My Weekend

Creative director Kelley Cheng finds inspiration in the arts.
Creative director Kelley Cheng finds inspiration in the arts. PHOTO: KETSIREE WONGWAN

Ms Kelley Cheng, 43, is the curator of the Martell AiR Gallery, a mobile application created by cognac house Martell to celebrate its 300th anniversary and Singapore's Golden Jubilee.

The app is an augmented reality contemporary art exhibition with works by 15 Singapore artists including writer Amanda Lee Koe and film-maker Kirsten Tan.

The works are displayed against landmarks in the Marina Bay area such as Marina Bay Sands and the Singapore Flyer.

The app can be downloaded for free from iTunes or Google Play Store.

Ms Cheng, who is also the creative director of publishing and design consultancy The Press Room, lives in a condominium in Geylang with her partner.

Do you keep your weekends work-free?

Weekends are the only time for me to plan my schedule for the week ahead and do some conceptualising as I'm busy on the weekdays with projects and other tasks. Plus, there is too much "noise" during the weekends so I usually work from home.

I'm making an effort to work just one day of the weekend and do whatever I like on the other day.

What do you do to relax then?

I enjoy the arts as that is where I get a lot of inspiration. A particular favourite is dance. I prefer watching a dance performance to a play or concert as I'm a visual person and dance is art in motion.

Plus, there is so much room for interpretation in dance which I appreciate. I admire dancers very much as it's a very disciplined form of art.

Where is a regular weekend haunt?

There is this quaint little bar called The Tuckshop in Geylang. When I first went there, I marvelled at the clever design as they kept the old window grilles of the old space. Adding to its cosiness are communal tables, which make it easy to strike up a conversation with strangers.

If you could spend a weekend with anyone - dead or alive - who would it be and why?

I have two people in mind - the late Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs, and Facebook chief executive officer, Mark Zuckerberg. I admire both greatly as they built two of the most successful brands in the world. It would be fun to find out what goes on in the mind of a successful creative thinker.

Complete this sentence: A perfect day off would be one…

When I do nothing at all and have a good rest. As a workaholic, I would just want to relax and do a mental detox, where I flush out all thoughts of work and not feel guilty about it.

Gurveen Kaur

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on December 04, 2015, with the headline My Weekend. Subscribe