The coolest bookstore EVAH!

I was dragged into this place and was honestly rather skeptical about how a bookstore with an indian name in the middle of a time warp called Bras Basah Complex can even have remotely cool stuff. But when I went in and browsed, I became a convert. Basheer Graphic Books has some of the coolest books that I don't even see at Kinokuniya (which is incidentally the bookstore I swear by). Waay cool. for the uber-weirded out design crowd.

In the shoddy top floor of the old Bras Basah, Basheer lays out its "wares" - volumes and volumes of design, architecture, fashion, advertising, arts and crafts books and magazines. It even sells cards, games and what they call Ugly Toys. Yes, they are pretty ugly-looking but a rather hip icon in the design world (See, I told you they are weird people.....) as with Stikfas toys. Its by far the most extensive collection of desgn stuff I've seen in Singapore.

Now, you must understand these weirded-out design folks - they are obsessed with good design. They can't always be bothered with whether their ad actually sells your product or not, or whether the house they design for you is actually functional - if they come up with a cool design that is like WAY-COOL!, then its enough already. Their job is considered done for the day, as far as only they are concerned of course. Doesn't matter if it works or if its functional - everything else is secondary.

ok, yah, back to the bookstore - yah, definitely way cool, two thumbs up, for shelves and shelves of architecture, advertising and design books and magazines, and a whole bunch of useless items that are just fascinating to fiddle with and browse through. So go see yah??? =)