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Our 5 Questions with Drayson Phua - Singapore / Head of Creative for The Cannery

Question 01 : The major influences that makes you who you are today?

The 1^st time I ever thought of pursuing design was from a conversation with my secondary Design and Technology teacher. After our final semester project, he took a look at my work and told me I had “something” in me and that I should pursue design as a career.

With that thought in mind, I came up with 3 reasons why I should do so.

Firstly, I don’t have to wear a shirt and tie to work. Second was that there seem to be more pretty girls in the design faculties. And lastly was that I won’t have to work on the same thing everyday.

I would credit that teacher (whose name I have forgotten) as the source of my career choice today.

Question 02 : Name one favourite object of your past? 

One of my favourites was definitely the View Master.

You know those red binoculars looking thing where upon inserting a plastic disk with slides that enables you to view images in stereoscopic 3D.

That was cool.

Question 03 : Is there an influence, brand or person that you felt defined the past decade?

There are too many to list. Our world is affected by so many different sources from both within and out of the design field that naming a single brand or person undermines all the other great influences.

Question 04 : What excites you in the world today? 

I shall be obvious here and state globalisation.

With all the communication tools we have today, it is totally feasible to be working / collaborating with someone else in the world you might never meet otherwise. This phenomenon will only get easier and more widespread with more and more people adapting to such technologies.

However, as we get closer to other creatives around the world, we distance ourselves from people right beside us.

Question 05 : If you could predict 2 things that we will see for the next 10 years, what will they be? 

Focus on localisation. As from my answer above, we have already realised the shift and have been working on this facet of recognising local creatives. So much so that some people are already getting sick of the word “Local Talents”.

Our local scene at the moment seems to be focused on big name artists who have already shown their skills at various venues and events.

I admire their work but I’m trying not to forget students’ fresh out of or still in schools or neglected creatives who have been showing great stuff but are working in the shadows.

That is what I’m striving to achieve in the coming year.

Secondly, flying cars?

Special Thanks to Drayson.