What’s It Like To Run A Craft Store In A Wet Market?
At Sideway store in Tiong Bahru Market, pottery, textiles, and handmade objects sit unexpectedly among the sounds and smells of a wet market — bringing craft into everyday life.
A 96‑square‑foot stall on the ground floor of Tiong Bahru Market, Sideway is far from your usual gallery or design store. Opened this January by potters Keneth Tan and Yasha Lai, it makes high‑quality craft part of the everyday Singaporean’s grocery run. Lining its shelves are objects hand‑made by the duo as well as other creatives from here and beyond – at press time, 23 makers are represented.
Potters Keneth Tan and Yasha Lai (both in the background below, pictured left and right respectively) opened the charming Sideway in a corner unit on the ground floor of Tiong Bahru Market early this year, hawking well-made goods from various makers they admire.
Running a design store out of one of Singapore’s most iconic markets comes with a different kind of energy. Instead of hushed voices and white walls, one gets the boisterous sounds of hawkers as well as the smell of fresh produce and food.
“I didn’t realise you could create such shops within an everyday space like a wet market, and it has been so inspiring,” says Lai. “We like the idea of having crafted things in places that people visit on a daily basis. It’s far more accessible than any gallery.”
Here, snapshots from a typical day for the founders of this not‑so‑typical space:
10:30am. Yasha Lai (YL): “Shutters up, getting ready for the day”
10:40am. Keneth Tan (KT): “Coffee in Sideway cups that were made for our opening. Coincidentally, two were left so they became our personal cups. The cups were made by me and the doodles were by Yasha: our first collaborative work together of sorts, apart from running the shop.”
10:50am. KT: “We start each day by sweeping the floor inside and outside the stall – a routine we’ve had since our opening and our simple way of welcoming the day.”
11am. KT: “Arranging our stock for display. We intentionally kept this table low to allow customers to see everything at a glance, and encourage them to bend down and take their time to interact with the pieces.”
11:10am. KT: “Taking a moment to admire our light feature, which was custom-made by our friends at Studio Un. The design reminds us of the tiles that line the market floor. We wanted a statement piece that would symbolise craft in a marketing setting.”
11:30am. KT: “Chatting with our neighbours at Roomy Heart, which sells kitchenware. They were among the first people we met while preparing for our opening, and gave us some of the best advice early on. We’re grateful to have such friendly neighbours.”
11:45am. YL: “Burning some incense helps to keep the complex smells of the market at bay.”
11:50am. YL: “Somehow, brick red has become our main colour – and happens to echo the tiles on the pavement outside our stall, as well as the facade of the market.
1pm. YL: “I’m not very good at arranging flowers, but I like playing around with them — and I’ll take any excuse to slip off to the flower shop at the market and pick up something a bit funky.”
1.15pm. YL: “I’ve been making pots with holes in them, which makes arranging flowers a bit easier (for me, at least). I made this particular one for my wedding last year, to house a much better arrangement by local botanical design studio Fawn World.”
2pm. KT: “Going through some of the everyday wares in the stall: vessels by local artist Hans Chew (pictured right) and sake cups by ceramicist Chlo Hew (the smaller ones pictured left) … We love how these artists have transformed what are traditionally ordinary household objects into beautiful pieces of art that one can use every day.”
2:30pm. YL: “Our favourite days are when the makers we stock bring down new pieces. There’s always that excitement that comes with unwrapping everything, chatting about them, and shooting a few pictures of these new objects. These horse figurines are also by Chlo Hew.”
3pm. YL: “The stall is small, but there is plenty of room on the walls. Our goal is to use this vertical space effectively without making the shop feel crowded or messy … Currently, the towel rail displays bags assembled using leftover curtain fabric, while some of the miniature pots I created hang beside them.
3:20pm. KT: “One of the perks of being stall owners is getting first dibs on admiring our makers’ work. Yasha’s holding up a hand‑dyed shawl with beautiful shades of indigo made by Ting Wang from the label A Bright Place from Shaxi in Yunnan, China.”
3:35pm. KT: “We also enjoy stocking pieces that get people talking and we always make it a point to give them a prominent spot on our shelves. These rolls of toilet paper are by the Chinese studio Udoland and are printed with instructions on how to use them.”
3:50pm. KT: “Watching life pass from behind the counter: people wandering in and out of the market, with the curious ones popping their heads in to see what we’re selling. This is a view that we’re always grateful for.”
An adapted version of this article first appeared in Volume 8 of F ZINE.