ONE TO KNOW: The Big Picture

Harpist and art adviser Laura Peh brings together her passions for music and visual arts with another creative endeavour—publishing illustrated books to spark curiosity and imagination in young minds

-  Hashirin Nurin Hashimi

While conversations around blockchain, cryptocurrency and NFTs (non-fungible tokens) reached fever pitch in 2021, these emerging technologies took a tumultuous turn in 2022. But it also led to new ideas and experimentations.

This transformative nature of Web3 has captured the imaginations of many, Laura Peh included. The art adviser, who also performs as a concert harpist, was even roped into discussions about starting an NFT platform. “I had to learn everything from scratch, going through about 90 pages of Google [searches] before I actually grasped what was going on,” she shares. While the project did not come to fruition, Peh thought it was a good idea to compile all that knowledge into a book, breaking down the complex terms and concepts.

The book Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, NFT is the latest release—and the first title in the Digital Natives collection—under Cinnamon Art Stories, the children’s book series published by Cinnamon Art Publishing. The boutique publisher of illustrated books is Peh’s passion project born out of the pandemic. In 2020, she left her art gallery job in Hong Kong to return to Singapore. “I wanted to use everything that I’ve learned [so far], from music to art history and business, along with my experiences travelling [around the world] to make something educational for kids,” she says.