Monochrome – 八月十五

八月十五 One of my favourite Chinese festivals – Mid-Autumn :)
Taken at Goods of Desire Street Culture Museum, Hong Kong

Oh G.O.D. – You are finally in Singapore!

Goods of Desire (also known as G.O.D.), a renowned Hong Kong lifestyle brand, has finally opened its first overseas store in Singapore’s Central on 7 July 2012. Co-founded by architects Douglas Young and Benjamin Lau in 1996 as a retail space in Ap Lei Chau. The creative brain behind G.O.D.’s purposefully provocative products is co-founder Douglas. Often seen around town with a farmer’s hat and straw bag, the architect likes to take everyday things out of context to create some sort of irony and humor. His innate interest in Hong Kong’s local culture and things that are normally overlooked often form his inspiration for the highly popular products. He also says he thinks best when doing ‘business’ in the loo. I think it would be way cool to be part of his design team where it’s practically no holds barred creativity.

“So often, it is the most nondescript of items, the ones we tend to disregard that, when you bring them to the forefront and celebrate their quiet existence, truly makes people smile.”
Douglas Young, Co-Founder, Goods of Desire

G.O.D. co-founder and creative brain Douglas Young with local DJ Pei Fen wearing a G.O.D. top at the store’s opening on 7 Jul.
Photo: G.O.D. Singapore

The name Goods of Desire is derived from the phonetic translation of the Cantonese words meaning “to live better” (住好啲). Very clever and apt for a lifestyle brand indeed.

Taking up 6,000 square feet of retail space, Singapore will be the award-winning brand’s fourth largest store. The Singapore retail store will bear many firsts in terms of design and décor. Besides the unconventional entrance crafted to resemble an old Chinese copper coin, the Singapore store is the first to prominently feature the brand’s signature red lampshades which is reminiscent of those seen at Hong Kong’s butcher stalls at old school wet markets (red cos’ it makes the meat look more attractive).

This way up to G.O.D.  – if only seeing THE holy one was that easy too!

G.O.D. Red Lamp Shade Seating – Notice the pairs of legs under seating? I really thought they were real people! Cute!

Storefront via Level 2; An awesome photo backdrop

INSIDE THE STORE
Inside the store, salvaged heritage items are integrated into the store design as part of themed collages as G.O.D.’s environmental and social responsibility, with each of the four sections projecting a slightly different character – Fashion (mens, women & mens underwear), Gift Ideas (tons of quirky ideas!), Homeware (dining, bath and bedding products)and Furniture.

Inside G.O.D. Singapore

Asian-inspired umbrellas perched on a bicycle

Two of G.O.D. iconic series – Newspaper and Letterbox print series
Guess what’s the red and white letter boxes (bottom right) suppoused to be? Business card holders!

G.O.D. iconic Peony Print series
I liked the little Chinese lion on the right, which I realised contains a foldable tote bag (S$48)!

Another iconic Red, White, Blue Series Bags

Panda Series

G.O.D. Singapore – Fashion section
RIGHT: T-shirts were packaged to look like retro vinyl records

My favourite Double Happiness series (I always like to be happy!)

Double Happiness galore!

After so much happiness, how about some condom-printed bedlinen?

Interesting Therapy Pillows
Buckwheat pillowsare commonly used by health care professionals in hot or cold therapy for the relief of neck pain, headaches, muscle tension, snoring and sleeplessness. For cold therapy, place pillow in a refrigerator/freezer until desired temperature. To heat pillow, place in microwave on low setting. The Myrobalan pillow is an old Chinese tradition. Myrobalan leaves are naturally aromatic and provide good ventilation and support.
I got myself the Double Happiness buckwheat pillow, dabbed a few drops of lavender essential oil onto it and slept like a baby. It gave good support for the neck, and placing it on my chest gave me a good sense of security – I felt like a baby all over again! Good buy good buy!

Japanese cherry aroma oil – this is my favourite scent from its range of aroma oils

From LEFT: Good Morning tissue box; Cream Cracker tissue box (my fave, nostalgic!); White Pig toilet roll holder

One of my fave items: Quirky Men Boxers (S$25)
LEFT says “Get it UP every morning”; RIGHT says “Servicing a Loved One”
So getting the left one for chum D…haha

I got a bit shy when I saw this 3-D packaging for the mens underwear, that I forgot to take a photo at the store! heh.. Was tempted to get one for chum D, but didn’t quite know his package size. XXL, perhaps? That’s the happiest question for any man, I bet. LOL
Photo: G.O.D. Singapore

TOP: G.O.D.’s iconic Dim Sum Series Dining Set – there’ll always be yummy dim sum on your plate! Especially helpful when the meal sucks :p
LEFT: Wine carriers inspired by retro everyday items such as the dim sum basket, barber shop red-white-blue signage and hot water flask.
RIGHT: A teacup which looks like two stacked together.

Coasters with typical Hong Kong cha chan teng food such as bo lo bun, sandwich, instant noodles and french toast printed on them. I couldn’t resist these – Buy!

With aprons like these, I’m sure it’ll be no problem getting the man to help out in the kitchen *wink*

Charms inspired by Hong Kong’s heritage
1st row from left: Spitton, Hot water flash, Letterbox, Mooncake mould
2nd row from left: Camera, Watercan Spray, Telephone, Red Lantern
3rd row from left: Ping Pong table-tennis bat, Washing board, Clog, Piggy bank

1st row: quirky eye masks (the last one would be good when the missus is not feeling up for any ‘action’)
2nd row: Double Happiness scented Candles & Haversack, Mok Kwong Chu Notebook
3rd row: Tsim Sha Tsui Cosmetic Bag, Prosperity Fan, Shoe Pencil Case

Mahjong set which comes with a guidebook. Perfect gift for overseas friends, or enemies whom you want to earn their money off the mahjong table

G.O.D. will be specially designing a collection for the Singapore market with the local culture as inspiration. Douglas Young said in an interview he was most inspired by Singapore’s shophouses. I can’t wait to see his quirky interpretation of the architecture! The launch of this collection in the Singapore store is slated for the last quarter of the 2012.

G.O.D.’s infamous Delay No More slogan series (a pun on a notoriously common Cantonese cuss phrase) is given a local Singaporean flavour here with the ubiquitous “Lah”

G.O.D. VENDING MACHINE
The store’s pre-opening publicity activity deserves a mention – G.O.D. installed a “pop-up” vending machine at various places around Singapore. The machine is inspired by Hong Kong’s  Dai Pai Dong (Cantonese for “street hawker stall with a large signboard”) which are synonymous with the island. For S$2, you get a ‘lucky gold bar’ with a randomly inserted gift such as fridge magnets of ample bums in granny briefs, USB drives shaped like old letterboxes, and vouchers for the Delay No More slogan tees.

A YUMMY KIND OF MOONING
One item which I am looking forward to this Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節) is G.O.D.’s cheeky mooncakes. Launched in 2008, these highly popular mooncakes fashioned in the shape of a butt is a play-on-words representation of the festival’s date on the 15^th day of the eight lunar month “八月十五“ – which also means “butt”. Seems like people are sick of the same round-shaped mooncakes – the very first batch of mooncakes sold out in a mere 20 minutes. The 2^nd batch sold out in under an hour. It has since evolved from 4 to 8 designs, and I am so looking forward what other new ass-tonishing designs or flavours G.O.D. can come up with.

Goods of Desire Mooncakes (HK65 a box, 2011 price)
The mean thing is – you only get 1 design in a box, and you do not know which design you are getting. Which means you need to buy at least 8 boxes to get all 8 designs. Maybe we can start a mooncake-swapping movement like playing game cards just to save precious calories?

Goods of Desire Mooncakes
Image: Christine Lau

Goods of Desire Mooncakes
Image: Christine Lau

Goods of Desire

6 Eu Tong Sen Street
#02-08 Central
Singapore 059817
Tel: +65 6593 3228
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/goodsofdesire.sg/
Website: http://www.goodsofdesire.com/