Blog

“Rasham Firiri, Resham Firiri, Udayra Jauki Dadama Vanjyang Resham Firiri…” The melody of this popular Nepali folk song still keeps playing in my head again and again, though we’ve come back from Nepal days ago. It is a recording of us and our lovely guides/porters/cooks, a recording of us and the memorable journey we walked together, a recording of us and Nepal: a land of never-ending peace and love.

I’d never expected that I would miss Nepal tremendously after I come back at the moment that we were up in the mountain, longing for a hot shower during the cold cold night. But now, like many of us, I’m missing so many things about Nepal.

I miss saying ‘Namaste’ to the friendly Nepalese.
I miss the innocence and the shyness in the children’s eyes.
I miss the passionate folk dances performed by the villagers.
I miss the early mornings when we woke up under a sky filled with huge twinkling stars.
I miss the simply cooked but amazingly delicious food (especially the yak cheese pizza!),
not to mention the black tea that was served with every meal.
I miss the chaos and the dust in Kathmandu, the scary yet thrilling experience of running
across roads without traffic lights.
I miss the laid-back lifestyle in Phokara, those slow and lazy afternoons of doing nothing
but wandering in the streets with a scoop of Baskin Robbins in hand.
And I even miss the giant piles of donkey dung that we had seen everywhere on our trek!
……

Of course, this journey would not have been so special and meaningful to me without all the dear Splashees. I’ll never forget the ups and the downs we had gone through together, the best chilli that we shared together, the spectacular sunrise at 3210m that we watched together, the good laughs that we had together…There is just too much for me to remember and my feelings are simply beyond words. I’ll let pictures tell the story.

The dawn after the dark

The conquerors of Poon Hill

Sometimes you need to take some time out of your day to take some time out of your day,
look around silently and patiently, appreciate even the simplest settings in nature

Simple happiness

Our dearest porters, cooks and guides who had been walking together with us for six days

The meals we had together, and the most unique starter I’d ever had in my life: popcorn!

The dogs-the nap lovers

The bookstores, not so big, not so tidy, but full of surprises

The chaotic nights in Kathmandu

The best bathroom, spooky? Stylo!

More about ‘Splash in Nepal’ here.

Last but not least, enjoy these awesomely awesome videos shot by Brice:
Day-1 Trek
Day-2 Trek
Day-3 Trek
Day-4 Trek
Day-5 Trek
Day-6 Trek

Thursday, 8 December 2011, was a special day for four Splashees as they made their literary debut amidst the warm company of friends, family and colleagues.

Jacqueline, Belinda, Shu Yun, and Terry, spent weeks toiling away at their chapbooks, which were fueled and published by the passionate bastion of local literature, BooksActually.

The boutique bookstore, tucked away in a quaint part of Tiong Bahru, also hosted the aforementioned event – a cosy book-reciting session filled with good cheer and sweet pastries.

Despite the many anxious gazes on our panel of writers, they gamely took turns to read aloud extracts from their books, offering an insight into the inspiration behind their works.

Jacqueline’s heartfelt narrative about coming to terms with the world around her is one we can all identify with, while Shu Yun’s keenly cobbled thoughts on her journey through Nepal bears all the marks of a city girl trying to uncover the meaning in a culture devoid of modern luxuries.

Belinda’s “I’m Still Here” is a witty commentary on her contentious relationship with photography. It is also sprinkled with humorous anecdotes from her life. Finally, Terry’s collection of introspective poems touches on the sacred, sometimes profound way that love can shape all of us.

To get the full, intimate scoop on the lives of our four Splashees, head on down to BooksActually, where the books can be purchased now. They should also make an appearance at a Kinokuniya near you very soon, with future plans to roll them out in indie bookstores like Strand in NYC.

We would also like to sincerely thank BooksActually for publishing the four books and giving us this priceless platform to be heard.

The Splash chapbooks:

CARELESS – Jacqueline Ong

Do You Fear The Line? – Wong Shu Yun

I’m Still Here – Belinda Wan

B A R E – Terry Lee

It’s not often we brag about our achievements (honest!), but it just wouldn’t feel right if we didn’t send our kudos to the splashees who contributed their late nights to complete “Sweet Goodness” and “The Feel for Words” – two of our campaigns that were recently recognised at the TAAN Titan Awards 2011 in the “Graphic Design” category.

TAAN, or Transworld Advertising Agency Network, is a network of over 50 independent advertising agencies around the world, and the TAAN Titan Advertising Awards is its annual event honouring the most creative campaigns from amongst its members.

Yea, we're totally framing them.

September 16 was no ordinary day. All 24 of us vacated the studio, packed ourselves into just a few cars and scooted to town. We had a party to attend: Splash was turning six years old!

We ate, laughed and cried. The last one, we can explain. It was because our ninja of a business development manager Sean Aw was leaving for greener pastures. We’ll miss him for sure.

While our sixth birthday has become a memory, here are six milestones conquered this year that continue to chart the future for us:

6 Splashin’ Milestones in 2011

1) We made more room for more play

Splashees now swim in a new space at Cavan Road which is twice the size of our previous home. This new and beautifully designed studio has gotten quite some publicity. Every nook and cranny has been nurtured by our very own designers-turned-interior-designers-overnight, so now, we’re convinced the possibilities of design are indeed endless!

2) We did our most memorable project ever

We don’t mean to cheat, but moving into and setting up our new studio has also been the most memorable project for us this year. This Mother of All Projects will birth more creativity in time to come, so we reckon it deserves double the honour.

3) We’ve (always) got talent

In 2005, we had humble beginnings with just 5 people running around. Today, there are 22. And that, for us, is still a humble beginning. Did you know that there’re some incredibly talented people here? Splashees are gifted in art, being super daddy/mummy and going vegetarian. Imagine what we can do when we put all that together!

4) We enlarged our hearts

Who said design can’t save the world? Together with the Realm of Tranquility, the Special Needs Trust Company and the Choice Movement, we continue to patch up and rebuild the broken, forgotten corners of society.

5) We experimented

Splash’s continuous experiments in adventurous living include: Dressing up (or down) for our monthly Cavanista runway; taking a 10-day trip to Nepal this November (and having to be on the road half the time!); and having our designers dabble with writing plus get their works published. Now, we’re totally convinced Splashees are super heroes hidden in t-shirts and jeans.

6) We learnt to swim again

If Splash is an Olympic-size pool, then Bubbly Books, our new publishing arm, is the new baby pool we’re having some fun wading in. We set up Bubbly Books this year to help Singapore-based authors publish their passions and reach out to children and young people. It’s hard work learning to swim again, but we’re going to have fun at it!

New Splashees Speak Up

We asked three new Splashees who joined this year to say a few honest words:

“I love a lot of things about Splash, but if I can choose only one thing to say, I’ll definitely say that it’s the people here I love the most. All Splashees are kind, helpful and very fun to be with. Everyone has been very nice to me since my first day of joining. Splash’s more like a family rather than a working place. I love Splash because of you, all of you,” said — no, gushed — designer Sang Dan.

“I’ve learnt more in the seven months I’ve been here than the last three years of my life combined!” exclaimed senior designer Terence. This does sound like good news to us. But we do wonder what he was up to those past years…

Describe Splash in six words, we challenged Eunice. “Fun times with an awesome company!” she said. Nicely done.

Well well, it has certainly been an eventful and rewarding sixth year here at Splash and we look forward to making more waves! Like we said, humble beginnings…

The results of Splash’s Sponge Project are out! We had the pleasure of having an award presentation for our winners – David Adi Chandra (1st prize: A Blast in Wonderland), Sandra Yin (2nd prize: Having a Blast!) and Lumlum Lee (3rd prize: Off the Crank!) Our Art Director Norman gave away the very attractive prizes (including a shiny iPad 2!)

[from left] Lumlum Lee, David Adi Chandra and Sandra Yin

David: “I love your works and office! I know I’m supposed to say 'thank you' but I can't wait to express how much I adore Splash as a design company! Thanks a lot, Splash! I look forward to finishing my degree course and intern here, so see you guys soon. Woohoo!”

Sandra: “Design's a heck of a journey, but in the end it's all worth it because you are pursuing what you love. That's the special thing about this industry. Take care, stay united, and don't be afraid to take on a few bears for that bucket of honey.”

One day, Splash Art Director Norman Lai couldn’t get a catchy tune out of his head. Yes, the same way Kylie Minogue felt when she sang, “La la la… I just can’t get you out of my head…” It did feel like eternity, so Norman decided to immortalise the moment with a cassette-head duo. “This poster is for everyone who’s ever gone through that torture,” he explains.

We are delighted that distinguished design community Design and Design concurs, and awarded Norman’s work as Graphic Design of the Day on 2 September 2011. Now, we can’t wait for Norman’s design to be featured in DaD’s Book of the Year!

Splash was recently featured in the yellowlicious book Logology® 2, the self-proclaimed “Wonderland of Logo Design”. With over 1600 of the most recent logos featured, Splash had the honour to open the show with a full 6-page case study on our work for local bubble teahouse, Artease. With a good sense for design, our work successfully conveyed the playfulness and unconventionality of our client.

By introducing the mascots and character friends, we were hoping that we can inject some fun and allow better remembrance of the new brand of product.

You can also feast your eyes on the other collaterals we’ve done for them at the portfolio page; perhaps you would like to start from here.

Cavanista is here once more! Everyone at Splash has to rack their brains and put on their best outfit if they want to win the title of Most Patriotic Splashee. (Hot tip: All it takes is an awesome costume and a kiao kah. ) For the month of August, we predictably chose to show our affection for Singapore and were encouraged to express what we love about this Little Red Dot in our dress.

Gorgeous-looking fun aside, Cavanista requires a lot of work and preparation. The night before our big day, the planning crew got down and roped in a few people to help put up our backdrop. Wanna make a guess what it looks like?

It was like piecing a puzzle together, but of epic proportions and confusion. After tons of cutting, taping, measuring, matching, and stapling, the backdrop was finally up.

Not to mention the copious amounts of double-sided tape we used.

Alas, everything’s done and we’re ready to celebrate this National Day Cavan Road-style.

You can check out the photos over here. Feel free to support your favourite character(s) by -ing their photo and don’t forget to spread the red cheer to Singaporeans and non-Singaporeans alike! Have a splashsational August.

That was the tip for this July’s Cavanista.

Suits, checked. High-heels, checked. That million-dollar look, checked. On this exciting day, Splashees decided to ditch those old jeans and came to office clad in their Sunday best. The more expensive the better, and in Singaporean vernacular, we would all shout – “Attas”!!! It was a no-nonsense shoot. Splashees came posing to impress, with some resembling confident businessmen, while others exuding a more reflective and raw feel. We loved every moment of it.

See our black and white portraits here. And check out the behind-the-scenes video here!