What makes some of these local or global creatives tick? In this weekly column, Jackson Aw, Founder of Mighty Jaxx, shares his favourite things.
1. Music: I’m a child of the ‘90s and grew up listening to punk rock bands like Blink 182 and Green Day. I am a big fan because the origins of punk began with a passion to achieve something real, to stand out and do something different.
This genre of music introduced a brand-new subculture and musical scene, and till today, they continue to be a pervasive force that has an undeniable impact on fashion and art.
Back when punk rock first started, people were following suit with what everyone else was doing because it was simply the least risky thing to do – but the music and culture said “No!”, and set out to do something unique that sets them apart from their competitors, and that is the direction I take with Mighty Jaxx – we always want to be the challenger brand that stands out.
2. Gaming: I play strategy & simulation games like Cities: Skylines because I enjoy building things. In the game, I do everything from building a canal to putting together a government.
Others may think I’m crazy but I really do get obsessed with building from the ground up! I will restart the game 100 times to just keep replicating scenarios until I get the right model. Watching a city grow from a few small buildings to an entire network of skyscrapers is an awesome feeling.
When the difficulties do come in real life as they do in the game, I generally feel like I am sufficiently equipped to deal with them.
3. Cameras & Photography: I studied Digital Media at Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) and learnt a lot about photography from my lecturer James. We shot at events and I realised that I loved the mechanics of cameras more than the photography itself.
Since then, I’ve always been thinking about how cameras worked and what kind of cameras were out there.
I follow my gut instinct a lot and I really love the impact of the photographic image on visual storytelling, and I always try to use that application to complement and enhance the storytelling in the products we develop at Mighty Jaxx.
4. Books: In my free time, I like to read biographies by luminaries such as Walt Disney & Richard Branson to glean insights into running a business more efficiently. For Disney, it’s amazing to look at business through his eyes, where he’s able to reinvent fables into a Disney form that includes a lot of merchandising and growth.
In the case of Richard Branson, I always identify with his story a lot because his business took on different iterations. It’s quite diverse and how a brand name can be so diverse. I realised that he always leans on his North Star, which is a single liner of what Virgin is, to be outrageous, to be against the norm.
He applies that throughout the different categories that he’s in. I like that a lot because I resonate heavily with a very strong well-built brand.
My personal motto is also the title of Paul Arden’s book, It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be.
5. Art: This piece by Phunk hangs proudly on the wall of the studio. I am a big fan of Phunk going back to the days when we collaborated on our Love Bomb collectible. The people behind Phunk have seamlessly created a visual signature that effortlessly blends and reinterprets their diverse influences such as traditional Chinese craft, philosophy and folklore, Hong Kong wuxia pulp fiction, Japanese manga and otaku subculture, Western popular culture, art and design movements into a singular creative thought that reflects their multi-cultural identity, background and environment.
6. Food: Growing up in Singapore, where food is such a unique component of our society, getting exposed to a cultural melting pot of different flavours was a wonderful part of growing up and that has shaped my palate to this day.
I am a big foodie and am always on the lookout for new food innovations that bridge cultural and generational gaps. I love the idea that food is an expression, much like a form of art. I especially enjoy it when there is a clash of cultures, and the food adopts an identity that pulls inspiration from the sights and sounds around us.
Rempapa is a heritage cuisine adventure that serves flavours of Chinese, Peranakan, Eurasian, Indian and Malay cuisine. My favourite heritage pastry store is Tong Heng, where they sell these fantastic diamond-shaped egg tarts.
7. Collectibles: I am definitely obsessed with collectibles, and this set right here with DC Comics was our first big break!
This was our first licensed product where we could “restyle” the DC Comics characters in our own creative interpretation, and since working with them in 2015, we have gone on to design and produce both digital and phygital collectibles in partnership with the greatest creative talents in the world, as well as global brands such as Netflix, Formula 1, Hasbro, Toei Animation and more, shipping millions of phygital collectibles to over 90 countries worldwide yearly.
8. The Future of Culture: As the different eras come and go, there is something magical about creating a product that stays relevant over the passage of time, and utilising that same product to create/watch a different world come to life. I believe that creativity can be applied in different forms on the same medium and in recent years, I have been obsessed with creating a world for a future culture where we can bridge the physical-digital gap using our collectibles.
I have a lot of interest in building within and beyond creative confines and for us, it’s about creating a community to fuel passion this involves us developing all-encompassing experiences for people and collectors alike to immerse themselves in, and getting them to directly use their imagination to world-build on their own.
Once you’re done with this story, click here to catch up with our December/January 2023 issue!
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