Relax, unwind, and indulge in a dose of community-drive art with ORIGAMe at Guoco Tower’s Urban Park.
If you’re in the neighbourhood, be sure to drop by Guoco Tower’s Urban Park to admire its latest origami-inspired installation.
ORIGAMe—The latest addition to the park—is an origami-inspired installation that features large, multi-hued paper cranes, folded by members of the public.
Conceptualised by landscape artist Ms Tek Swee Lang—the principal landscape architect at O2X Studios Private Ltd, this vibrant work of art was created as a collaborative effort between Guoco Tower and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).
We had a chat with Ms Tek, and came away with a handful of fun facts about the craft of origami, the inspiration behind the installation and how to nurture the creative spirit in your kids.
If you’re in the neighbourhood, feel free to drop by this beautiful installation and snap a selfie or two!
While you may have thought that this art piece was inspired by Japanese culture, the source of the idea is a lot closer to home.
“I actually came up with this idea 3-4 years ago, when Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew passed on,” Ms Tek tells us. “I was thinking about how much he contributed to Singapore and its community, and thought it would have been meaningful if people had folded origami as a sign of respect to him.”
This multi-coloured art installation isn’t just rainbow-hued for visual reasons—The many colours symbolise Singapore’s tight-knit multi-racial community coming together as a whole.
“It’s really heart-warming that a large organisation like URA would take the time and effort to organize the event and execute the installations,” Ms Tek says. “I think it really encourages a sense of community involvement.”
Share-a-Gift is part of the Boys’ Brigade’s bid to bring cheer to the less fortunate and inculcate the spirit of sharing among Singaporeans.
The annual project reaches out to individuals under the Public Assistance and Short-to-Medium Term Assistance schemes, and sees Boys’ Brigade members collecting wishes from them. These wishes are then displayed at various collection centres, where members of the public can fulfil them (which is where you come in!).
If you’re the parent of an aspiring Picasso, you may want to let your kid daydream a little between school assignments, according to Ms Tek. “I get inspiration from everywhere, and a lot of it comes from daydreaming,” she shares. “I think it’s definitely good for children to let their minds wander!”
