Drop right down to Atria Shopping Gallery this weelend, and immerse your self in handicraft works from over 100 craftsmen
ON June 11 and 12, arguably the most important artwork festival in Malaysia is ready to happen in Atria Shopping Gallery. Founded by Noelle Nah, the Malaysia Sea Star Handicraft Festival will characteristic works from over 100 craftsmen – supposedly round 140, to be actual – in Noelle’s grand imaginative and prescient to uplift the Malaysian handicraft trade.
Speaking to theSun, Noelle went into element on how she has curated the occasion to not solely set her occasion other than common bazaars, however to additionally forge a brand new frontier for Malaysian handicraft by having the creators and craftsmen up and middle.
The Malaysia Sea Star Handicraft Festival isn’t Noelle’s first foray; she had based the Mermaid Market in 2017 as a platform to help girls in entrepreneurship, and the AGLOW ARTS FESTIVAL two years later, which was recognised by the Malaysia Book of Records for having probably the most variety of performers in an arts festivals.
“I’ve conducted numerous bazaars in the past, and it’s a pity that I often had to reject interested participants due to space constraints. And frankly, elimination was a blow to them. This is why I’ve decided to hold a larger scale handicraft festival to allow more craftsmen the opportunity to participate.”
For the upcoming occasion, the unimaginable variety of craftsmen and scope could also be daunting for regular folks, however clearly not for Noelle.
Curating a festival
In the alternate with us, Noelle pressured that the collaboration and cooperation among the many many abilities will function the spine for how the occasion will play out. This was additionally how Noelle curated the collection of individuals, which she mentioned was a part of the actual problem.
While the Malaysia Sea Star Handicraft Festival accepted and welcomed everybody that expressed their intention to take part, Noelle defined that those that solely wished to promote their merchandise, however weren’t keen to collaborate and work collectively for the festival’s preparation ended up withdrawing their participation.
“Those who stayed are truly the elite in their field, [contributing] their time to lead the team, formulating ideas for venue and zone layout, photos and videos production. All their contributions are rewarding (thus far) in a sense that they have gained respect and recognition among their peers, as well as a life long friendship,” she mentioned.
The abilities had been additionally inspired to advertise the manufacturers and merchandise of their friends to additional enhance the extensive berth of consciousness on homegrown manufacturers.
“(Through their) willingness to cooperate, more and more creative ideas began to emerge,” Noelle identified.
This might be seen with the jewelry zone, the place 14 craftsmen conceived an progressive concept to indicate their jewelry via a trend present.
Brimming with creativity
A cursory look at earlier bazaars would present that almost all do probably not have a unifying theme or “sense of order”, which Noelle is trying to rectify and promote with readability via her occasion.
Explaining the thought course of on the planning and structure, she revealed that the craftsmen are grouped in particular, distinct zones for them to construct their very own distinctive house and artistic decorations, as every zone exemplifies its personal distinctive concepts and design.
“During the recruitment phase, we have grouped products and brands of similar nature into the same zone, with the hope that craftsmen will collaborate together,” she clarified.
“The market for arts and crafts in Malaysia is not huge. Consumers are divided due to language barriers, making the market even smaller. As a niche industry, collaboration is of utmost importance in order to break through the market to reach more consumers and to be seen in the international arena.”
The aforementioned zones are based mostly on handmade jewelry, hand portray, thread and needle, life therapeutic, meals and drinks, craft workshops, handicraft and plenty of extra.
Other than that includes the merchandise of the chosen abilities, the Malaysia Sea Star Handicraft Festival is searching for to boost consciousness on environmental safety.
In league with that objective and along with World Oceans Day, 300 college students from the Chong Hwa Independent High School had been invited to arrange an artwork set up sourced from recycled supplies.
“At the same time, all the craftsmen are also involved in the marine-themed installation at their zones,” she mentioned.
The occasion can even see greater than 20 arts and crafts workshops being performed for the general public.
