Desaru Whispers: Flora Fauna & Ghost City — The Collection That Wears My Art
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I am genuinely happy with how this collection turned out. Truly.
Most people display their illustrations on canvas, on paper, on a wall. And there is nothing wrong with that — it is beautiful. But I have always wanted my art to move. To travel. To be lived in.
So I took my illustrations — the ones I have been building digitally, layering and refining on screen — and I put them on bodies. On fabric. On wearable art that goes out into the world.
The Desaru Whispers: Flora Fauna & Ghost City collection is the result of that vision. Six pieces — a shirt, a basketball jersey, athletic shorts, a bikini, a swimsuit, and a bandana — each one carrying the same story, the same two worlds in conversation.
A Tale of Two Sides
Each piece in this collection is a living canvas, split into two truths:
The Right Side carries a real, black-and-white photo montage of the Johor photography building — the Ghost City. I chose a real image deliberately. I wanted to ground this collection in history, in grit, in the haunting skeletal beauty of what was left behind. There is something honest about that architecture that I did not want to romanticise away.
The Left Side is mine — my abstract acrylic flora paintings. The motifs you have seen me dabbing with water and paint in my studio. Vibrant, colourful, alive. The hidden power. The energy of what is becoming.
And where the two illustrations meet? That is the Solitude of the Jungle — the quiet, inevitable middle ground where nature slowly, beautifully, reclaims the world.
Wear the memory. Carry the growth. Live the in-between.
Watch the Process
In this reel, you will see how these two worlds merge — from desktop screen to drawing, from architectural lines to fabric illustration.
Digital Art, Worn by the World
What makes this collection feel like a milestone for me is this: my illustrations exist digitally. Not on a physical canvas hanging in a gallery. Not on paper in a portfolio. They live in files, in layers, in screens — and now, through print-on-demand, they live on people.
This collection is available in 26 countries. That means someone in Norway, in Malaysia, in the Turkiye, in United States can wear a piece of the Ghost City and the jungle on their body. That still amazes me.
And it is done sustainably. Every piece is printed on demand — no overstock, no waste, no unsold piles sitting in a warehouse. Each item is made because someone chose it. That alignment between art, sustainability, and accessibility is something I am deeply proud of.
The Six Pieces
- Unisex Shirt — the everyday canvas
- Unisex Basketball Jersey — movement meets memory
- Unisex Athletic Shorts — the story runs with you
- Bikini — where the jungle meets the sea
- Swimsuit — a full illustration, worn in water
- Bandana — the smallest canvas, the loudest statement
Each piece tells the same story. Each piece wears it differently.
What This Means to Me
I started Emily Yap Design because I believed that art should not stay still. It should move through the world, be touched, be worn, be felt. This collection is proof that it can.
My illustrations — born digitally, shaped by the stories of Desaru and the Ghost City of Johor — are now wearable, accessible, and sustainable. Available to 26 countries. Made only when someone wants them.
That is the dream. And right now, it is real.
— Emily Yap