Mark Ong » Mark Ong

X’mas Dinner

Mark Ong — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 01:39:41 +0000

Last saturday was a memorable experience for me as I hosted a pre X mas party at my place. I’ve invited all the interns who have hung out with us during the past year and a couple of old friends and it was pleasant to have everyone under one roof. The food and drinks sure get the crowd relaxed and merry.

It didn’t take long for the interns to get hooked on my bro’s ROCKBAND and DJ HERO. I am glad to see them having a good time at my home.

While 2009 was no doubt a roller coaster ride for everyone, we’ve all managed to pull through. A great line up is coming soon in 2010!

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What we are up to these days.

Mark Ong — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 05:37:36 +0000

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Kevin dropped by a couple days ago and passed us these photoframes with us wearing our skull mask. It is really very nice of him to take the effort to do this. Being a huge fan of morrissey, Kevin has hand printed his own Morrissey tee. Lastly, introducing our newest memeber in the family, a young promising guy by the name of Bryan will be interning with us to help us out with the operations!

Mani X Royalefam

Mark Ong — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:05:39 +0000

Its not everyday you get to see our cat Mani all prepared and geared up for his photoshoot! I must say Mani looks great in photographs!

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Hermes Photoshoot

Mark Ong — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:06:57 +0000

Here is the shots taken today during the photoshoot with Hermes. I am definitely proud to be part of this project.

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Day Out With Hommies

Mark Ong — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:55:55 +0000

It was a pleasure for us to be hanging out with Derrick from Knight Riders who is going to represent Singapore in the world DMC and we are dedicated to sponsor him some clothing to dress up as a champion over there. We are sure he would perform his best and win it for Singapore! Go Derrick!

Joining us is also Ah Hui from Stone For Gold as seen in http://stoneforgold.com/ . I must say that I really love his craftsmanship and we’re hoping to do more future collaborations with him. All in all it was a pleasant evening for hanging out.

As the night proceeded we decided to head down to the skate park at ECP and it was an eye opener for me! It is madness and there were many talented skaters around the area. We will definitely visit the skate park more frequently.

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The DC Fixed Gear Bicycle

Betaphats — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:20:55 +0000

DC have gave Mark a Fixed Gear Bicycle a couple weeks back but it has not been setup till today. With the help of Jacky (SUP Clothing) and Lutfi (Killer Gerbil), the bike was fixed in no time. There were many passer-bys who commented on the bike and it was definitely an eye opener to many who have not seen anything like it.

Due to our lack of knowledge in bicycles, we were relatively confused when many “bike terms” were used. Mark was relatively pleased though when the bike was fully set up and ready for brakes installation. All in all, it was definitely an exciting day for him.

Riding a Fixed Gear Bicycle is definitely different from any other normal bicycles!

MOVING OUT SALE

Mark Ong — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 01:49:29 +0000

Royalefam “Flea & Moving Out” Sale!!!
One day only!
MOVING OUT SALE!! SLASHED PRICES! EVERYTHING MUST GO!! $10 Tees . $30 Bearbricks . $40 Skateboards . Sneakers . Hats . Private collections . NBHD . Wtaps . Undercover . Number(N)ine . Vintage . Old stuff . New stuff . Useless stuff . Etc . “ONE DAY ONLY”
Host:Royalefam
Time:Saturday, 29 August 2009 12:00
Location:69A Haji Lane

Jamming Sessions

Mark Ong — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:17:42 +0000

It has been awhile since I’ve last touched a musical instrument. This is me attempting to play Metallica on Tze Ling’s Fender Strat and Rancid’s Journey to the End Of East Bay on my brothers Epiphone Les Paul Ultra II.

SBTG Featured Interview With Plus Six Five

Mark Ong — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 05:17:12 +0000

Plussixfive talks to world renowned sneaker customizer, Mark Ong aka SBTG. He tells us about the inspiration for new collection – Varsity Bones; as well as his ‘Prison Blues’ dunk series which is currently available via the Royalefam website – all this among other things. Jump to read the interview.

NIKE sent you a box of shoes, what made you decide to come up with a series of 7 colleges that exists only within the mind of SBTG?

SBTG: As part of the year of the Dunk in 2008, Nike sent me a customized locker with 7 pairs of the vintage college dunks in it. But I noticed that it had 8 compartments with one of them empty so I thought I had to do something about it. I decided to fill the void with something with a twist from SBTG, something that would honor the legendary Original 7 college Dunks from 1985.

A few things flashed through my head. Namely, the Powell video “Search for Animal Chin”, the fight scene from the Japanese manga series “Slam Dunk”, the movie “Rebound: The Legend of Earl The Goat Manigault” and a few more. The whole idea was to honor the greatest teams and players that never made it to the major leagues. That’s how we came up with Varsity Bones.

How does the idea of the PRISON BLUES fit in together with the collegiate series forming an entire package?

SBTG: Prison Blues is a by-product of our ongoing Varsity Bones project and it was directed by our talented contributor, Kenneth Lim. It’s an evolution from the collegiate series. The fictitious project represents the game of basketball while serving time. Two rival teams from “Cell Block 1? and “Cell Block 2? were created for this release and to kick it up a notch, Kenneth took it a step further by incorporating the inspiration from Johnny Cash’s song, “Folsom Prison Blues.

Were there difficulties encountered during the production of VARSITY BONES? Give our readers some insights into the production world of customized sneakers?

SBTG: The idea of Varsity Bones was born back in 2008 and it started out as 2 runs of shoes that we did put decided to put on “ice” for a whole year. We made a total of 36 pairs back then and we recently brought them out again and titled as “Red Fury” and “Sly Bones”. The designs were made to pay homage to the year 1985 when the Dunk was born, bearing a “back to basics” look kinda like the Original 7 Dunks and also the recent 1 of 1 “Black Mamba” that we made for Kobe Bryant. Most of the difficulties we faced were conflicts of releasing a custom sneaker that was too “old skool” looking for the public to receive. When we conceptualized Varsity Bones in 2008, the story wasn’t expanded enough and we were also in the midst of our “Dead Generals” collection, which was a monster project where we gave it our all.

Then this year, we welcomed a new member to our family, Dennis, who’s a basketball enthusiast and he came in and took charge of the Varsity Bones project. He gave the vision a facelift and gave it soul. The Varsity Bones project will go on now for the rest of this year with releases of fictitious teams from various genres.

Obviously the punk aesthetic is a huge influence on you, tell us more about how the punk ideal has shaped your life, and the work you produce?

SBTG: As far as i can remember, I adopted the punk way when I first started skateboarding in the 80’s. To me it was all about rebellion in every aspect of life. It was less about the music but more as a way of life that’s dedicated to shape the future’s subculture in Asia. It’s about being the anti-hero, a non-conformist and true freedom fighter. It’s about full self-expression and nothing to do with anything that is popular. It’s about being the “Christian Hosoi of skateboarding”.

Obviously, from the shoes you’ve previously produced with NIKE SB, we know that you’ve been involved in the local skate scene, has that changed throughout the years? Tell us how it has influenced your sense of design and space when customizing sneakers?

SBTG: Spending the late 80’s and the entire 90’s skateboarding, I will never look at a ledge the same way since I first saw an ollie back in 1987. I recently got back in touch with skateboarding through the eyes of this amazing skate collective in Singapore called Terrorkota. I spent a day out with them skating and filming clips for their upcoming video that’s out at the end of the year. The people behind it and their skating has inspired me so much that i offered to flow them with our Royalefam skateboards.

Back in the 80’s, I had already started customizing sneakers without really knowing about it. Having a small or non-existent rotation of sneakers, i often had to patch up my “ollie holes”. And I had to do it in a way that was aesthetically pleasing so that’s why it’s pretty natural to go crazy and technical with my designs today. I would say the roots of my craft came majorly from skateboarding for sure.

Source: http://www.plussixfive.com/2009/08/10/sbtg-feature-interview-with-mark-ong/

Meet Up With Kobe Bryant

Mark Ong — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 07:14:02 +0000

I had the privilege of meeting NBA superstar Kobe Bryant in person last Wednesday. Nike invited me to do a shoe for him to commemorate the Singapore leg of his 2009 Asian Tour. Meeting up with him at the Nike Wisma store was definitely an overwhelming experience for me and everyone else who came out to see him. What an honor to have met a true NBA champion up close and personal.