Why I Do What I Do is an original AsiaOne series where we showcase people with uncommon professions and what it takes to get there.

"A lot of people consider me crazy."

After all, 32-year-old Shannon Sng left behind a comfortable office job to sweat it out (quite literally, in some sense) as a professional prop maker.

The founder of Edentechsg now spends the majority of his day cooped up in his studio, tinkering away with anything from cosplay props to large-scale puppets, set dressings to giant parade floats. Heck, there was even a life-sized baby Yoda sitting on his desk during our visit — yes, also made in-house.

Though he hadn't had any prior experience in professional prop making, Shannon took to the job like a duck to water.

Growing up, Shannon had a deep love for tokusatsu, a Japanese term used to refer to a type of live-action film or drama that makes heavy use of special effects. Think Masked Riders, Power Rangers, Ultraman and even Godzilla.

It was during his later years as a cosplayer did he realise he enjoyed the process of crafting and creating his costumes more than actually wearing the final product itself.

However, he ended up working as a coordinator for a logistics company — something he didn't exactly enjoy.

"I [didn't] want to go to work, thinking about what I want to do after work," Shannon shares.

So when he saw that Universal Studios had a job opening, there was no doubt in his mind.

Awkward explanations

Having to explain to others what he did for a living wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do.

"Everyone thought that it was just a free ticket into a theme park. The concept is that I'm having fun in a theme park all day and I probably do nothing. Yeah."

While his father approved of his new career, his mother was worried. After all, Shannon's still considered a freelance artist with an unstable income.

Finances are something that he, too, worries about from time to time. When asked what keeps him motivated every day, he laughed almost self-depreciatingly: "I need to make money."

The grind

Shannon's schedule is packed all year round, having to refurbish and repair puppets and props for theme parks in the first half, and taking up local cosplay orders as July rolls around. Most of the time, that means having to juggle multiple projects at once.

At one point, he and a colleague were stuck in the studio for days, rushing out a costume just so they could deliver it to an event the next day.

Another time, a giant feathered parade mascot got caught in the rain. It took three of them to haul the prop in and hoist it up on a frame before they could begin drying it with a couple of handheld dryers.

As if that wasn't tedious enough, a fair bit of the 2-metre tall prop's feathers had been dirtied by the rainwater. That meant having to replace every single feather.

One by one.

All 300-500 of them.

It took them three days.

And as much as he loves his job, there are bad days too.

Part of his daily challenge involves having to translate two-dimensional designs into something three-dimensional. Sometimes, what he envisioned in his head doesn't always work out.

Back when he helmed Edentechsg alone, he had to handle every aspect of the job himself — designing, conceptualizing, crafting and the final delivery. Even though he's now built up a small team of four to help handle the workload, the pressure of responsibility still weighs heavily on his shoulders. 

As the head crafter of Edentechsg, he always has to have a solution for any problem his colleagues run into, something he considers necessary "if not there's no point learning from [him]."

With every project he accepts, he still asks himself: "Do I really know how to do this?"

"There's a lot of self-doubt in all of us because we're artists, right?"

Price

His products are anything but cheap.

Depending on the build time, materials required and any other additional costs (such as having to clock in extra hours to rush out a piece of work), prices range anywhere from $200 to $3,000. Unlike most hobbyist cosplayers, Shannon makes it a point to ensure that every project he gives his customers are made to last. 

His biggest cosplay project to date — a gigantic pair of dragons for Friedrich der Grosse, a character from the mobile game Azur Lane — cost $1,900, and took 14 days to complete.

Moving forward

When asked about his plans for the long-run, Shannon's answer is steadfast: "I don't intend to retire. I enjoy doing this every day."

For now, he's just focusing on raising the level of skill throughout his team so they could cater to a wider variety of clients, including theatre groups around South East Asia, and eventually the rest of Asia.

rainercheung@asiaone.com

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