About
CV
Sampat Studio
G1rl W0rld
HAPPY ORIENTAL TRADING CO.
Bad Bitch Club
Laugh & Object
Sampat Studio (2022-2024)
Tamponi (2022) at SOFT!
Sampat Studio was founded by two multidisciplinary designers. Marcos Kueh, a graphic designer/textile artist and Isabelle Nair-Lacheta an Interactive/Media/Design graduate. Together, they collaborate to transform traditional textiles into interactive work, using technology as a powerful narrative tool that honours their Malaysian roots.
Tamponi (2022) at SOFT!
As a newly founded studio, we had just one month to debut Sampat Studio at SOFT!. While our works are feminist in nature, this exhibition marks a pivotal moment for us, showcasing our core goal of blending traditional textiles with modern technology. Through augmented reality (AR), we explore its potential as a storytelling tool, adding digital layers and signatures to our work and creating a dialogue between the tactile and the digital. By integrating technology, we aim to elevate textiles and craft—often undervalued—and push the boundaries of both craft and tech in our practice.
Tamponi (2022)
400 x 470 cm
Industrial weaving - 8 colours, polyester, cotton
AR activated
Tamponi is a bold, four-meter-tall tapestry that confronts the taboo surrounding sexual and reproductive health in Malaysia. Part of the SOFT! exhibition, alongside Fragments of Lolita’s Blanket, this work uses scale and striking imagery to tackle the stigma surrounding menstruation. The oversized tampon acts as both a metaphor and a provocation, forcing viewers to face an issue that is often cloaked in silence and shame.
In Malaysia, discussions around menstruation and feminine hygiene are typically hushed, with women feeling embarrassed accessing sanitary products. This culture of shame extends to how women perceive their bodies, especially during menstruation. Tamponi seeks to challenge this silence by using the tampon as a powerful symbol to open up conversations about sexual health, body positivity, and menstrual education. The work encourages a rethinking of societal attitudes towards these natural processes, aiming to reduce the stigma that surrounds them and foster a more open, supportive dialogue about reproductive health.
Through this piece, the artists hope to foster a more open, supportive dialogue about sexual health. Tamponi serves as a powerful call to dismantle the mental barriers that prevent honest conversations about reproductive health and to advocate for greater awareness and accessibility for all.
Fragments of Lolita’s Blanket (2022)
65 x 160 cm
Hand tufted wool
AR activated
Fragments of Lolita’s Blanket is a repurposed piece from my G1rl W0rld (2022) graduation exhibition. This work marks a fusion of traditional textiles and augmented reality (AR) in Fine Arts, exploring the intersection of feminism, craft, and technology.
The work examines how aesthetics and archetypes, such as the Lolita archetype (a young girl portrayed with sexualised appearance and behaviour, influenced by the titular book and 1997 film Lolita), both marginalise and empower women. The Lolita archetype has become a symbol of hyper-sexualisation and objectification of women in popular culture—the piece critically reflects on how women engage with and subvert this imagery online. Platforms like TikTok, where users often reclaim control over their sexualised bodies, provide a counterpoint to mainstream media’s portrayal of femininity. In Fragments of Lolita’s Blanket, the studio engages with these themes by using hyper-feminine, hyper-sexual aesthetics to critique and reject the male gaze, reclaiming femininity as a space of power, autonomy, and resistance.
By using textiles—often associated with femininity and domesticity—the work taps into the political potential of craft to challenge gender norms and engage with feminist movements like Craftivism. Textiles become a way to challenge gender norms, subvert historical violence and repression against women, and create a space for disruptive yet reparative acts of art-making.
The addition of AR transforms the piece, adding a layer of unsettling, playful imagery—such as bouncing cherry breasts and strange anthropomorphic figures—eating a strawberry that closely resembles female genitalia. This playful yet disturbing distortion of femininity challenges initial perceptions and deepens the work’s commentary on the commodification of women’s bodies. Through AR, Fragments of Lolita’s Blanket encourages a more nuanced engagement, blending digital storytelling with tactile craft to create a provocative, multi-dimensional narrative.
By integrating AR thoughtfully, this piece explores how technology can enhance and expand the meaning of traditional textile art. It signals a progressive shift for the studio, embracing both the craft traditions of the past and the innovative possibilities of the future.
Fragments of Lolita’s Blanket (2022) at SOFT!
Fragments of Lolita’s Blanket (2022) close-up with AR
Wayang Kulit (2023)
170 x 225 cm
Industrial weaving - 12 colours, polyester, wool and mohair
AR activated
Wayang Kulit is an innovative design project that blends the tactile world of traditional craftsmanship with the intangible possibilities of digital technology. Drawing inspiration from Malaysia's rich cultural heritage and its animistic spiritualism — the belief that all objects, places, and beings possess their own spiritual essence — this project explores the intersection of physicality and the digital realm through augmented reality. The piece invites users to reconsider their relationship with everyday objects and to reimagine how humans cohabit spaces with non-human entities.
At the heart of Wayang Kulit is a textile installation, intricately crafted and layered with symbolic motifs from Southeast Asian traditions. The design draws from Wayang Kulit (the Malaysian art of shadow puppetry), as well as other iconic textile techniques such as Batik and Songket. These rich textures and patterns act as a physical anchor, while the digital layer — accessed through a smartphone — animates the work, revealing a hidden spirits that inhabits the colorful drapery. These spirits, forever intangible and unseen by the naked eye, can only be experienced through augmented reality, where it inhabits a dynamic virtual space — a temple, a stylized warzone, or a mythical realm.
The project reflects a broader contemplation of modern life, questioning our overconsumption and the meaning we attach to the objects around us. Through speculative world-building and a fusion of the old and new, Wayang Kulit reintroduces the power of storytelling, offering a platform for deeper connections to the past and a reimagining of how we engage with the world. It challenges us to look beyond the physical, to consider the spiritual and narrative dimensions of the objects and spaces we occupy, while exploring new possibilities for technological innovation and immersive experiences.
* Wayang Kulit was nominated by Dutch Design Awards for Best Product Design in 2023.
Wayang Kulit (2023) with AR