15/09/2026
AI translation of Lianhe Zaobao
Sunday, September 06, 2026
In Jimm Wong's home-cum-workshop in Ubi, lanterns are not just decorations hung high during festivals. In his 70s, sitting among the lanterns he made himself, there is always a focused look in his eyes when he talks about lanterns. Those bamboo strips, iron wires, cellophane paper, and pigments all hold a piece of history waiting to be rediscovered.
Jimm Wong deals in antiques and is also passionate about researching Chinese history. Because he visited ancestral halls and temples, he was gradually drawn to the lanterns hanging everywhere, and began making lanterns in 2006. Over two years, he traveled all over China and Malaysia, visiting famous craftsmen, and then explored on his own. He focuses on making traditional Fujian lanterns, which are made of bamboo strips and have a structure similar to ancient umbrellas.
In an interview with Lianhe Zaobao, he said that when he first studied bamboo, he even bought a large barrel to boil bamboo to observe the changes in the bamboo under treatment. During the exploration process, he found that bamboo was not durable, so he switched to aluminum, and used oil paint instead of tung oil for painting. He also added Southeast Asian colors to traditional Fujian-style lanterns.
Having made lanterns for 20 years, Jimm Wong has visited many master craftsmen and explored diligently, creating unique lanterns one after another.
Seventy-Year-Old Craftsman Jimm Wong
Makes Lanterns in Ubi HDB Flat, Exhibits at London Craft Week
Report by ◎ Li Yijun
[email protected]
Photos by ◎ Chen Binqin
"To make a lantern from nothing, you have to saw, drill, and bend the shapes yourself," said Jimm Wong. "3D printing can jump directly to the final product, but it will miss all the historical foundation." He explained that the materials an artist chooses and the shapes they adopt—every step is supported by experience and feeling. AI can only serve as an auxiliary tool; it can provide ideas, but it cannot replace the judgment that craftspeople have accumulated over years regarding materials, shapes, and the interplay of light and shadow.
"Handmade lanterns incorporate the feelings of the creator; they are different." He slowed his tone and said, "The value of a craftsman is to reach the level of inner meaning."
Exhibited at the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre
The meaning of lanterns goes far beyond the Mid-Autumn Festival. In traditional Chinese customs, lanterns can be used for weddings, births, housewarmings, Spring Festival, temple celebrations, and even funerals. Round lanterns symbolize reunion, prosperity, and welcoming light. Fujian lanterns and Teochew lanterns each have their own characteristics in shape, framework, and crafting techniques, yet they both often use surnames, hall names, and patterns like dragons, phoenixes, and flowers to express family sentiments and auspicious meanings.
Jimm Wong is grateful that in May 2026, the National Heritage Board arranged for his "Harmony Lantern" to be showcased at the Singapore Pavilion during London Craft Week. He also held a paper-cut lantern workshop during the craft week.
The "Harmony Lantern" was co-designed by him and local designers, inspired by the bone carving "Devil's Work Ball"—a multi-layered concentric sphere structure that is nested from outside to inside and can rotate independently. Jimm Wong used his exquisite bamboo weaving and bamboo strip shaping skills to shape bamboo strips into a smooth and rounded sphere, achieving cross-boundary innovation of traditional craftsmanship in modern product design.
The "Harmony Lantern" won the "Product and Industrial Design Group Gold Award" at the 2023 DFA Asian Most Influential Design Awards organized by the Hong Kong Design Centre, and was the only Singaporean work to win gold that year. The lantern was funded and produced by the National Heritage Board and is now preserved. It is currently on display at the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre until the end of October.
Jimm Wong's sharing in London received positive responses, and visitors were deeply impressed by his passion, Nanyang craftsmanship, and Singapore's multiculturalism. He also took the opportunity to exchange with scholars, museum curators, and potential buyers.
At London Craft Week, Jimm Wong (left) shares the making of the "Harmony Lantern" with visitors. (Provided by interviewee)
Seventy-year-old craftsman Jimm Wong has been making lanterns in his Ubi HDB flat for 20 years. From visiting craftsmen across China and Malaysia to exploring on his own, he replaced bamboo with aluminum and tung oil with oil paint, creating traditional Fujian lanterns with Southeast Asian characteristics. His innovative work "Harmony Lantern" won the 2023 DFA Asian Most Influential Design Award and was featured at London Craft Week in May 2026. Recently, he went into a primary school to guide 38 students in making traditional cellophane lanterns, allowing the next generation to personally touch this craft that is on the verge of being lost.
At that time, London was shrouded in light mist, with a temperature of only 6 degrees Celsius. In the cool air, he wrote a short poem on his own Facebook: "London light mist, six degrees cool leisurely stroll / paper lantern, its light warms better than frost and dew." Between the lines, there is both the freshness of a foreign land and the warmth of a craftsman taking his hometown tradition abroad.
Entering Schools to Hold Workshops and Pass on the Craft
Recently, Jimm Wong brought the craft of making lanterns into a primary school. Corporation Primary School invited him to hold a lantern workshop for the Mid-Autumn Festival, guiding 38 art students to make 80 to 100 lanterns. To make it easy for the children, he prepared templates in advance, using aluminum rivets to fix the shapes, allowing students to bend iron wires into frames following the model; the rivet surfaces are relatively smooth and not easy to hurt small hands.
"Guiding students at schools is something I've always wanted to do," he said. He hopes that local schools will offer special courses in the future, allowing students to learn to make lanterns with local characteristics. This time, he designed six or seven different shapes and guided students in making traditional cellophane lanterns. This type of lantern, made by pasting cellophane onto an iron wire frame, is believed to have been introduced to Southeast Asia, including Singapore and Malaysia, from Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China, in the 1940s. He said: "In the past, cellophane was used for tea gift packaging. Because it is tear-resistant and waterproof, it was later used for making lanterns."
Jimm Wong makes lantern templates, fixing the shapes with aluminum rivets, so students can bend iron wires into frames following the model.
In his view, making lanterns is not just a craft, but also a process of cultivating aesthetic sense. "With aesthetic sense, one can learn how to appreciate art."
Originally, Jimm Wong wanted to tell the students more about the history of lanterns, but considering they were young, he left the stories for the future. However, when pairs of small hands bend iron wires and carefully paste cellophane, it is already a contact with traditional culture.
Jimm Wong understands that the times will not stay in the past. Lanterns have also been constantly changing—from cloth to cellophane, from candles to LED, from traditional materials to modern design. For him, change does not mean giving up. How far a lantern can go may not depend on whether it can forever remain as it originally was, but on whether there are people willing to bend down, make it with their own hands, and pass this craft on to the next generation.
