Set Design: Mama Shop for Gurmit's World & Warung of My Life

I have exceedingly memorable encounters and experience with "mama shops", from as far back as the early 70s, where I picked up my first ever comicbook from too (a fantastic Four reprint), and as well serving as a wonderment of colorways and joys at every nook and cranny beyond the height and eye-line of a small child.

(Above image via Lucinda Lau for "Heritage SG Memories" on Facebook)




Seen here are images of a set I'd done for a throwaway one-off skit segment of GURMIT'S WORLD in the mid-90s, when I was a in-house Set Designer for the Television Corporation of Singapore. Set in a alley in (the now defunct) Tuas TV World (*I miss that place dearly).

The thing is, I returned to Tuas TV World for another shoot, months later, and found this setting still standing, altho chips bags were ripped into… but no one struck the set! Everything remained intact! Although I'd imagine needing t pull the props to set this, then needing to put the individual props back to storage after striking ... no small wonder it might have been less laborious to left the set "as-is" (*try doing that for production these days LOL).



Thinking back, I thought I was "smart" for puncturing the chips' bags, so if anyone who wants to eat the chips'll find them "spoilt", when I stead I could have simply cut a hole in the back, and poured the chips out for ourselves to eat, and filled the chips-bag with bubble-wrap or even crumbled newspaper, for the illusion of "thickness" LOL




As far as I am concerned, all design is/are not created from a vacuum. There might well be a reference point, for viewers acceptance of the perceived reality, even if they might not have experienced it themselves. The depth in which you mine your memories, and your own research, will help determine the set/setting you are trying to portray, which in turn would be ultimately perceived by the viewers, having gone through the directors and even what the writers had imagined it to be, when they craft the script.

Not too long after, I had a chance to experience utilising a physical mama shop, for The Teenage Textbook Movie (filmed 1997-98), located at the ground floor of a HDB flat (Seen above). The feature is current watchable on Netflix and meWatch.


Years later - over a decade, in fact - I would attempt to replicate a facsimile to a convention booth I helmed (back in 2012) too, themed like a "Warung" (the Indonesia equivalent to Singapore's "mama shop"). Like I said, no design is created from a vacuum, but the adaptation of a "memory", is always an interesting challenge. If ever I were to booth at another convention.event/pop-up, I'll be following the same path of my memori, cheers.

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What exactly is a "MAMA SHOP"?
A mama shop or mamak shop is a convenience store or sundry shop in Singapore that is often located under a high-rise apartment block built by the Housing and Development Board. Traditionally, they are owned and operated by Singaporean Indians.. (Wiki)

What exactly is a "WARUNG"?
A warung (old spelling: waroeng or warong) is a type of small family-owned business — a small retail, eatery or café — in Indonesia. A warung is an essential part of daily life in Indonesia. (Wiki)