Boutique Fairs: Long-running showcase of Singaporean creativity

ONE of Singapore’s longest-running shopping events returns at the end of April, with a design and fashion focus. Now in its 42nd edition, Boutique Fairs Singapore started out in 2002 as a one-day affair with just 17 vendors at Fort Canning Centre. The latest run is set to host 300 independent labels across seven rooms covering 9,060 square metres at the F1 Pit Building. 

Although its focus is Singapore brands, it has also attracted about 25 international labels – the highest number since its inception – from Thailand and Japan to Denmark and the United States, carrying goods and wares one rarely finds here.

“One of the main challenges for these independent designers is gaining exposure and access to markets. They have to compete with larger, more established brands that have greater resources for marketing and distribution,” says Charlotte Cain, the fair founder.

“The fair (serves) as a platform for these independent designers to showcase their work, engage directly with a wider audience, gain valuable feedback on their designs, and share their brand stories.”

Originally from Denmark, Cain moved to Singapore in 1989 because of her husband’s work. The expat mother of two pursued her passion in pottery and opened a studio. Boutique Fairs originally began as a showcase of small, studio-based and design-led businesses by her and mostly her friends. But it has since grown in strength, sharpening its focus on home-grown designers and creatives, whose wares might have been overlooked by the busy consumer.

“At the beginning, we saw more expat brands, but we wanted to shift this from the onset as the importance of nurturing our local design community was our core goal,” Cain says.

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“Today, we have almost a 50-50 mix of local and Singapore-based expat brands at Boutique Fairs, which was the goal from the start – to blend the different communities in Singapore.”

The upcoming edition will feature 300 brands, of which 80 are showing at Boutique Fairs for the first time. Highlights include Erika Pena – a luxury resort wear label worn by celebrities such as Beyonce and Kim Kardashian, and sold by Revolve, Anthropologie and Bergdorf Goodman – making its physical debut in Singapore.

There’s also Annie & Lori, a brand of minimalist leather sandals handcrafted by Filipino footwear artisans and favoured by beauties such as Catriona Gray and Kelsey Merritt.

Others to look out for include handwoven goods brand Sarnsard from Thailand, traditionally crafted metal jewellery label Lievik Atelier from Indonesia, and female-fronted fashion house 3Eighth from Singapore. 

Another highlight is a solo exhibition by Studio Karyn Lim, where some of the designer’s functional sculptures will be available for purchase. Lim, a Singapore-based industrial designer and former recipient of the fair’s Young Designers Showcase Grant, experiments with various materials and creates products ranging from furniture to clothing and accessories.

The prices of the products at Boutique Fairs will range from S$60 for mouth-blown glassware (Studio Yono) to S$3,900 for a table crafted by Lim. Visitors can also expect tencel T-shirts at S$44 (Source Collections), foulards at S$590 (Helga Design), plant-based chocolate bars at S$7 (The Goodness Company), and locally distilled gin at S$108 a bottle (Brass Lion Distillery).

There will be about 20 food and beverage vendors at the fair including PS.Cafe and Kyuukei Coffee, as well as charity organisations which were granted free spaces to sell handmade crafts.

Cain says: “My long-term aspirations for Boutique Fairs would be to expand its regional presence so that the participating Singapore-based brands... get more exposure.” 

Boutique Fairs Singapore runs from Apr 26 to Apr 28 at the F1 Pit Building