2012 ~ Merlion Wayfarer's Walking Singapore

S-One Expo Stuttgart - Guten Tag!

2:35 PM European, Events, Food, German, Harbourfront, South

S-One Expo Stuttgart

Marina At Keppel Bay

South, Singapore

November 2012

Merlion Wayfarer was walking along Bugis+ one fine Saturday when she was abruptly thrusted with a flyer on a certain "S-One Expo". There were lots of attractive visuals with a list of workshops listed. What fascinated her most was the "Cuckoo Clock Making Workshop" at 1200 hours on Sunday. Despite having a packed weekend, she decided to squeeze in some time for this special event.

The newsletter printed daily for the event, the complimentary meal coupons and the lucky draw slips...

The organizers really went all out to recreate the environment of Stuttgart. Look at the white-painted metal chairs and wooden benches set amidst a transparent wallpaper against some glass windows! Add a little of bird chirping and one will really feel like in the forest there!

Giant wooden figurines are placed strategically all over the Expo grounds

for visitors to snap memorable shots of their visit...

The ball-bouncing bubble at the exit that little kids play in while their parents ate and shopped...

Boxes and boxes of delicious sweets and gummies, as the girl said - "all the way from Germany" -

butter gummies, fruit gummies, caramel toffees...

Refreshingly-coloured wines, oils and vinegars in elegant bottles with German labels

that the English-speaking Merlion Wayfarer could not decipher...

Elegant wood carving fridge magnets that illustrate various scenes in the German culture and countryside

- woodcutters, animals, cuckoo clocks, pine trees...

The carnival atmosphere and lively music makes one just to get up and dance a jig!

Of course, not forgetting the Singapore side of things:

Hey, Merlion Wayfarer first got to hear about the Chinatown Social Enterprise here. Chinatown Social Enterprise (CSE) was formed to provide career opportunities for the elderly and needy residents living within Kreta Ayer - Kim Seng constituency or Central District. Its retail shop located at The Majestic was set up in May 2010 and it sells handicraft merchandise from various voluntary organizations. Its objectives are not only to impart management skills to the needy residents, but also to allow them to earn a living by themselves. Handmade cloth dolls made by the samsui women, together with other memorabilia, are sold here at the S-One Expo Stuttgart.

Artisans painting the wooden blocks which formed the base of the clogs...

The sporty Porsche Boxster that draws all to the Grand Lucky Draw...

Some of the other displays at the outdoor exhibition area...

Thank You for visiting...

The full album is available at:
Merlion Wayfarer's Picasa (Events - S-One Expo Stuttgart)

S-One Expo Stuttgart - Cuckoo Clock Workshop

2:35 PM European, Events, Food, German, Harbourfront, South

S-One Expo Stuttgart

Marina At Keppel Bay

South, Singapore

November 2012

The Cuckoo Clock Workshop was full even before 1200 hours. Such was its popularity!

The participants were seated in a row of white tables
and given some wooden cuckoos to paint with dark brown wood paint...

This was followed by a session where the clockmaker showed them

how to use the chisel to shave a block of wood...

Gerhard, the clockmaker, hails from Black Forest in Germany. He lives about half an hour away from Lake Titisee and has a workshop nearby. It is not an easy job, he says, a lot of strength is required to chisel at the wood daily - his tough biceps can attest to that!

A cuckoo clock is a clock, typically pendulum-regulated, that strikes the hours with a sound like a common cuckoo's call and typically has a mechanical cuckoo that emerges with each note.

The story of clock making in the Black Forest began in the 1630s. People there had always crafted and carved using the local wood that was one of the few natural resources in the area, especially during the long winters when the land was covered with snow and they could hardly leave their houses. The clock with the unusual bird call very quickly spread around the region.

A selection of Gerhard's beautiful handcrafted cuckoo clocks. The ones here are not on sale.

Orders can be made online from his website. The simplest starts at S$450 with a 70 Euro shipping fee...

Gerhard's impressive set of tools...

Which he used to carve out these beautiful decorations...

The full album is available at:
Merlion Wayfarer's Picasa (Events - S-One Expo Stuttgart)

S-One Expo Stuttgart - Gingerbread Workshop

2:35 PM European, Events, Food, German, Harbourfront, South

S-One Expo Stuttgart

Marina At Keppel Bay

South, Singapore

November 2012

Gingerbread became popular in Germany after the Brothers Grimm published their fairy tale collection which included Hansel and Gretel. In the fifteenth century, it was baked in government-recognized guilds. The most famous of which was found in Nuremburg. It was renown for its elaborate and detailed craftsmanship.

With a decoration like the Gingerbread House in Hansel and Gretel and tasty Gingerbread hearts on all the walls, this booth is easily the most appetizing!

Kunibert, the owner at the workshop, explains the process of baking gingerbread and
how to create decorations with the coloured icing sugar in the nozzles...

Waeja, the lady owner, is always there when you need help, and willingly steps forward with a friendly smile on her face. She offers a curious Merlion Wayfarer a gingerbread heart for decorating - Thank you!

Participants were given nozzles of coloured icing sugar to decorate their gingerbread hearts. Stop stop, Kunibert said. If you don't use squeeze the nozzle correctly, it will jam the flow of the icing sugar! Do you want others to not have any working nozzles left? Oh is it, ooops! It was certainly not easy to use the nozzle in the correct way especially as it emptied. Well, after a few more tries, Merlion Wayfarer managed it. After all, she had lots of experiencing squeezing Colgate toothpaste tubes to brush her teeth daily!

It took about 15 minutes to ink the words clearly on the crust, and another two hours for the sugar to dry...

Waeja shared a bit of history about Gingerbread Hearts (Lebkuchenherzen). They are usually hung from ribbons and carry heartfelt sayings in the centre. To be given to lovers, friends, or family to express one's feelings, they are decorated with messages of love - "I love you" (Ich liebe Dich), "You're my sweetheart" (Du bist mein sußes Herzchen) and "I think only of you" (Ich denke nur noch an Dich).

The gingerbread heart will then be packed in a cellophane wrap, punched with two holes and threaded with a colourful ribbon. The scores of decorated hearts, each with a message for a special someone...

The full album is available at:
Merlion Wayfarer's Picasa (Events - S-One Expo Stuttgart)

S-One Expo Stuttgart - Wooden Figurines

2:34 PM European, Events, Food, German, Harbourfront, South

S-One Expo Stuttgart

Marina At Keppel Bay

South, Singapore

November 2012

Wooden figurines were first produced in the Erzgebirge region in East Germany, and in Black Forest, in the south-west. These ares are home to huge tracks of forest covering 60% of their land area. These wooden figurines provided a good source of income for the inhabitants.

Over the years, the wooden figurines of the Nutcracker, Santa Claus, and animals have become popular with some of them found in the famous Black Forest Cuckoo Clocks.

The walls and tables of this booth were laminated with

wallpaper of the Nutcracker with its oversized head and big teeth...

The amount of details in these carvings is beautifully intricate - On a backpack carried by a wooden figurine, there are even smaller figurines, small farm animals, and wooden houses. See the clown hanging from the rack and the piglet at his feet?

A halved figure with a paper silhouette pasted at its feet...

Merlion Wayfarer would like to think that it is a rotor blade at the back of the guy in black. Who knows, he might be a fairy tale character flies like a helicopter?