Fictionist Studio’s founder, Joanne Chew, grew up in Kuala Lumpur, studied in New York Metropolis, labored there for just a few years, then did a stint in Singapore. The plan to return to Malaysia crystallised throughout the 2013 common elections – her first time voting. “The act of voting for the primary time triggered a deep need to contribute to my very own nation,” she says. “On the time, I felt that contribution could possibly be so simple as a superbly designed enterprise card.” She moved again, arrange a makeshift studio in her bed room and began from scratch. 12 years later, Fictionist is a D&AD, Kind Administrators Membership, Artwork Administrators Membership, Dieline, Golden Pin and Dezeen Award-recognised studio with a small crew understanding of a light-filled house in Kuala Lumpur.
The studio’s work ranges broadly from identities and packaging to print, artwork route and self-initiated tasks – held collectively by an urge for food for what its founder describes as “unconventional types of expression”. She provides, “It may be so simple as a slight tweak in a typical dieline for a packaging mission.” However when the transient permits for one thing bolder, it is protected to say she’s excited – “I’d smack my palms with glee.” The method at all times begins with an idea, and the visible execution follows naturally from there. High quality artwork, trend, structure and literature are the important thing reference factors for constructing concepts.
The Lunar New Yr has grow to be a recurring platform for the studio’s most creative self-initiated work. For the Yr of the Horse, Joanne made Mane Character Vitality – a reimagining of the normal ang pow, the purple packet gifted as a token of luck throughout the festive interval. The idea pivoted from the predictable charging-horse iconography to a single evocative element: the mane. “We used a play on phrases to shift the narrative from collective luck to private id,” she explains, turning the mane right into a metaphor for being the primary character of your individual story.
To attain the feel and depth they wished, the studio collaborated with knowledgeable hairstylist to custom-style bodily hairpieces, which have been photographed and digitally composed onto horse imagery. The outcome appears like a trend editorial for its saturated, unusual aesthetic, which is not like anything produced for the season. We notably love the mirror-metallic packaging, which signifies that whoever will get their palms on one can see their very own reflection beside the mane. “It was an train in world-building that proved a cultural ritual could possibly be remodeled right into a provocative, everlasting design object.”
The Yr of the Snake introduced Shed Off Yesteryear: Shades of Brighter Cheer, a extra contemplative mission centred on the snake’s capability to shed its pores and skin as an emblem of renewal. Fictionist designed a four-stack packaging system that guided the recipient via a ritual of releasing incense and hanging a match – then arriving at purple packets with a silver scratch-off foil.
Because the foil is scratched away, mimicking the shedding course of, a fortune is revealed beneath. The Yr of the Snake additionally impressed Spring Has Arrived, a promotional package for atmos Malaysia, the native outpost of the Japanese streetwear boutique. The title was impressed by a bodily purple coil spring nestled in a vibrant orange tray that greeted recipients after they lifted the lid. Beneath it, Luck Absorber cookies – a wordplay on automotive shock absorbers – and purple packets are bodily extendable just like the coil. “It symbolises resilience,” she explains, “suggesting that whereas the highway forward could also be bumpy, we have now the interior spring to bounce again.”
What ties all of this collectively is a purpose to uncover what design can really do. “I need the work we produce to be greater than only a piece of design,” Joanne says. “I need it to be a bodily object or a story that folks really feel is value preserving.” She says there’s an obligation to carry that very same richness to each mission the studio works on – to let the vibrancy of Malaysia form the visible language, wherever attainable. “My hope is that we have woven ourselves into the ever-evolving artistic material of Malaysia.” Based mostly on what they’ve made to this point, it might be arduous to argue in any other case.
