Celebrating all things Singaporean

HAPPY National Day. As the countdown begins towards Singapore's 54th birthday, Weekend magazine devotes the entire issue to all things Singaporean. For a start, we go back in time to spotlight some of the designers who put Singapore on the international fashion map back in the late 1990s to 2000s. Remember the likes of Song+Kelly by Wykidd Song, Ashley Isham, Hansel by Jo Soh? We catch up with six of these creatives and find out what they've been up to all these years and now.

When it comes to Singapore architecture, look no further than Yip Yuen Hong, the multiple winner of President's Design Award and most recently, Building of the Year (residential) at the annual Architectural Design Awards. He talks about how preserving and adapting Singapore's architectural heritage are key to his design philosophy - whether in the form of a kampung-style house on stilts, or a modern riff on a colonial house. Architecture doesn't have to be about big expensive buildings, he feels. Rather, it should be thought of as a system that allows the whole community to thrive.

While that's food for thought for the design circles, we find something else to chew on in the form of the Singapore locavore movement. As growing your own food becomes a fashionable dining trope, we feature four urban farmers who have set out to prove that farm-to-table can work in land-scarce Singapore.

Speaking of buying local, check out a list of whimsical and elegant made-in-Singapore souvenirs that are perfect for foreign friends as well as yourself. Entertainment-wise, we salute the thirty-year career of homegrown musician Dick Lee, whose song Home is the most hummable National Day song. Finally, settle down over this long weekend with a good book, written by a local author, of course.