The Hjgher team, in conjunction with Japanese curator Yoichi Nakamura, has produced a special edition of UNDERSCORE. The hardcover book accompanies what Editor-in-Chief Justin Long describes in his foreword as Singapore’s “discovery of our own unique identity as a creative culture.”

What constitutes a creative culture? ‘Creative Cultures: The Singapore Showcase’ didn’t set out to answer that question directly. Rather, it offers a broad survey of the work of 110 individuals, studios and companies active in the various creative fields of art, photography, architecture, interior, product, music, graphics, illustration, interactive media and fashion.

According to the Creative Cultures website, the book “aims to build a community of like-minded people, while expanding the creative landscape by gathering creatives, craftsmen and distributors.” Perhaps, the heart of a creative culture is a network.

The theme ‘uncover’ was selected for Singapore, says Hjgher, “to describe the beginning of a creative culture that has grown over the years with little history but a freedom and hunger for experimentation and identity.” An irreversible scratch-and-see gold cover invites discovery of the book’s 280 pages of visuals and interviews.

Says Justin Long, “We have the freedom to be who we want to be. We hold the power to decide our own future, not only for ourselves, but for future generations to come.”

Yoichi Nakamura is an established curator (now based in Singapore) who, explains Long, “worked with creative superstars such as Michael Young and Tom Dixon before they were famous.”

For this book, continues Long, “He curated a selection of creatives based on the bringing out the best of each category. We did everything else – from design, to gathering and managing content, to conceptualising the theme, to the front cover, to publishing, distributing and marketing the book.”

‘Creative Cultures: The Singapore Showcase’ was launched in Singapore on 6 December at an intimate gathering for the featured creatives and the media. It has been published by H/Publishing with the support of DesignSingapore. It is being sold through The U Store as well as via UNDERSCORE’s distribution channels around the world.

Creative Cultures
creative-cultures.com