The auction of lawyer and quilting extraordinaire Lee Suet Fern’s handmade “Dignity Blooms” quilt is now live online.
The auction, which will take place until 4pm on 15 October, is ongoing on the RK Online Timed Auction website.
The highest current bid had reached S$10,000 as of today afternoon. The starting bid was S$100 at 11pm on 30 September.
A total of 36 bids were made at the time of writing.
Made during the COVID-19 circuit breaker, the colours in “Dignity Blooms” represent several positive values that will carry people through the pandemic.
“The rich shades of blue – navy, cobalt and royal – to reflect honesty and trustworthiness, emerald greens for harmony, freshness and renewal, and fuchsias to inspire confidence and assurance for the days ahead.
“These colours almost jump out through the quilting of a single large lush bloom. If you look closely, see if you can spot a bird, a butterfly, a ladybird and a bee hiding on the petals,” wrote Dignity Kitchen.
The quilt, measuring 106 cm by 106 cm, “would make a striking, stunning, inspiring wall hanging”, added the social enterprise.
The proceeds from the auction will be channelled into the renovation efforts of Dignity Kitchen‘s new facility at 69 Boon Keng Road.
Dignity Kitchen is Singapore’s first social enterprise food court where it works with underprivileged and disabled persons since 2010. Their efforts include using a functional food court as a training platform and a combination of innovative teaching methods to support their trainees in developing skillsets.
It is registered with the Singapore Centre for Social Enterprise (raiSE), a collaboration among the Ministry of Social and Family Development, National Council of Social Service, Social Enterprise Association and Tote Board.
Dignity Kitchen is the recipient of the Singapore President Challenge Social Enterprise Award in 2015.
Mrs Lee will “generously match the winning bid amount dollar for dollar to Dignity Kitchen”, Dignity Kitchen said.
Mrs Lee is the wife of Progress Singapore Party’s Lee Hsien Yang, the younger brother of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Last year, she bagged an award at the Yokohama Quilt Time Festival in Japan for her work “Castel del Monte”, which was inspired by a protected World Heritage European castle with octagonal towers located in southern Italy.
The Straits Times reported in November 2014 that two of Mrs Lee’s quilts were selected for the Traditional Pieced Quilts category at the International Quilt Festival Houston the month before — reportedly the world’s largest and most competitive quilt show.
The ST report noted that it was Mrs Lee’s first time partaking in a quilting competition.
While Mrs Lee’s quilts didn’t win in Houston back in 2014, it was still a significant moment for her, as that was the first time that a Singaporean contestant’s quilt made it to the finals.
