Lau Pa Sat truly lives up to the ‘lau’ (old in Mandarin) in its name as it celebrates its 130th year anniversary today. Celebrating this milestone is the unveiling of a new 10-metre mural by local mural artist and painter Yip Yew Chong, as well as a range of merchandise by local illustrator Ah Guo featuring notebooks, folders, and more. The iconic hawker centre has also launched a newly-designed logo paying homage to its rich heritage.
This hawker centre’s facade is quite a special one – featuring well-preserved Victorian cast iron columns, ornate leaves, and an interesting octagonal layout, it is no doubt one of the most aesthetically-pleasing hawker centres in Singapore. In recent years, Lau Pa Sat has also taken an extra step to support local businesses, as well as our local arts community. Visitors will be able to find over 100 local brands at Food Folks and frequent collaborations between Lau Pa Sat with local artists and musicians.
Yip Yew Chong’s striking mural took him six full work days to finish. The local artist is best known for his murals scattered across the island, and has painted 80 murals to date. However, this mural is a special one as he mentioned this would most probably be his last one in a long time, as he focuses on transitioning his artform to canvas paintings instead.
The mural is located at the external wall of Lau Pa Sat. From left to right, you’ll notice a seamless transition between the hawker’s founding days as the famous Telok Ayer Market that opened in 1824, to what it is today as one of the busiest lunchtime destinations in the area. The artist also shared fondly about how Lau Pa Sat was his go-to lunch spot when he was working at his first office – Hong Leong Building.
On the other hand, in Ah Guo’s lively illustrations of the food centre, the past and present is well-depicted through his characters. This includes adults, a prominent young boy and adorable animals such as a cat, penguin, and a rabbit. His work focuses on the historical aspect of Lau Pa Sat, and he hopes that through his art, he’ll be able to inform tourists and young locals about the impressive history of this landmark.
So the next time you’re headed there for your daily lunch break, fork out a minute or two to check out Yip Yew Chong’s newest mural (and probably his last in a long time), as well as Ah Guo’s merchandise located in Food Folks.
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