What makes some of these local or global creatives tick? In this weekly column, Marc Tan, Photographer and Director of Studio Periphery, shares his favourite things.
1. Cameras: Everything I do today comes from a point of interest, and analog cameras were one of the early items I got obsessed with and would purchase them on my travels or from countless hours on Ebay. These are just some of my favourite cameras I have in my collection that I think are both functionally and aesthetically beautiful objects. I only wish I had more opportunities to work with them.
2. Eyewear: When I leave the house, there are typically only two accessories I think about: my watch and choice of eyewear. I’m a huge fan of designs from the 50’s to the 70’s in general — and in eyewear, I tend to gravitate towards thick acetate or tortoiseshell frames, with bold character.
3. Footwear: Pictured is my current rotation. Aside from the leopard print Engineered Garments x Hoka One pair, it feels like I’ve become more conservative with my choice of colour ways. As someone who’s always had 30 to 40 pairs lying about, I really try to minimise the number of shoes I have, but old habits die hard.
4. Phase One XT Camera: This camera has been on my little list of wants since the day it was announced. As a photographer working within the design and built environment, high-quality precision, and technical equipment is a must and it really does get any better than the Phase One XT.
The price tag on one of these is the hardest part to justify and I’ll admit that every few weeks or months, I will go on various websites and review pages to read about it and dream up what I’ll do when I eventually decide to pull the trigger.
Until then, it’s a strong one on my obsessions list.
5. Precision: Similar reasons to the Phase One XT, my work revolves around a huge emphasis on precision and balance. One of the biggest sources of joy in my day-to-day work is finding that sweet spot when objects and spaces align perfectly.
Shout-out to Massone Ong for working with me on this beautiful project and the sun for showing up at the right time.
6. Shelf Game: As someone who collects or hoards a variety of things from a young age, I am very attracted to what people put on their shelves. Pictured are some shelves at my new studio. I’ve only moved into this new space recently and unpacking books, magazines, toys, art, and objects, and finding a way for them to work together is great fun. I know I will probably reorganise the shelf every couple of weeks just to find new ways of combining these things.
7. Supra: Obsessed with this car I’ve been driving since its release in 2020. Growing up I was never into cars, and actually got my driving license rather late in life. However I’ve always liked Toyota’s line of Celica’s and Supra’s — they always seemed extremely subtle design-wise, but full of power and quite the cult following.
When I got word about the 2020 Supra coming to Singapore, I half-jokingly asked a car dealer friend if they were bringing units in and the answer was “yes, one black one”. When the car arrived and I saw it in person, I just had to get it.
I was told I might’ve been the fourth or fifth person in Singapore with one on the road and it’s still a rare occasion to see another Supra driver on our roads. Exciting stuff!
8. Vinyl on the weekends: Sometime early this year, I found myself walking down the deep, dark rabbit hole of HiFi systems. I’ve always had a small collection of records, but what the music came out of was never too serious. I cannot remember the turning point, but I have a feeling I might have been watching some live analogue jams on Youtube and realised that I needed to make my childhood dream of owning a Technics SL1200 turntable a reality.
Within a week of the turntable arriving, I also found myself putting together a brand new Yamaha ampler and some beautiful vintage JBL speakers — 4000 series of course with the classic JBL blue faces.
With the new studio being a much larger space, I’ve recently found great pleasure in putting on a couple of records as I worked on the weekends and playing music at a volume where one could listen to and “feel” the music.
9. Watches: An odd collection of watches here ranging from old Seiko’s and Tag’s handed down from my father to vintage Rolex’s and independent watchmakers. I’ve come to realise that I’m not too fond of 40mm ++ sports watches and found myself admiring these little 36mm vintage dress watches. The Day-Date and Date-Just’s are my favourites (and get the heaviest rotation) and the Kurono Grand Akane is just such a beauty — very refined subtlety.
10. Yu Nagaba’s art: I first saw Yu Nagaba’s illustrations in Popeye Magazine, then coincidentally met him at a small event he was doing with Carl Hansen and Son in Tokyo. Thankfully my wife is fluent in Japanese and we quickly got aquatinted. Since that meeting, we’ve kept in touch and toyed with the idea of getting him to add his touch to the Studio Periphery brand. A year later, we made it happen when we got to have lunch and visit his studio in Tokyo to solidify plans. It’s super fantastic seeing how successful he’s gotten since, with countless shows and collaborations.
Once you’re done with this story, click here to catch up with our October 2022 issue!
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