5 / may to jul 15 / challenge
NINTH
note More often than not, hanging by a [budgeted] thread poses the toughest kinds of challenges. During production, Sarah (the photographer) and I concluded that in a parallel universe, we’d be transporting our model in an air-conditioned trailer and having the power to control road traffic. Unfortunately for us, that might only arrive in time for our 40th birthday. Fingers crossed. Yet, limitations come in as blessings in disguise to push you into churning something out from the heart. If you can’t afford much anything else, at least put that heart to good use. Trailer-less and broke, we went full-force ahead with the editorial shoot at Raffles Place just for the love of it. While it was no easy feat, challenging the odds threw fresher perspectives into action and Stella aced it in the modelling department. In conjunction with that victory, the interview with BooksActually’s Kenny Leck fell right into place. When I first emailed the store about this interview, one of his co-workers joked about his fashion being unsuitable for a fashion magazine but that he was “spot on for the dedication and stories from the heart”. Boy, was she right. Maybe his shirt did pose such doubts, but Kenny’s steadfastness overrode everything else and his journey to today deserves more than the words that NINTH can ever hold. On second thought, I might take back my words and uncross my fingers - with so much to challenge and so many inspiring individuals around, that parallel universe can stay right there. Lots of love.
12:00 Must lunch time still mean sandwhiches or power dressing mean a suit and a tie?
cover story
The Match-Off Art class wasn’t exactly useless: colourcoordination can translate into volumes of effortless dressing.
Take Cover Face it, you’ll never get to wear it. Bring on new head gear with those scarves you once saved for winter.
textbook answers In the world where Page One and Borders have left our island, our book industry sees trying times. Scratch that. In this world, our book industry is barely floating. Yet, as this world sinks into the pit hole of the Internet and all digital things alike, there is BooksActually. Photos by dika dhaniya / Words by Tessa Lin Wang
With BooksActually secure on shore, it is safe to say that ten years of trial-and-error have brought owners Kenny Leck and Karen Wai closer to their literary dreams. That is, if the goal-making ever ends. Don’t get me wrong though — while dreams are always said to require a limit, nobody realises them quite like this pair.
Having read up on its background, I was bent on believing that BooksActually’s success required more than the usual textbook answers. I requested to have a conversation with Kenny and boy, was I proven wrong. The answers remained the same. However, they came fully packed with a spirit that no textbook has ever been capable of demonstrating.
Birthed on benches in universities, the current Tiong Bahru store stocks far more than what those seats can hold. That includes some of our Secondary School literature texts (if you’re a part of the 1990s generation, that is) to their own locally-made Birds & Co. stationery worth salvaging in any fire. Other than that, the bookstore homes locally written books published under Math Paper Press, owned by Kenny as well.
ON BURNING HIS FINGERS The notion that risk taking is fine as long as it doesn’t kill is something that you may catch Kenny talk about with full-frontal confidence. With that mindset on board, the 37-year old has seen his Birds & Co. store (now taken up by local apparel brand Depression) in Cineleisure shut its doors. The Millennia Walk outlet and attempt on a sister-brand on Ann Siang Hill couldn’t make the
cut either. I ask, with sheer curiosity, how he hasn’t seemed to get his fingers burnt. “It’s the idea of possibility,” he continues with fingers stroking the bookstore’s resident feline, “opportunities do come and we still want to try it — as long as we enjoy it and can do it.” Of course, while there are failures, the bookseller has seen numerous successes — One of which was the move to the store’s present location. Despite being protested against by many (due to poor traffic), the low rental costs outweighed all the impossibilities. Kenny took on the challenge to turn tables around instead. “Don’t listen to too much feedback,” he laughs, “if you’re going to care about such feedback, you might not get things done.” Right on. If you visit Yong Siak Street
& Q a interview
now, you will see how BooksActually has perfectly built a home along with cafés and yoga studios that carry the same laid-back air, bursting to life with human traffic. THE MIND-CHANGING GAME ABOUT CHANGING NOTHING “I hate to say it, but I love to win.” Textbook answer. “The idea is to do certain things that result in many new things.” Not a textbook answer. “When I sell you a local content book, first and foremost, I hope you enjoy it. If you can be inspired by the book, perfect. If you get inspired to become a writer, even better. If you like this book so much that you can pass it down to another person, and the person gets inspired to do some-
local writers write what they want, thats when the best work comes out… we need to know that our work sits equally well anywhere. It’s just our mindset that needs to be changed — we do not need to change anything.” By then, I was quietly taking notes to not make an ‘angmoh’ footnote. Lesson well learnt. INVISIBLE STAKEHOLDERS As the lunch crowd streams in and out, he poses a question — “what happens if I suddenly don’t exist?” Unlike major retail chains, BooksActually has no bureaucracies to overcome, except Kenny’s approval. The store recognises its responsibility to carry as much local content as possible, being a Singaporean establishment itself. While
“I hate to say it, but I love to win.” Textbook answer. “The idea is to do certain things that result in many new things.” Not a textbook answer. thing greater, why not? For us, everything has a starting point, and it’s better than saying that it didn’t happen.” For Kenny, his indestructible mindset has been slowly carved over the years. Of which, he remembers receiving a particular ‘scolding’ (“it sort of was!”) by a foreign publisher. “He would tell me ‘who cares whether angmoh’s understand? ‘Be proud of your Roti Prata and Hokkien Mee, you don’t need to put that in [the footnote or glossary]. Back then when Singaporeans read books by British authors, did you ever know what pudding was when they mentioned it?’” With local work nestled across the store’s shelves, Kenny continues to speak of Singaporean writers like a father would of his child. “When our
there is no foretelling for BooksActually’s future, the quaint destination may be in the process of being developed for a future takeover. To Kenny, BooksActually is no longer just his. With the store hitting its tenth year, friends and customers have become a part of the building of this literary empire. “Invisible shareholders” are what he calls them, the ones who come back to “see a familiar face or feel a familar feeling.” Cards on the table, putting such a priceless story on paper has been quite the challenge. Translating an experience in a place that houses some of our country’s best written works is another. Yet with no textbook answers to such a priceless story, there is no harm trying if it doesn’t kill — as taught perfectly by the parent of this second home to one too many hearts.
editor
Tessa Lin Wang / TessaLinWang.com
assistant editor Natasha Vanessa Michelin cover story
Model and Makeup/ Stella Chua Photographer / Sarah Isabelle Tan SarahIsabelle.com
Creative Direction and Styling/ Tessa Lin Wang Assistants / Desmond Lim Russell Toh
interview
Special thanks to / Kenny Leck BooksActually..com Photographer / Dika Dhaniya
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