The Platform Backing Singapore’s Disabled Artists
i’mable Collective Space is creating pathways for disabled creatives to turn artistic talent into paid work, meaningful collaborations and long-term creative careers.
This seven-month-old space nestled within Enabling Village — the inclusive Redhill hub supporting persons with disabilities — is expanding what creative opportunity looks like for pan-disability creatives in Singapore. Operated by design studio weareSuper under SG Enable (Singapore’s focal agency for persons with disabilities), i’mable Collective Space functions as both a retail and gallery platform dedicated to showcasing and selling works by disabled artists and makers in a professional setting.
But it goes beyond presentation. The space also works as an incubator for disabled creatives, connecting them with social enterprises and small businesses to develop, test and refine handmade objects for real-world use and sale.
Some of the people who are helping to make i’mable Collective Space so inspiring: (seated, from left) Siti Amirah and Sim Meng Suan from Minds, which partners with i’mable Collective regularly; and (standing, from left) Jocelyn Sim, assistant manager at SG Enable’s i’mable Collective; Jeon Joon Hyeong and Cathy Kim, the mother‑and‑son duo behind Snail Handmade Ceramics; Nur Aisha, aka the artist CatBee; weareSuper retail and marketing executive Natalie Goh; and Rayn Leow, potter and founder of the studio Ceramication, which actively works with artists with disabilities.
The broader goal, says Edward Chew, SG Enable’s senior director of employment and lifelong learning, is to create pathways into actual work — from commissions to longer-term roles across the design and arts sectors — that support creative independence for disabled practitioners.
One of the initiative’s biggest successes so far was a 2024 partnership with the Singapore Fashion Council, where makers with disabilities were trained and hired by five local designers to produce a capsule collection for retail at Design Orchard.
Above, a look at the many delightful works available for purchase at i’mable Collective Space: a plate by artist CatBee and weareSuper; a painting by Siti Amirah, who’s from social service agency Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (Minds); a set of vessels by artist Lee Jun Le and weareSuper; a painting by Mary Soon Li Koon; a cup and plate set by Snail Handmade Ceramics; a painting by Chew Mu Ping Agnes of Minds; a vase by Abinesh Ramesh and Ceramication; a painting by Sim Meng Suan, who’s also from Minds; and a plushie by Kai Craft.
HAIR EC TAN/KIZUKI+LIM MAKEUP BENEDICT CHOO
An adapted version of this article first appeared in Volume 8 of F ZINE.