l Over 3,100 entries received across all APAC regions for Kingston x CSD APAC Mask Design Competition as artists induce positivity through mask designs, share compelling life stories and reflections on 2020
l Vote online now for your favourite finalist and decide who the winner will be
Mumbai, 3rd February, 2021 (GPN): Continuing with the credo of preserving memories, Kingston Technology, a world leader of memory products and technology solutions, today announced the top 10 finalists of the Kingston x CSD APAC Mask Design Competition. Centered around the theme of ‘There’s Strength in Memory,’ Kingston partnered with CSD, a leading brand of face masks, to call upon all creative minds to unleash the power of memories. The initiative received an overwhelming response of over 3,100 entries from design enthusiasts across all APAC regions including Sparkling Lenses by Rishabh Raj from India, which was selected among the top 10 designs.
The contestants comprised of APAC’s top artists and designers from various fields. ranging from product, textile, visual and multi-media designers, to illustrators, art students and professors. Their design submissions spanned a wide canvas that encapsulated their memories, concepts regarding people’s interaction, compelling and memorable life events and reflections on 2020. The judges also discovered ongoing themes of design that centered around family bonds, appreciation of nature and intimate childhood memories: Lilo Jong from Malaysia portrayed the strong bond she has with her family, while Wu Bo Yi from Taiwan found inspiration from a childhood snack; Tsuyoshi Artman, from Japan, depicted the beauty of nature to highlight the act of breathing. Despite submissions from artists with diverse backgrounds, one thing that united the contestants was the effort to represent positivity in the lives of people across regions, thus, unleashing the power of memories.
Commenting on the outstanding response, Kevin Wu, sales/marketing and business development Vice President of APAC region, Kingston, said, “Our memories are the most precious assets in our lives and we at Kingston have always strived to help our customers preserve their memories in the best way possible with our products and campaigns. Our unique partnership with CSD for the Kingston x CSD APAC Mask Design Competition, has helped us in our journey of bringing people closer with their most profound memories. We are overwhelmed to see so many contestants finding and sharing strength in their memories; their designs therefore embody deeper emotions that range from pleasant to more challenging times that they’ve encountered. Through this campaign, we are humbled to have been an intrinsic part of our contestants’ life-altering as well as inspiring moments.”
Commenting on the stellar designs, Jonathan Chang, COO of CSD, said, “Over the past few years, CSD has redefined the concept of the face mask by infusing fashion elements into it. It is exhilarating to also see such innovation from the contestants. Not only have they evolved face mask into an individual canvas, but also redefined memories into a fashion statement with their brushstroke. I’m thrilled that our creative alliance with Kingston has pushed the boundaries and reinvented the notion of memory and face masks into a new form of art.”
The top 10 designs were selected from over 3,100 entries, with 5 designs each under the two different judging criteria; the “3-Colors” group emphasized on creative patterns consist of only three colors, whereas the “Unlimited Colors” group stressed on how well contestants play with their colors.
The “3-Colors” Finalists (left to right):
Perfect Imperfections, Aljohn M. Matias (Philippines)
Siamese Fighting Fish, Waraporn Mamee (Thailand)
Lips & Water Chestnut, Wu Bo Yi (Taiwan)
Doodling Paper, Nguyen Dang Binh (Vietnam)
Sparkling Lenses, Rishabh Raj (India)
The“Unlimited Colors” Finalists (left to right):
Love Memories Forever, Lilo Jong (Malaysia)
Construct X Deconstruction, Brenca Sun (Taiwan)
Summer memories in the wonder garden, Hsu, Hsing-Chen (Taiwan)
Breath of Energy, Tsuyoshi Artman (Japan)
Monster Nation, Yman.S (Malaysia)
Commenting on the enthralling experience, top 10 finalist Rishabh Raj, a postgraduate student of Textile Design from India, said “All the memories are an integral part of one’s journey of ultimately understanding the way of life. When I got to know that our topic is ‘There’s Strength in Memory’, I was excited and wanted to capture something really close to my heart. Hence, I decided to recreate the magic of festivals and celebrations as the memories are etched in my heart. I have used celebration camera shutter with sparklings as I yearn to seize the memories of the present and cherish them forever in future. I am thankful to Kingston and CSD for the opportunity and the creative platform.”
Kingston X CSD APAC Mask Design Competition
Top 10 Finalists List
Perfect Imperfections, Aljohn M. Matias (Philippines)
“Aljohn M. Matias depicts his collective experiences of meeting diverse groups of people over the years using a minimalistic approach. He believes that our imperfections create powerful and meaningful art which knows no boundaries.”
For Aljohn M. Matias, a third-year student studying Bachelor of Fine Arts in Philippines, art is not just his profession but also love and devotion, and he creates art mostly in unconventional but straightforward styles. For the facemask design, his inspiration came from Picasso’s line art drawing. He has incorporated a minimalistic approach yet tried to express an accurate meaning behind it, which is art needs no boundaries and is a limitless form of expression. Each artists express themselves differently, in their unique way. He staunchly believes in the power of our memories, and for him, memories are the foundation of our past as well as future. Each face tells us a story and that story lies behind the masks we all wear. His design reflects his collective experience of meeting diverse groups of people and how these differences make us who we are. This goes to show that our imperfections as a whole create powerful and meaningful art.
Siamese Fighting Fish, Waraporn Mamee (Thailand)
‘Each memory and experience become the foundation for Waraporn Mamee’s next quest, enabling her to grow as an artist; the Siamese fighting fish signifies her ambition and persistence on this journey.”
Formerly a product designer, Waraporn Mamee is now a Professor of Art and Design at Naresuan University, Thailand. Constantly looking for challenges to improve herself, she has entered multiple design contests. Though her artwork does not get selected every time, she never dwells in these setbacks. Instead, each memory and experience become the foundation and motivation for her next quest, enabling her to learn and grow as an artist. The icon-like design in Siamese Fighting Fish ( ปลากัดไทย ) is simple yet intriguing as Waraporn Mamee embraces her memories from past challenges and uses Siamese fighting fish to signify her ambition and persistence on this journey. The red, white, and blue colors are integrated to represent her roots, as well as love and pride for her nation, Thailand. In the middle, the only two red fighting fish swims towards each other, delivering the message that if one wants to achieve a goal, ambition and courage to swim against the current and work towards target is crucial, just like Siamese fighting fish.
Lips & Water Chestnut, Wu Bo Yi (Taiwan)
“Inspired by the contrast of familiar-ness and childhood memories, Wu Bo Yi plays with the positive and negative spaces, and creates a harmonious print of the water chestnut and lips.”
When the young, aspiring product designer Wu Bo Yi saw the theme of the competition “There’s Strength in Memory”, he immediately recalled the traditional snack he enjoyed when little. Water chestnut, the fruit of floating aquatic plants, is a unique and delicious snack in Taiwan. Growing up in Southern Taiwan, Wu Bo Yi holds the childhood memories of collecting water chestnuts with his grandma close to his heart, it is a “familiar” and comforting food. On the other hand, due to the current pandemic, lips are covered by masks each day and have become something “unfamiliar”. In between the familiar and the unfamiliar, wearing a mask allows us to speak face to face normally with one another in these strange times. Lip & Water Chestnut is inspired by the contrast of familiar-ness, Wu Bo Yi plays with the positive and negative spaces, and creates a harmonious print of the two objects with expressive strokes and stimulating colors.
Doodling Paper, Nguyen Dang Binh (Vietnam)
“Nguyen Dang Binh depicted all the happy times of his college days, when his spirit was untamable, in his artwork filled with funny faces; he hopes to unite art lovers and encourage them to follow their passion and become a harbinger of hope for everyone else.”
Passionate for doodling and typography, Nguyễn Đăng Bình, a 29-year-old Banker from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, belongs to a family of artists, but his parents insisted him to choose a Finance job instead of following his heart. This never stopped him from being a die-hard artist at heart, and he spends his nights doodling on an iPad after work. For him, all his memories have shaped his life and are pivotal to his existence. The time he spent during his college days with friends has always been etched in his memories, which were the happiest time as his spirit was untamable and dreamy. Therefore, he illustrated all his happy times through the interesting faces. Each of the faces represents a different joyful experience in his college days. Through his design, he wants to be a voice for every art and doodle lover. he hopes to unite art lovers and encourage them to follow their passion and be a beacon of hope and inspiration for the rest of the world.
Sparkling Lenses, Rishabh Raj (India)
“Celebration of life and festivals to the fullest, is the magic which Rishabh has recreated by using celebration camera shutter with sparklings; he yearns to seize these memories of the present and cherish them forever in the future. ”
Rishabh Raj, a postgraduate student of Textile Design from India, loves working on prints, designs, creative ideas, and software. Design is not just his profession, but an obsession. He believes that emotions do make one and their memories stronger- be it a happy emotion, sad or a bitter one. All the memories and emotions for him is an integral part of one’s journey of ultimately understanding the way of life. This helps people stay motivated, positive and relentless in life. His design submission is based on his memory of celebrations and festivals, which creates unforgettable memories in our minds. He used camera shutters with sparklings that are symbolic of celebration as well as to capture moments of the present which could be cherished in the future forever. Through his artwork, he wanted everyone to have a positive outlook and celebrate life to the fullest.
Love Memories Forever, Lilo Jong (Malaysia)
The deep-rooted emotion of missing her family is evident in Jong’s artwork, while each storage device from different time periods are used to represent her family members, Jong Pei Yen looks forward to being reunited with her beloved family members, together, just like in her artwork.
Multimedia Designer Jong Pei Yen has always been fond of capturing and preserving memories. Her passion for design started because of her yearning to encapsulate the beautiful memories with her family. Jong left her hometown at a very young age to work in other cities. Hence, she always tried to preserve and cherish memories of her family in the form of photo albums or art. In Love Memories Forever, the deep-rooted emotion of missing her family is evident. Jong uses storage devices from different time periods for each family members, the vivid colors are also used to represent different moods or family members’ personalities, for example, the calming blue color reminds her of her grandfather. She wishes to be reunited with her beloved family members, together, just like how it is in her artwork; she also reminds people that they are a precious part of someone else’s memories somewhere.
Construct X Deconstruction, Brenca Sun (Taiwan)
“In Construct X Deconstruction, Brenca Sun visualizes the concept of memory into a form of space and presents a magical paradise that stores the happy memories in her mind.”
Visual designer Brenca Sun has always been interested in transitioning concrete objects and motifs into abstract representations and symbols. In everyday life, though people encounter all kinds of incidents, good or bad, our minds tend to construct and deconstruct the perceived experiences based on our perspectives and understandings. Often, it is the good and pleasant memories that end up staying in our hearts forever. In Construct X Deconstruction, Brenca Sun visualizes the concept of memory into a form of space and presents a magical paradise. The roller coaster track-like designs with brilliant colors are blueprints, storing the condensed, happy memories in her mind. Whatever people are facing now, the memories of the current situation will also be constructed and deconstructed into codes and symbols.
Summer memories in the wonder garden, Hsu, Hsing-Chen (Taiwan)
“Highlighting her joyful memories of summer with midsummer flowers blooming in the garden, and lemon tree bearing fruit. Hsu, Hsing-Chen hopes that her vision of summer leaves an indelible imprint in the memories of everyone who sees it.”
Hsu, Hsing-Chen, a student in the Department of Visual Communication Design, creates artworks with a magical and translucent clarity and a flavor of vivid color tones. Since high school, she utilizes watercolor and markers and has been on a mission to create artwork based on her most cherished memories. She believes the significance of memories in our lives and reckons that learning from our memories makes us stronger than ever. Her facemask design artwork depicts summer’s refreshing feeling, with midsummer flowers blooming in the garden, and lemon tree bearing fruit. The beautiful scene of joyful summertime will last forever in the memory of people. By putting this design on the facemask, she hopes that her vision leaves an indelible imprint in the memories of everyone who sees it, as well as to alleviate the pressure and brighten people’s mood during this time, reminding everyone the beautiful memories of summertime.
Breath of Energy, Tsuyoshi Artman (Japan)
“Imagination deriving from memory and nature, Tsuyoshi Artman emphasizes the importance of “breathing” with pop art-styled illustrations of plants and greenery, aiming to make people stronger mentally.”
Tsuyoshi Artman is a freelance illustrator in Fukuoka, Japan. Practicing art at a young age, his art teacher shared with him the works of Hoshino Tomihiro’s, a paralyzed artist who drew sophisticated flowers and plants with his mouth. This memory profoundly impacted Tsuyoshi Artman’s interest in nature, and now as an artist, memory and the nature are his sources of beauty and creativity. In his design Breath of Energy, he emphasizes the importance of “breathing”, an action that is important to our lives on physical, mental, and spiritual levels. The image of plants exhibits vitality and prosperity, comparable to breathing. Previously a healthcare professional himself, he understands that facemasks have made people depressed and uncomfortable, he empathizes with those in this situation. He hopes that his design makes people feel mentally stronger and feel the energy of life when breathing through these masks. Tsuyoshi Artman chose psychedelic colors for his distinctive pop art-styled illustrations of plants and greenery, colors such as pink and purple that are almost shocking to the eyes, which further expresses the liveliness of his artwork.
Monster Nation, Yman.S (Malaysia)
“Yman.S pays homage through his artwork to the fighting spirit of the people, he turns the scary monsters we all dread in our childhood memories, which now also represent the day to day hardships we face, into cute little monsters.”
Yman.S, a Senior Packaging Designer from Malaysia, loves creating something new to inspire other people. His childhood memories played an intrinsic part in his life. Till this day, he remembers the first time, he fell in love with art, when he first picked up a pencil to draw when he was 4, and since, his passion for design has been insatiable. He is an ardent believer that our childhood fears also make us who we are today. As every other child, one of his biggest fears were monsters. After he grew up, he recognized that there are certainly scarier things than monsters which engulf our lives, and the day to day hardships and challenges are the real-life monsters. One such real-life monster is the ongoing pandemic for him. Through his design, he wants to incite the spirit of positivity and never-say-die attitude in everyone. He wants everyone to stop being afraid of these monsters. Hence, symbolically, he wants to turn the unwanted monsters into something cute and adorable. The little monsters in his artwork are his ode to the fighting spirit of people and his face mask design will always remind us of it. ENDS
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