After PSFK Asia
The relatively small crowd, right-sized auditorium and cozy tea break area gave the PSFK Asia Conference a nice angle to it, but the real oomph of the conference was really the full day of entertaining and informative lectures and panel discussions.
mingling
Singapore Snapshot
The day started off with a panel discussion moderated by Elasticity’s Graham Perkins on Singapore Snapshot: What Makes Singapore Tick? It’s a PSFK tradition to always start off the conference with a session on the local culture. This was a fitting start to the conference here in Singapore as the panelists talked about how young a country Singapore is, and its corresponding blank slate. Which can lead to two differing interpretations: (a) blank – so we absorb and learn from other cultures, thus borrowing creativity from around us (b) blank – that’s why we are free to create. Lucian has summarized this panel here.
China and Identity
While the sessions continued, I wish to highlight a particular one by Jerry Clode and Floydd Wood called China Identity. Jerry and Floydd first differentiated between ‘retro’ in the West and Asia (esp China). In the West, retro is commonly (a) a familiar set of symbols, icons, memories (b) post-war 70s counter-culture (c) 80s pop culture. In contrast, in Asia and especially China (since China is their focus here), retro feels deeper than just style and fashion, and has a lot to do with identity. To them, what makes retro so powerful in the Asian context is that retro is a celebration of tradition while at the same time an open text that is constantly being reinterpreted for today, with the people leaving behind what they don’t want. Read this post on Connecting with Chinese youth in their collective memories by China Youthology.
Jerry and Floydd
Digital Mainstream
In Digital Mainstream, Daryl Arnold spoke about how our ideas of innovation are misplaced, and that we have a significant majority has falled behind in differentiating between effectiveness and value. He discussed what innovation meant and how it helps us do things better, citing example like Ebay, Amazon and QQ. Yet other forms of innovation have more or less value: Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Digg, Xiaonei – they questioned whether these will necessarily change people’s lives? A pretty contentious point, don’t you think? I’m sure many of us would argue that these applications cited above have changed the way you approach the internet and media in general, and some would go further to argue that yes, they have changed your lives and provided much value. But I guess the point he was trying to make here is whether fundamentally, they have given us value that we need, or imposed new forms of value for which we didn’t know we had a need for.
He gave us four guidelines for value: (1) Value: must be able to derive tangible benefit (2) Human Need: serves a utility (3) Create an Experience: provide experience that is relevant to you (4) Value Needs Involvement: user needs to be involved.
The Creator Class
One more interesting one was The Creator Class by Jason Anello, Piers Fawkes (also Founder of PSFK), Paul Tan and Brian Tong. They discussed several issues that pertain to those creative individuals who have multiple skills and who have trouble finding their niche. A suggestion was that creators try not to develop too many styles, but rather find one they like and enjoy it. In the process, while finding out all the things you cannot do right, you will find out the things that you can do right.
The Accident
The last presentation of the day was by the dynamic Jeff Staple. I found his the most entertaining and story most intriguing. In his own words multiple times during the talk, his success today as a fashion designer were all a series of fortunate accidents. Jeff started silkscreening his own tee shirts and so happens that on walking into a store, was promptly asked to provide 12 of that to the shop. He soon got bigger and bigger orders not just from that first shop, but also a one-time 1000 tee order from Japan. This led to the taking off of his tee shirt business and Jeff hasn’t looked back since. Now he also designs for Burton, the snowboard clothing brand and of course, gets his gear sponsored!
Jeff
A few attendees were expecting a more regional/international crowd at what was supposed to be PSFK Conference Asia, but it turned out that many of the conference participants were British, Singaporeans, a few Americans and other nationalities strewn in between. Nevertheless, the tea and lunch breaks provided time for those discreet trips to the bathroom, coffee (and more coffee), snacks (aka, something to occupy your hands with if you haven’t got a heavy handcarry), and of course time for networking. In all, the full day conference was well worth the time and was a refreshing and informative one to attend.
Coverage: Lucian, metacole, Mutant Style, FL.ag,
Related posts:
Loading ...
Comments