Health & Beauty
Epoch Times
AUGUST 8 – 21, 2014 25
Continued from Page 24 Banwagon’s primary goal isn’t making money; it’s a project to educate the mass about the importance of consumerism. It can be quite terrible to not know what you’re buying at times, like near extinct animal products, over chemicalised food, religiously conflicting products, etc. What is the inspiration behind your brand name, Banwagon? Mr Tok: Nowadays, consumers tend to ‘jump on the bandwagon’ and follow blindly what is on trend today instead of really finding out the back story of the brand and the products they are using. So with that in mind, Banwagon Bags/Wares is created, hoping that the ‘bandwagon effect’ will cease to exist in consumers’ mind. Mr Lee: Consumers these days are an extreme example of “Hopping on the Banwagon”, majority being victims to fashion and trends. It’s not a bad thing to follow fashion and trends once in a while, but people often abuse them as a
way to “fit” into society, causing them to lose their personal sense and taste. Therefore we want to ban the bandwagon effect, and thus the name Banwagon. We want to encourage people to do things not because society prefers it, but because individually they love it. That is why we don’t advertise, we only want Banwagon’s name to go by word of mouth with absolutely no marketing gimmicks to tamper consumers’ minds. Are the leather accessories hand-made by you both? If yes, where did you pick up the leathercraft? When did you make your first leather goods? Mr Tok: Yes, all leather wares are handmade (hand-cut, handstitched and hand-polished) by us. We are completely selftaught craftsmens. We read books. The rest of the learnings were trial and error. We took a year of practising before both of us are satisfied with the final outcome of our skills. Mr Lee: As of now, everything
is hand-stitched. I (Gareth) have been into crafting of many sorts since young with a passion for the form of things. Lengfei had an interest in products and their functions. So when we learned leathercraft together, we had a headstart on form, function, stitchwork, and pattern making. The rest of our knowledge were researches on the Internet and expensive mistakes from crafting processes. Our first leather goods was done around the mid of 2012. Who designs the Banwagon products? Mr Tok: Both of us design the collections together. However, we do handle different tasks other than designing—I craft
Howard Medium Wallet.
all the leather goods while Gareth is currently handling the homewares and liaising with our stockists. Mr Lee: Most of the designs are by Lengfei, but we always further develop them together. What is your future plan for Banwagon Bags/Wares? Mr Tok: We will still be
focusing on leather goods in a small production scale to ensure consistent quality. We hope to have more collaborations with other brands locally and internationally in the future. Mr Lee: We’re not an all leather products brand. Currently we’re working on a range of furniture, with our first design being collaboration with a designer named Kevin Chiam. Also, we plan to launch our ladies collection this year. We intend to keep Banwagon with just the two of us as we want to retain our quality and creative control. And of course, we hope to continue educating the mass on consumerism, starting with craftsmanship and leather products. For more information about Banwagon Bags/Wares products, please check out their web store at www.banwagonstore.com, or visit Front Row located at Raffles Hotel Shopping Arcade, #0208/09, 328 North Bridge Road, Singapore.
This Is Your Body Without By GreenMedInfo A powerful look at what happens to your body without water…and what water does for your health. This article was originally published on www.GreenMedInfo.com.
DEHYDRATED
HYDRATED
ACNE
HEALTHY SCALP
Flushing out toxins with water may reduce breakouts.
A flaky, itchy scalp is almost always a dry scalp, so drink up.
STRONG HAIR & NAILS
PAINFUL SUNBURNS
Your body is composed primarily of water. Ditch dry and flaky for healthy and supple with 8+ glasses a day.
Hydration calms sunburn symptoms and restores a fatigued body.
BAGS UNDER EYES
CLEAR, BRIGHT EYES
Dehydration weakens delicate under-eye skin, making bags more prominent.
Dehydration reduces potassium and electrolyte level, which are key to moist eyes.
DRY, RED NOSE
WEIGHT LOSS
Staying hydrated in dry environments protects fragile nasal skin.
Drinking 2 cups of water 20 minutes before a meal is proven to help with weight loss.
LONGER HANGOVERS
SMOOTH, WRINKLE-FREE SKIN
Drinking water is thought to reduce hangover durations.
Drinking more water improves the elasticity of the skin, preventing wrinkles. www.GreenMedInfo.com