This International Women’s Day, we revolutionize the meaning of taking the road less traveled. About pursuing what you are truly passionate about, without conforming to what society thinks you should be doing. About embracing your inner courage and creativity to reimagine what life looks like for you. To set out your own path despite the naysayers telling you otherwise.
In collaboration with Lenskart Singapore, we talk to two inspiring local designers, Teresa and Samantha, who have both created a series of beautiful eyewear designs together with Lenskart, to further empower many women out there, to pursue their own creative paths, no matter where it might take them.
Being a designer in our local career landscape is not an easy feat – which is why we wanted to find out a little more from Teresa and Samantha about their artistic journeys, creative processes, and what embracing their own creativity means to them ~
Teresa Lim (@teeteeheehee), is an illustrator and embroidery artist based in Singapore. She is a recent mum of a 3 month old baby girl, and is one of the artists featured in Lenskart’s newest launch for IWD!
For this particular collection, Teresa wanted to visually represent a women’s journey. By creating something quirky and fun whilst capturing the essence of hardship us girls go through, as seen by the scribbles and dots/dashes that symbolize the feeling of frustration and presence of tears that we might shed from time to time.
[TeeTeeHeeHee designs by Teresa Lim]
Hi Teresa! Tell us a bit more on why you decided to pursue your career as a designer here in Singapore!
“I don’t think there was a very clear moment where I decided to do this full time. I’ve just always enjoyed expressing myself through colors and being creative with my hands. For me I guess it only made sense to carry on doing what I love to do and ultimately turn it into a long-lasting career.”
What were some of the challenges you faced as a designer?
“One of the challenges I faced was coming to terms with being your own boss. It was quite difficult for me because there was no one there to teach me, so I had to learn everything on my own, which pretty much means learning from my own mistakes a lot of the time!”
We are so happy to hear you are a new mum to your baby girl! Share with us some lessons you learnt on your journey that you might want to teach your daughter one day.
“I would tell her that everyone’s journey is different. There’s no need to compare your journey to someone else’s, or feel bad that your path might be a little different from them. You do you!”
What is the message you would like to share with your daughter and fellow women this International Women’s Day?
“I think it was after becoming a mum, did I realize that women are actually capable of anything. We are so strong! And that is why I want my daughter to grow up knowing that there are absolutely no limits for her!”
The second artist featured in Lenskart’s newest IWD Collection is cake artist and baker, Samantha Quek! She and her partner, Ernest run Cupplets – a bakery that creates painterly designed cakes to artisanal bakes, and Cupplets Creatives – a creative space dedicated to their design processes and collaborations.
She also enjoys exploring other forms of art materials such as edible mediums and paint to express herself creatively on canvas – as represented by two of her beautiful designs she chose to incorporate in the eyewear of this collection.
[Cupplets designs by Samantha Quek]
Samantha, what would you say your personality is like when it comes to designing?
“I think I’m rather free-spirited when it comes to designing. I tap a lot onto my own intuition on the colors that I use and how I want the brush strokes to go.”
What is your creative process like?
“I love using a canvas mostly because I can really feel and see the texture of the acrylic paint. I really enjoy the act of playing around with paint colors based on my mood and seeing how they magically come to my life.”
What mood were you trying to convey in the two different pieces you did?
“I found that both pieces truly represented the theme of liberation – a sense of true freedom in every sense of the word. Ultimately for me, being able to freely express an individual’s story on a canvas was a true privilege, and I hope I was able to deliver the essence of that onto the artwork.
What made you decide to marry art and baking, and how did people react to it?
I started off as a cake artist as I was really attracted to the idea of using traditional art materials and tools onto edible mediums. It was later on that I applied my creative style onto a piece of canvas. It was a really interesting and exciting idea to me and something I knew no one had seen before, which is why it took a while for the local market to respond to it. Over time, people started to understand and appreciate what we were trying to convey with our artistic pieces, and I think it’s been good so far!”
Art and baking are two very challenging roles, what made you decide to pursue them?
I’ve always been curious about art, but never had the chance to dabble into it until I started my own bakery with my partner, where cake became the first canvas I really ever explored. I guess that was how I married the two together. It is challenging, yes, especially facing some apprehensiveness from both our parents given its unconventional nature. But ultimately, it was something both my partner and I really wanted to do, so we went for it!”
So Samatha, what does empowerment mean to you?
“I think empowerment stands from our own beliefs and goals. It also comes from our surroundings and the conversations we have – where something sparks this powerful sense of encouragement, confidence and innovation. It builds a sense of courage in you to pursue and create things that others might not be daring enough to do.”
What these 2 designers essentially shared in common, was the chance to be able to create a story to inspire people the best way they knew how – through the beauty of art.
Teresa: “In all my frames, I have included three staple icons which you can find on the temples and nosepads. The first one is the heart – which represents passion in what you do. The second in the pair of lips – symbolising the ability to empower others through your words. Lastly, the star – which is my visual representation of the magic that is inside each and every one of us.”
Samantha: “I hope whoever picks up these eyewear becomes inspired by the story behind it. I want them to feel motivated and empowered to try something different from the norm. Ultimately, I feel that to be able to create is a true privilege, so I hope everyone grants themselves that privilege.”
The thing about stories is that it gives us a chance to learn as much as we can from someone else’s journey – their ups and downs, struggles and triumphs – so that we can in turn create a story for ourselves. We hope that by sharing these stories, our readers are inspired to follow suit – to pursue your passions no matter the naysayers, and to set your own path while embracing your inner creativity.
As Teresa so beautifully demonstrated – we all have a little magic inside of us, so let’s make some magic happen.
Happy International Women’s Day!
Lenskart’s newest collection launches on 4th March 2022 online at www.lenskart.sg, and at all Lenskart stores islandwide (except for IMM and Toa Payoh) and John Jacobs at Tampines 1. Pop on over to our Instagram @thedcedit for more information!
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Till next time,
Shanti
