Creative Malaysian Blogger Award

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Work Room chat:
I believe most creative bloggers should have known by now what Etsy is all about. But should Etsy sounds Greek to you, it's basically a marketplace for handmade artists to sell their work and people to buy handmade stuffs. There's heap of interesting stuffs going on there. I used to sell there too when I first started selling my work.
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So alright, I was recently notified by Jassy of Jasz's Jewelry Box of this award. *shy*shy* Thanks, beb! ;)

This award was created by Team Etsy Malaysia (I didn't even know that such a team existed until today!) to promote, and hopefully, build a network of creative Malaysian bloggers around the world.

Along with the award, comes with its obilgations. What I would then need to do is to

1. Put the logo on my blog or post.
2. List my 5 sources of inspiration.
3. Nominate 5 other Malaysian blogs which demonstrate some form of creativity.
4. Be sure to link to the nominees within my post.
5. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog, and if possible, make sure they follow these 6 steps too!
6. Share the love and link to the person from whom I received your award.

Alright, so here goes......

My 5 sources of inspiration (in no particular order)

1. AllKpop
   
   
   
   (Nobody says that it has got to be bead or jewellery related. :P) But yes, I'm very much into Korean pop culture and I have the tendency to be inspired by Korean pop.







2. Fashion
   
   
   
   Ok, here's the scoop. ;) I grew up wanting to be a fashion designer but coming from a typical Chinese family, that is not exactly an ideal profession, especially when Malaysian fashion industry at that time wasn't booming the way that it is now. That was how I ended up with a law degree but that did not quite kill my love for fashion. Oh, well....which girl doesn't, right? I had only wished that I've had more exposure to the fashion world.







3. Beads
   
   
   
   The beads themselves are a great source of inspiration to me. I love 'em beads. Especially the shiny ones. Sometimes, by just looking at the beads, I get flashes of images of the design for the beads. Kinda strange.... but, I guess that is what they call inspiration? :P







4. Colours
   
   
   
   I love colours. I really do. Although it probably might not have show as much through my work as I would otherwise have wanted it to but I really do. Sometimes even staring at a pile of dirty laundry at the corner of my room and seeing how the colours work it out together can be rather inspiring! LOL.... Also, I try to be more sensitive with the colours around me, how they matches and stuffs. At times, a particular project begins with a designated colour pallette in mind and then the choice of beads, slowing working towards the final design.







5. Life
   
   
   
   Alright, as cliche as this might have sound but life in itself has been a great source of inspiration. Just everything around me can be very inspiring. Kinda corny, I know....but yet, it's quite true.


And now my five nominees.......

To be honest, it's kinda difficult to just nominate only 5 because I think if you were to look at the Malaysian jewellery artist/blogger community, all of them demonstrate some form of creativity. So, how to nominate only 5? But anyway..... to conform to the rules of the game, here are my five nominees (in no particular order).




1. Corra Liew
   I got to know about Corra by chance, really and shortly after I learn about wire jewellery; notably from aclaimed wire jewellery artist Eni Oken. What I really like about Corra is how she incorporates the Chinese element into her work, notably through the use of Chinese knots. To those of you who are unfamiliar with what Chinese knots are, to put it simply, it is is a decorative handicraft arts that began as a form of Chinese folk art in the Tang and Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD) in China. I think I probably came across this form of knotting during school days where if I remembered correctly, I had classmates who made keychains out of the knotting but they were using thread and stuffs. So, I find it very refreshing that she applied the same form of knotting to wires to create beautiful jewellery.



2. Emi Kaz
   Just like Corra, I found Emi to have incorporated his Malay heritage into his work as well which is similarly very refreshing. Have you seen his Wau Bulan earrings? That is definitely one piece of very intricate work. Alright, for those who are unfamiliar with Wau Bulan, allow me to explain briefly. Wau is what we today know as kite but unlike the kite, Wau Bulan is much more bigger and is a traditional game much ingrained within the Malay heritage. You probably don't see them a lot anymore these days but I think you could probably still find them in the East Coast of Malaysia.
   
   I've always remembered about the Wau Bulan because I remember how we need to study on the shape the decorative motif used on these kites in art lessons and they are all very intricately decorated.
   
   
   
   Ouh....and by the way, Emi is also a makeup artist.



3. Sheela Goh
   I came across Sheela's work through her parents' Etsy page actually. I was browsing through Etsy some time back on Malaysian artist on Etsy and came across her parents' Etsy page which also plug her site on Etsy which was how I came to know about her.
   
   I love how her work is somewhat fashion fueled just like how she had put it in words in her About Me section in her Etsy page
   " ......... Greatly influenced by the eccentric geniuses that are Lacroix, Galliano, McQueen, Garçons, Rhodes, Gaultier, Dolce & Gabbana and Moschino........ "
   
   Galliano? McQueen? That's fashion alright. :)
   
   Her pieces are always very bold with a strong play of colours. Gorgeous!
   And she has even got another page on bejewelled textiles.
   Even her 9 years old daughter has got her own Etsy page. How cute is that? :)
   
   Talk about creativity!



4. Simmy Tan
   Okay, if you click on Simmy's link, you'll realize that Simmy is a photographer but what you don't know is that Simmy used to be a jewellery artist as well before I guess her interest in photography triumphed over jewellery making. I also came to know about her bout a year or two ago through Etsy.



5. Su Yin
   Well, apart from sharing similar Chinese name (My Su is spelt with an extra E at the end, LOL... =P), what really caught my attention was the Chanel handbag birthday cake that she was commissioned to make for Channel V VJ, Marion Caunter's birthday.
   
   But the, that's not only the stuffs that she does. You just gotta go check her out. The cakes that she makes is just tooooo pretty to be eaten. It's so crazily adorable that I don't know how anyone could ever bring themself to eat it. It's just too insane!
   


My thoughts.............

I think it's kinda cool that Etsy team Malaysia came up with this award thingy. Well, award or what not aside, I think it's a great networking way among Malaysian creative bloggers on this blogospere. The blogosphere is, after all, a really huge place and it's just a great way bringing each creative blogger's work into recognition. :)

I hope you guys enjoy my recommendation just as much as I've enjoyed them myself! ;)