Charity troopers

Charity troopers

Star Wars never really made an impression on Mr Pratama Eka Dharma when he was growing up.

So when the Indonesian Singapore-based artist was asked to design a Stormtrooper helmet for charity, he embarked on a Star Wars movie marathon and finished watching the six movies over two days.

Mr Pratama, 22, is one of several artists who are contributing their talents in designing the miniature Stormtrooper helmets.

The charity sale, to be held at Jurong Regional Library tomorrow, will be part of a free, day-long event #MAYTHE4THSG to commemorate Star Wars Day in Singapore.

Other than the charity sale, there will also be lightsaber fighting displays, costume parades and video screenings.

Mr Jeffrey Koh, 40, one of the organisers, came up with the idea of a charity sale of customised Stormtrooper helmets when buying the DIY helmets for his art studio.

He then began to make a mental list of artists who would "do justice to the helmets". They include Singaporean artists like Samantha Lo, who is better known as the "Sticker Lady", and Mr Casey Chen, and young talents like Mr Pratama.

Mr Pratama said he recreated the iconic Stormtrooper helmet as a samurai helmet because he found the ways of the Jedi very similar to Japanese samurai culture.

He called his creation Kaishakunin and infused his love for Iron Man and his Indonesian roots into his design.

HOMAGE

Mr Chen's helmet, Mario Trooper, was a homage to his childhood loves.

"Star Wars was the iconic movie of my childhood and Super Mario was its game equivalent. So it came pretty naturally to me to put them together," said the 42-year-old.

He enjoyed the process of creation so much that he got Mr Koh to send him one more helmet to work with: The Trankenstein, a Frankenstein-inspired piece.

"It was almost therapeutic," he said of working on the pieces.

Most of the 22 helmets are going for $300 each, while some of the more intricate ones will be auctioned.

All proceeds from the sale will go to Willing Hearts, a local volunteer-based soup kitchen.

While Mr Koh does not have a target amount in mind, he added that it would be wonderful if any company is willing to match dollar for dollar the amount they raise.

But Mr Pratama has a much simpler wish.

Giving his creation a loving glance, he said: "I hope that my helmet will have a buyer who would really take good care of it."

This article was published on May 3 in The New Paper.

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