Community is shaped by the people who show up for one another. It’s something we’ve come to appreciate about Joo Chiat, where our new flagship store opened this July. To mark our arrival in the neighbourhood, we partnered with Eastside, an independent travel publication focused on telling Asia’s stories by Asia’s people, to look more closely at the people and places that give Joo Chiat its character.
The brief was simple: create an ode to the neighbourhood.
Over six months, Eastside spent time with the people behind its shops, studios and kitchens—from a decades-old rattan craftsman to an artisan making wagashi by hand. Rather than compiling a list of places to visit, the project became a portrait of Joo Chiat through the people who live and work here, and the stories they have to tell.
For Eastside co-founder and editorial director Audrey Phoon, the process returned to the publication’s reason for being: to tell Asian stories with the people who live them, rather than simply about them.
