We loved our little plant pots so much that we decided to make more! There’s something incredibly satisfying about taking an ordinary terracotta pot, covering it in one of our colourful nala fabrics and turning it into something completely different. They’re cheerful, a little quirky and ridiculously cute, especially once you’ve found the perfect little plant to live inside.

Every pot is made in-house, by hand, using our own fabrics. No two will ever be quite the same, and that’s precisely what I love about them. We’ve become so accustomed to everything being produced at the click of a button that I sometimes wonder whether we’re forgetting the simple pleasure of making something ourselves.

I’m a great believer in handicraft, in cutting, pasting, experimenting, getting glue on your fingers and occasionally making a glorious mess. There’s something wonderful about working with your hands, and I think we should all be doing a little more of it. One thing’s for sure, AI can’t sit down with a terracotta pot, a piece of fabric and a pot of glue and make one of these. Neither can a 3D printer recreate the pleasure of doing it yourself.

Perhaps it’s time we went a little old school again, because not everything needs to be digital, automated or perfectly manufactured. Sometimes all you need is a good idea, a pair of scissors and an afternoon to yourself.

Our new fabric-covered terracotta pots will be available in all our stores this weekend, so please go and find yourself a lovely little plant to put inside. They’re super cute, and I think they’ll make wonderful gifts too.

For those of you who fancy making your own, we also sell our nala fabrics. Come and visit us at our Kantoor store at Kasturi, where you can choose your favourite print and have a go yourself. Who knows, you might discover a new hobby.

Here’s to getting our hands dirty again, and making something beautiful in the process.

The collection is called HERBS MALAYSIA.

It’s a celebration of the herbs we use in Malaysian cooking. But instead of looking at the leaves we put into our dishes, I decided to look at their flowers and I enlarged them.

Suddenly, these tiny flowers that we hardly ever notice become extraordinary works of art. The colours, the shapes, the details. All hiding in the herbs we use in our kitchens every day.

100% Malaysian. And quite possibly the beginning of another beautiful nala collection.

The original paintings are available for purchase, and from this Saturday, we’ll also have a small selection of limited edition archival prints. Just six or seven artworks to choose from.

The quality is extraordinary. They’re so beautifully reproduced that they almost look three-dimensional.

The prints are beautifully packed, ready for you to take home in your suitcase. And if you can’t carry them, don’t worry. We ship worldwide.

So come upstairs, have a look around, discover the flowers behind your favourite Malaysian dishes, and say hello to Uncle Brandon.

Welcome to Uncle Brandon’s Gallery.

WHERE TO FIND US

nala Beach Street
230, Beach Street
10300 George Town, Penang

For viewings or enquiries, contact Uncle Brandon at brandon@happytimes.naladesigns.com.

Worldwide shipping available.

It’s such a simple thing. One little initial. But somehow, it makes all the difference. Something that everybody has suddenly becomes unmistakably yours.

And nowhere is this more useful than with our Shupatto bags.

In my family, my daughters, my friends and I all seem to have the same ones. They get left in cars, thrown into handbags, taken to the supermarket, borrowed and occasionally never returned. Very quickly, nobody knows whose is whose.

So I started personalising mine.
One initial. That’s it. And I love it.

There are two ways to do it. You can choose a curly letter, which is softer and more playful, or fileteado, a bold capital letter. Same initial, two completely different personalities.

A little letter. A little more you.
And, in my family at least, no more arguments over whose Shupatto it is.

A NOTE TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS

For the month of October, enjoy one complimentary personalised initial with the online purchase of any of our three Shupatto shopper tote bags.

When placing your order, simply leave us a personal note telling us which letter you would like and whether you prefer curly or fileteado.

Online only.

For the past five years, I have read just about every motivational and business book I could get my hands on. I found ideas I liked, but this was the first experience that changed something in my daily life. The difference, for me, is that Landmark is practical. I began to notice patterns while they were happening, and I had a way to respond differently.

One of my blind spots began when I was 10 or 11. I was picked on in Holland for being a little chinese girl because I just moved to Holland from Hong Kong, and I came away believing I did not belong. I carried that belief into my friendships, my family and my work. It followed me through every country I lived in. I had no idea how much it was shaping my life, or how hard it had made me on myself and the people I love.

A great deal of the learning happens through listening. Someone shares a breakdown or a breakthrough, and suddenly you recognise something in your own life. You share your experience, and someone else sees something in theirs. That is how the ideas become useful, through real conversations and the chance to practise them every day.

I wish I had known this 40 years ago. I wish this kind of learning were part of our everyday education.

This Saturday, as part of my candidature to become a Landmark introduction leader, I am leading an introduction from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. I will share my experience, explain some of the basic principles and tell you how the course works. You are welcome to come, listen and decide for yourself whether it interests you.

DM me if positive transformation is important to you.

A Clockwork Orange is a novel by Anthony Burgess, published in 1962. The novel is set in a dystopian England and follows the life of 14-year-old Alex, a juvenile delinquent who is sent to jail and subsequently undergoes a state-sponsored psychological rehabilitation programme aimed at curing his violent and deviant behaviour.

The novel explores the boundaries of human morality and freedom of choice under an extreme political system. Moreover, the novel is written almost fully in a futuristic slang, known as Nadsat, that gives further insight into Alex's psychology and his life.

The novel begins by describing a totalitarian society where extreme violence is ever-present among the youth. Alex, the protagonist, is a teenager who greatly enjoys classical music and is also a member of a violent teen gang. His gang frequently engages in acts of brutality against innocent and defenceless people.

When one of these escapades goes awry and Alex ends up murdering an elderly woman, he is sentenced to 14 years in prison. Eventually, Alex is chosen to undergo a form of aversion therapy, which results in him becoming physically sick whenever he encounters violence, whether simply thinking about it or attempting to commit a crime.

The novel raises important ethical questions, particularly whether it is better to choose to be bad rather than to be forced to be good. It explores the importance of free will and the ethical consequences of suppressing someone's freedom of choice for the sake of society's safety.

Ultimately, A Clockwork Orange forces us to question the role of morality in society, leading me to a quote that stuck with me from the book:

“Does God want goodness or the choice of goodness?”