world. The forum will bring together leading examples of projects stimulating community engagement.

We’ll explore some of the works to be presented at the forum and introduce you to key participants over the next few weeks. Stay tuned for more or register on the Making Community site.

“Café’s have a huge impact on our environment, it all depends on how they source, transport, serve, and dispose of food products.” Says Amelia Toovey | Photo courtesy of The Big Green Idea

Can you tell us a little bit about the Leave No Trace concept? What inspired the idea and how do you plan to roll it out?

Leave No Trace is a project that grew out my experience working at CarriageWorks and the café there. I wanted to find ways to reduce the carbon footprint of large-scale festivals and events and looked into bio products in the café.  I had the idea that it was totally possible to create a meal that could be sourced locally, made on site, and the scraps and consumables could be composted in such a way that the compost would then fertilize a community garden that could in turn, provide food for the café. Essentially I was interested in a zero carbon food cycle for inner city cafes. Leave No Trace is a website I’m aiming to build that will give benchmarks, ideas & resources for Sydney café operators who’d like to try this kind of sustainable practice. I’ll be working with a few cafes in Sydney to trial new operating procedures, these cafes will form case studies for the website.

What kinds of impact can a predominantly social space like a café have on the environment? How can proprietors make them more sustainable? How does Leave No Trace help facilitate sustainability?

Big Green Idea is an initiative of the British Council, Australia, supporting projects which aim to change behaviours and encourage sustainable practices.

Café’s have a huge impact on our environment, it all depends on how they source, transport, serve, and dispose of food products. Café’s like Café Guilia in Chippendale compost their waste, they use re-usable fruit boxes rather than polystyrene boxes or wax cardboard, they have energy saver light bulbs and their staff are trained to separate waste right down to serviettes and food scraps in one bin, and citrus & meat in another. It takes leadership, training, good information and support from local councils to make cafes more sustainable. Leave No Trace will provide information and support for operators and our case studies will provide the research and benchmarks necessary for Councils and café operators to work more closely together.

What advice would you give to others looking to utilise the online medium as a tool for incorporating sustainable thinking into their business?

I would suggest that people start small and grow – in the same way you might get involved with a community garden before you decide to renovate your house; start with a blog or a low-risk online presence and build from there. Communication, conversation, and realistic goals are all a really important values in where we are right now. Our collective goal of becoming more sustainable is by definition an acknowledgement that changing how we do things is a process; it’s not an answer. Every business will need to set its own targets, its own benchmarks and will need to engage resources that are accessible and relevant. The internet is an ever-changing platform that allows businesses and projects to grow; blogs and social networking sites might start a conversation and gain momentum into something much larger and that process of becoming is important. Viral sharing is an instant conversation and engages an instant audience; starting out small and allowing yourself to try things, to fail and to be amateur can turn out to be very rewarding beginning.

Have you discovered any projects like this which help change behaviours and encourage more sustainable systems in our day-to-day lives? Share them below to spread the word.