PUBLISHED February 8th, 2013 02:59 am | UPDATED July 22nd, 2024 03:28 pm
Did you know that the T-shirt evolved from undergarments in the 19th century? They were commonly used by labourers and soldiers as standardised uniform throughout the early part of the 20th century, but when Marlon Brando nonchalantly wore his with that unapologetic force of brutish masculinity in A Streetcar named Desire, a fashion statement was born.
Nowadays, T-shirts are just about everywhere, but some folks have taken the humble T-shirt and made it into something quite special… wearable art. Let me introduce you to Carte Postale.
Carte Postale are Anwar and Hakim, the artist and the visionary. A chance meeting a few years ago in a furniture shop was the catalyst for a meeting of minds, and although their introduction was a failure in terms of Hakim getting that sofa he needed (I guess they found they had a lot more interesting things to discuss!), it was a hugely fortuitous encounter. Anwar was a frustrated artist, illustrator and muralist who didn’t really want to be selling fancy Italian sofas. In his own time he had been doing some amazing work, receiving affirmation from globally – acknowledged creative experts at the Creative Youth Exchange Competition held at the Gallery Hotel – which basically means that if you stay at the gallery hotel, you may well stay in a room that Anwar designed; submitting designs to Threadless, winning all sorts of competitions and developing a stellar reputation on the local arts scene, but he wanted the freedom to draw the ideas in his head, without the constraints of a 9-5.
Hakim was a frustrated entrepreneur, artistic but terrible at drawing, the ideas were all in his head, as was a business idea and the experience and attention to detail to make it flourish. Hakim, who speaks fluent Japanese by the way, so…friggin….cool, had been working for a company that had an element of fashion crossover, so when he came in to contact with designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier and Issey Miyake, let’s just say his interest was piqued.
Since launching Carte Postale in 2010, here in Singapore, the boys are living a happy, harmonious, creative dream developing a devoted following both here and overseas, mainly the UK and the States. Hakim focuses on the concept of the CP brand and all other aspects behind the production and marketing of their designer tees driving manufacturers crazy with his obsessively critical eye, so that you guys can have the best product possible. And Anwar lets his mind go wandering and comes up with innovative and exciting designs. In this perfect pairing of fashion and art, we all win!
Have a check out of their website and you might come across something else though, that with the ominous Valentine’s approaching made me a very happy camper indeed. Carte Postale do a caricature service! – putting Anwar’s awesome illustration skills to brilliant and often hilarious use. For US$40, you can send in a picture, mention any particular details you’d like, and Anwar will make you into something a bit like this! Too too cool!
It takes about 7 days and Carte Postale will send you the high res image for you to do WHATEVER you want with – I’m talking mugs, pillows, canvass, calenders, you can go as cheesy with it as you wanna!
So what next for Carte Postale, except for turning us all in to cartoons? Well, rather excitingly there’s an upcoming collaboration with a Project Runway winner to give CP designs some serious fashion chops. CP Murals popping up all over town. Upcoming events and an awesome partnership with yours truly, City Nomads, and generally a whole lotta Carte Postale love going around. It’s always awesome to meet people who love what they do and care about all those little details that make something totally unique and inspirational…
Carte Postale are making the world a more beautiful place, one T-shirt at a time.
Carte Postale can be found online here and at Coda in Scott’s Square- look out for Anwar’s designs instore too!
Written by Heh Zee