Never Too Small #8
170 x 240 mm, 236 pages
Melbourne, Australia
Quarterly
First published in 2024
Editor: Elizabeth Price
Creative director: Colin Chee
Design: Lara Burke
‘Creative, compact and joyful ways to design and live’
Never Too Small has fast established its voice in the interiors space, using interviews from the YouTube channel of the same name as the basis for coverage of clever ways to make the most of smaller homes. The result is an unpretentious interiors and architecture magazine focused on creativity, individuality, sustainability and innovation.
This eighth issue is dedicated to the city-state Singapore, a location renowned for its impressive public housing programme. It opens with a lesson in Singaporean/Malaysian slang: ‘Chapalang: a chaotic, random or disorganised mixture of elements; hodgepodge.’ For Singaporeans it’s a light-hearted hint at clutter and chaos, for Never Too Small it means seeing opportunity and value in something where you least expect it, perfectly encapsulating the creative practices found throughout this issue.
Genre-defying interior studio Three-D Conceptwerke open their doors, revealing traces of a 1930’s rundown shop-house alongside concrete breeze blocks, ornate armchairs and rustic timber tables, while James Shackell dives into Singapore’s zine-making and publishing scene, featuring the physically experimental Meantime and magCulture friends Rubbish FAMzine. A fold-out offers insider knowledge of must-visit retail and food spots, and elsewhere, local self-proclaimed small-home expert, Jade Cham shares her advice in the ‘Small Living Support Group’, and the edit team explores the terrifyingly weird amusement park Haw Par Villa.
A wonderfully chapalang exploration of the city-state, and a love letter to the hospitality and warmth of Singaporeans, which editor Elizabeth Price admits, completely swept her off her feet.
On the Journal
At Work With Elizabeth Price: ‘Experience and exposure has shown us that the most creative and clever design is found in some of the smallest homes. Constraint breeds creativity as we know… even the smallest homes are full of potential.’
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