WHO: Creative director Jackson Tan, 46, co-founded contemporary art and design collective Phunk in 1994 and multi-disciplinary creative agency Black in 2001.
Tan, who designed the SG50 logo in 2015, made it in The Straits Times Life Power List the same year.
He and the three other members of Phunk - Alvin Tan, William Chan and Melvin Chee - style themselves as a "visual rock band" and are featured in a new coffee table book, Control Chaos: Redefining The Visual Cultures of Asia. Published by London-based Thames & Hudson, the book is available at Books Kinokuniya at $67.41.
The pandemic has not only grounded me but also drastically altered the way I work.
At my design agency Black, my team and I used to travel once or twice a month but now, we meet in the studio only for urgent discussions or to collaborate on creating artworks. We work from home the rest of the time.
My wife Talia and I are usually up at 6.30am for our daily walks around our neighbourhood in Beach Road. There is less traffic and noise at that time.
On weekends, we have a little more time, so we take longer treks to Gardens by the Bay or the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
After our walks, we are back at our Bugis-Kampong Glam neighbourhood for breakfast at the many cosy cafes and eateries which serve a good selection of local food.
Since cinemas have reopened, we also try to catch movies at The Projector in Golden Mile Tower or Golden Village at Suntec City when it is not too crowded.
I am an avid film lover. My passion began as a child growing up in a shophouse at Tan Quee Lan Street. Together with my grandmother and father - also movie buffs - I watched everything from Hong Kong gongfu epics to Taiwanese tearjerkers to Hollywood blockbusters at Prince and Jade cinemas at Shaw Tower, which was a hop and skip across the road from our shophouse.
With more time on my hands now, I recently finished reading Wagashi, a historical account of the Japanese art of confectionery.
I am also reading Ride Of A Lifetime by Bob Iger, the former chief executive of Disney, and graphic novel The Assassins by local comic artist Koh Hong Teng and writer S. Mickey Lin.
While the pandemic has clipped our wings, I think it has also given us the opportunity to slow down, rediscover and enjoy the beauty of Singapore.
