Apr 2014 - Esquire Malaysia - Mint

Search Esquire
HOME
STYLE
CULTURE
GALLERY
TECH & DESIGN
WOMEN
PEOPLE
NEWS & EVENTS
TRAVEL
Let your inner kid out
March 28, 2014
The MINT museum in Singapore isn’t just a treasure trove of toys. It’s also a
fun way of revising world history.
CATEGORIES
Home
Remember a time when a kid’s toy wasn’t an iPad, but a set of miniature
pullback toy cars, perhaps, or a train set, or even just a robot or action-man doll
—that no, did not talk back or perform amazing feats, but were simply
exquisitely well-made works of art, though they probably weren’t considered
such then?
Well, one person, at least, did find them to be works of art, even then. Chang
Yang Fa, who was an electrical engineer, now in his sixties, has stealthily
amassed, throughout the decades of his life, a veritable personal collection—less
than 10 percent of which now makes up the avant-garde structure of the MINT
(Moment of Imagination and Nostalgia with Toys) museum in Singapore, we're
told—the rest are purportedly stored in two warehouses. Chang had travelled far
and wide to access these toys, and his collection includes 19th- and 20th-century
memorabilia from over 40 countries, mostly from Singapore but also the US,
UK, Brazil, Greece, Japan and Turkey, each of which can be worth tens of
thousands of dollars today.
Save 30 percent
on the cover price
@ ESQUIREMY
CONTESTS
IPAD
Esquire Malaysia
@esquiremy
14h
Hot watches of Baselworld: Hamilton Khaki XWind Limited Edition, a mechanical automatic
movement, looking good!
pic.twitter.com/25Uw7fgQn1
Join the conversation
MOST POPULAR ON ESQUIRE
Shir laid bare
Patrick Dempsey: “read and travel
and experience life”
The Esquire third-anniversary Opus
Box
Susan Lankester: "I chose to
disappear and become a hermit for a
while"
How to take epic pictures of your
girlfriend
This is a place you’ll want to visit if you want to relive your childhood, and which,
we daresay, is itself worth a trip to Singapore. Unless you’re really
knowledgeable about your toy history, though, you’d best book a tour, lest you
skim through the five-storey collection without appreciating the rich trove of
history behind them. In just an hour, museum curator Richard Tan managed to
give us a history lesson of the world, precisely through these toys—from the days
of rampant racism (Darkie-then-Darlie, the Golliwog) to fascism (Hitler, a
version of which has a butt that serves as a pin cushion) and the Cultural
Revolution—but also vintage film posters, tin ads (it was fascinating to see the
evolution of Guinness’ identity through the times, and how they differed in
different regions of the world), and tin lunchboxes, which we so took for granted
when we were children but which look like bonafide collectors’ items today.
MINT, of course, contains a dual meaning—the second standing for “in mint
condition”. The delicate craft of toy workmanship, as in furniture-making, has
given way to cheaper products to satisfy mass demand, and toys made today just
won’t last like the toys of yester-decades, which could hold on for well over 3050 years. Also, Tan says, they are “pristine, never played with, because, as you
can see, they come in their boxes,” which, though admirable when you think of
Chang’s careful collection of them, is also a little sad. Aren't toys meant to live
with us, take on a life of their own?
Still, it's because these toys have been so well taken care of that we're able to
enjoy them today. Pity we couldn’t take them out of their glass cabinets to play
with, but MINT is nevertheless an engaging experience tinged with nostalgia well
worth revisiting.
More information at emint.com. The MINT museum is located opposite
Raffles Hotel at 26 Seah Street Singapore 188382.
Words and photographs by Emily Ding.
Like
4
2
Add a comment...
Comment
Facebook social plugin
FASHION
Puma's SS14: a nod to the Year of the Horse
PROFILES
Dsquared2: the power of two
LIVING
FASHION
Welcome to the pleasure domes
Like for Like
GADGETS & GEAR
Esquire experience: Sonos Play: 1 speaker
ESQUIRE MALAYSIA © MONGOOSE PUBLISHING SDN BHD | ABOUT US | CONTACT US | ESKY CLUB | PRIVACY POLICY | ADVERTISING | IPAD