No matter what stage you are in life, what values you consider indispensable, or what you do in life, you will always have the tissue packet. Be it on you, beside you or sold to you. It’s the kind of support that will always be there. 

It’s what your mom gives you in the morning before school. Wiping scraps and cleaning your mouth from canteen food, you will always be back home in tip top shape because you had your tissue. 

It’s what your parents taught you to actively purchase from the wrinkled aunties and uncles as they make their routine walks round the hawker centre tables. A reminder that we need to look after our elder generation as the country changes in colour and in shape. 

It’s what we use to define our space in overcrowded food stalls and overwhelming noises. Subtly protecting our sense of self even though we have consolidated our interests, history and hobbies based on the type of tissue packet we have chosen to place on the table/stool. 

It is fascinating to see how important the tissue packet has meant to me/us over the years. A simple, yet moving design. It is my mom’s love, it is someone’s livelihood, it is your space, it is a tradition, it is non-judgmental, it is everyday and it is essentially, us.