Who are you?

“Hi everyone! My name is Ashburn Eng and I’m born and raised in the sunny island of Singapore. I’m the designer and co-founder of contemporary womenswear label young&restless.”

One of your Artworks that represent you. Would you like to speak about  it? Can you write a comment about it?

“The designs for my Spring/Summer 2012 collection were mainly inspired by an unexpected dream that I had one night where I pictured a monk riding on a lotus. I was inspired by how a single piece of precious cloth could be draped, patched, gathered, and wrapped together seamlessly to form a cocoon silhouette.

Hence, this led to the creation of young&restless’ Spring/Summer 2012 collection, where I fused that inspiration with a hint of galactic goth mood, and created an east-meets-west monastic look altogether. While offering a new direction, I retained some influences from young&restless’ AW10 collection, which was mainly inspired by the fusion of good and evil spiritual forces. The SS12 collection once again illustrates an extension of my interest in spiritual and austere elements, evident in the monastic looks. It also reveals a looser and lighter silhouette through sheer fabrics in black, white, stone grey, and metallic shades.
Though an adventurous inspiration to take on, I still kept my signature style of incorporating stylistic pleats, “bias-cut” technique, as well as parachuting effects into my designs.”

Have you someone or something that inspire your creativity?

“I am pretty much a surrealist and a day tripper. Thus my work reflects a certain form of escapism from reality at certain points in time. Since young, I have always been fascinated with fictional characters, especially those from Chinese period dramas or sci-fi movies. The idea of incorporating them into my creations and conveying ideas through my inspirations excites me, especially when I am conceptualising the final visuals for styling or designing.”

Have you a place where you expose? What are your future projects?
Exhibitions, events, jobs, new collections…

“We have been invited to showcase our new seasonal collection at Pure London tradeshow happening on 12-14 February 2011.”

What kind of service do you offer?

“I’m a creative practitioner who specialises in designing apparels, giving creative directions in fashion photography, fashion
styling and wardrobe co-ordination for photoshoots.”