Long ago, someone thought of bringing clothes pegs from their home to their hawker cart. Fixed in a combination of numbered wooden pegs and colourful plastic ones on bowls, strings, metal rods, like coded messages, the hawker can read and remember the numerous variety of custom orders from patrons.
Every tradition has an origin, though it’s not always easy to remember. An act becomes habit when it is constantly repeated. A habit becomes tradition when the act is repeated for years though many generations. The clothes peg ordering system has become part of the Singapore hawker culture, used and kept by countless businesses all over Singapore.
Singaporean hawker object hacks:
- Use clothes pegs to remember food orders
- Use tissue paper to reserve a table
- Paint cup bottoms or spoon tips to recognise where it belongs
- Use milk cans to dabao drinks (or stringed plastic bags also can)
I believe that there is a modesty in using simple solutions and in thinking about the things that are already around you. Having many simple objects hacks that are understood and used nationally by many living in Singapore reflects the modesty and humbleness of Hawker Centres.
PEGS is a sculpture is made up of things I found at home; cardboard from deliveries, Styrofoam from packaging, wood from past projects, papers recycled to clay and other materials from different boxes and drawers. Though objects are generally created for a specific purpose, over time, its function can multiply and hold more meaning and memories, like how pegs are also used to hang photos popularised by Pinterest, hold strings/yarn as a beginner bobbin lace maker, seal packets of snacks, and in the novel “Little Women”, Amy even uses it to pin her nose in the hope of making it smaller. An object can be used in different ways and a task can be solved with different solutions.
