Bronze inlaid with silver: ceremonial flask, China, from the Warring States period, 3rd century BCE.

Inlay is a decorative technique of inserting pieces of contrasting, often coloured materials into depressions in a base object to form patterns or pictures that normally are flush with the matrix.^[1] In a wood matrix, inlays commonly use wood veneers, but other materials like shells, mother-of-pearl, horn or ivory may also be used. Pietre dure, or coloured stones inlaid in white or black marbles, and inlays of precious metals in a base metal matrix are other forms of inlay. Master craftsmen who make custom knives continue a tradition of ancient techniques of inlaying precious metals; additionally, many new techniques which use contemporary tools have also been developed and utilized as well by artisans.

Inlay in wood furniture differs from marquetry, a similar technique that largely replaced it in high-style European furniture during the 17th century,^[2] in that marquetry is an assembly of veneers applied over the entire surface of an object, whereas inlay consists of small pieces inserted on the bed of cut spaces in the base material, of which most remains visible.

Inlay is commonly used in production of decorative furniture, where pieces of coloured wood or metal are inserted into the surface of the carcass. Lutherie inlays are frequently used as decoration and marking on musical instruments, particularly the smaller strings.

The most famous example of furniture inlay in Europe may be the late 15th century Studiolo [1] made for Federico da Montefeltro in his Ducal Palace at Urbino, in which trompe-l'oeil shelving seems to carry books, papers, curios and mathematical instruments, in eye-deceiving perspective. The similar private study made for him at Gubbio is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (illustration).^[3]

Kinds of Inlays[link]

Notes[link]

See also[link]

• marquetry
• mosaic
• niello
• damascening
• intarsia

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Inlay (art)

• Contemporary Wall Art Marquetry - New technics
• Luigi Nebuloni's Personal Page Modern inlay painting
• Difference between Indian Classic Inlay and Italian Pietra Dura "Parchinkari"
• Taraceas Spanish wood inlays

William Ng is a prominent youth leader and social commentator. He is currently the President of Enterprise Asia, a regional NGO based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and has business interests in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, in such diverse industries as media and publishing, exhibitions and business summits, spas, hospitality marketing and asset management.

He runs exhibition and conference company AIC Exhibitions Sdn Bhd. He is the Group Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of SME & Entrepreneurship Magazine,^[1] Southeast Asia’s leading business magazine, 5 Senses, a regional spa and wellness publication, HR Asia,^[2] and Capital Asia. He also publishes the BIMP-EAGA Business Directory^[3] – which lists businesses and suppliers from the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines – East ASEAN Growth Area as well as World Halal Business magazine.

William Ng also contributes regularly to The Star [www.thestar.com.my], Malaysia’s leading English newspaper, on entrepreneurship and SMEs, and more recently is the spokesperson for Malaysia’s growing spa and wellness industry, appearing on programmes such as Malaysia’s NTV7 and TV3, and popular radio stations including Radio 24.

Education[link]

• Primary Education - Sekolah Kebangsaan Jalan Pasar (2), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Secondary Education - St. John's Institution, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Tertiary Education - Diploma in Business, Systematic College, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia (now known as SEGi College)
• Higher Diploma in Accounting, London Chamber of Commerce & Industry, United Kingdom
• Brevet de Technicien Superieur, President's Award for Academic Excellence
• Masters in Business Administration [Healthcare Administration], San Diego, United States

Career[link]

• Managing Director, AIC Exhibitions Sdn Bhd
• Group Publisher / Editor-in-Chief, Business Media International
• Managing Director, Global Travel International
• CEO, Providence Asset Management

NGO involvement[link]

• 2001 - 2002 Vice President, Asian Network of Graduate Students in the United States
• 2004 - 2005 Vice Chairman, Asia Pacific Network for SMEs
• 2004 - 2005 Vice Chairman, BestBrands Council
• 2004 to present President, Young Professionals Association of Malaysia
• 2004 to present National Advisor, AIESEC
• 2007 to present President, Enterprise Asia
• 2008 to present Chairman, Asia Spa & Wellness Promotion Council

Involvement in spa industry[link]

Within the spa and wellness industry, he is recognised as a key mover in Asia, having first introduced 5 Senses, a spa and travel publication in 2002, followed by organising the annual Asia spa & wellness festival.^[4] He has also chaired two Asia Spa Summits - in 2006 and 2007, and was a member of Malaysia's Health Ministry's traditional massage promotion committee under the chairmanship of then Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Dato' Lee Kah Choon. He is frequently consulted regionally on spa legislations, training, product development and regulatory framework. He is now working on the 3rd Asia Spa & Wellness Festival 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand.^[5]

He has been promoting Malaysia’s growing spa and wellness industry, appearing on programmes such as Malaysia’s NTV7 and TV3, and popular radio stations. He has also appeared in Indonesia's MetroTV, Bisnis Indonesia, Bisnis Bali, and Jakarta Post on the development of Asia's spa and wellness industry and on spa tourism strategies.

He is a popular speaker in the conference circuit on the following topics: spa tourism, niche tourism marketing, and spa infrastructure development.

Indonesia's Kawas Spa, a chain of top Balinese spas located in major hotels and resorts, has also appointed him its International Ambassador to promote awareness for traditional Balinese spa and therapy. He is also an advisor to the Indian Spa & Wellness Forum.

William Ng was elected the first chairman of the Asia Spa & Wellness Promotion Council, based in Hong Kong.

Branding[link]

In 2004, William co-founded the BestBrands Awards, in his capacity as the Vice Chairman of the Asia Pacific BestBrands Council and the Asia Pacific Network for SMEs. Since then, the Awards have evolved into what is now known as the BrandLaureates. Despite breaking away from the Council due to differences in opinions and directions with the other co-founders, William remain at the forefront in the promotion of Asian brands.

He is recently appointed an International Advisor to the Asia Brand Congress 2008 to be held in Mumbai, India - the largest rendezvous of best brains behind some of the world’s most successful and sought out brands.

Youth Activist[link]

William Ng is one of the co-founders of the Young Professionals Association of Malaysia which has over 16,000 members in Malaysia. Upon his return to Malaysia in 2002, he saw an opportunity to build a network of professionals in their 20s and 30s to speak out on issues affecting professionals and identify problems that continue to cause migration of young talents away from Malaysia. As the associations first president, he has been vocal on numerous issues, especially on graduate employment and participation in the economy. Both the government as well as media has engaged the association in numerous roundtable discussions and brainstorming sessions to find ways to reverse the brain drain.

He is especially concerned with rising unemployment of young graduates.^[6]

In the news[link]

• http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news//4029321.html Spa Articles
• http://www.motour.gov.my/news/index.php?/archives/503-Tourism-Industry-Set-To-Steam-Ahead-With-Spas.html Asia Spa & Wellness Festival
• http://www.rajamice.com/news_detail.php?id=6 Tourism Strategies Seminar
• http://prwire.bernama.com/query.phtml?keywords=aic APEA
• http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2007/11/17/central/19476270&sec=central Spa Festival
• http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/7/27/business/18424481&sec=business APEA in The Star
• http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Friday/National/2197750/Article Career Fair
• http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2008/3/31/central/20758837&sec=central Organising Chair of Career Fair
• http://web7.bernama.com/events/tmm2007/news.php?id=296400 Spa Festival in Malaysia's national news network
• http://www.rajamice.com/news_detail.php?id=6 Seminar in Bali
• http://kl-spa.blogspot.com/2007/12/industri-spa-tidak-harus-dibayangi.html Opinions in feature article
• http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=478165&page=5 More News
• http://allmalaysia.info/news/story.asp?file=/2006/11/13/interests/20061113110340&sec=mi_interests_spas Article on Spa
• http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/10/2/nation/12206732&sec=nation Entrepreneurship issues
• http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news_lite.php?id=299478 More on Spa

References[link]

External links[link]

• http://www.enterpriseasia.org Enterprise Asia
• http://www.smemagazine.com.my SME & Entrepreneurship Magazine
• http://www.asiaspafestival.com Asia Spa & Wellness Festival
• http://www.aswpc.org Asia Spa & Wellness Promotion Council
• http://www.zoominfo.com/Search/PersonDetail.aspx?PersonID=846223861 Zoominfo Web Profile

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2010)

The Basics
The Basics at the Oxford Art Factory, 2010
Background information
Origin	Melbourne, Australia
Genres	Rock
Years active	2002–present
Labels	Independent, Albert Records
Associated acts	Gotye, Down Hills Home, Dog With Wheels, Blood Red Bird
Website	The Basics Official Website
Members
Wally De Backer Kris Schroeder Tim Heath
Past members
Michael Hubbard
Notable instruments
Lead guitar, drums, bass guitar.

The Basics ( /ˈbæzɪtʃ/ BAZZ-ich) are a three-piece band from Melbourne, Australia, formed by Wally De Backer and Kris Schroeder in 2002. Their style has been described as anything from 'indie-pop' to 'rock'n'roll' to 'pop-rock', though their records show they span a wide range of genres, including reggae, ska, country, and electro-pop. They are "recognised as one of Australia's hardest-working bands".^[1]

With close to 1000 shows in their ten-year career, their live performances are well-known for their sense of humour and energy.^[2]

Formation[link]

The Basics were formed after Kris met Wally at a party in Melbourne.^[3] The event was to see off the young aspiring producer, who was about to depart for Los Angeles, and together with a number of musician friends, the two jammed on some blues-rock standards. Later that night, they bonded over a mutual love of The Beatles, 70s and 80s cartoon theme songs and old Sierra adventure games.

Initially, they played around Melbourne as an acoustic guitar/drums combo, starting at The Opposition in Frankston and the House of Fools in Footscray, where in late 2002 they met Michael Hubbard and later invited him to join them on electric guitar.^[4] Though lacking any real experience with the instrument, Kris willingly purchased his first bass guitar, and the trio was born. During this time, the group start performing songs with more complicated three-part harmony.

During late 2002 and early 2003, The Basics recorded and released an album called Get Back through MGM Distribution. They began what was to become regular tours of the East and West coasts of Australia.

2004-2005: Current lineup[link]

Tim Heath joined the group in June 2004, after Michael decided to pursue his solo career, which has included being one half of Down Hills Home.^[4] Tim was reportedly the only person to reply to an advertisement in Melbourne's Beat Magazine looking for a new guitarist. Tim apparently answered the advertisement - which said the applicant "must have a love of 50s and 60s rock'n'roll" - thinking that he would be meeting "a couple of old guys to play with on the weekends over some beers". They soon recorded For Girls Like You.

The Basics in 2005 continued to tour and play small festivals, and after releasing For Girls Like You through MGM Distribution, they departed for a national tour of Australia, which lasted for two months and took them to every Australian state and territory. Stuart Padbury, a young Melbourne sound engineer, joined them on much of this tour. On returning, the band began demonstrating songs for a new album.

2006-2009: Touring and soundtracks[link]

In 2006, The Basics began recording what was to become known as Stand Out/Fit In. Taking several months, it was not completed until the end of the year, despite intentions to have it released in June. Instead, they held a successful 'album preview', where each of the tracks was demonstrated in 'rough form' accompanied by a music video for each (produced by Melbourne photographic artist James Bryans). The band also talked about the origins of the songs. This event brought a lot of attention to the band for the idea's originality. They pre-released a radio single 'Just Hold On' from the album. The band were invited to play the hugely popular Homebake Festival in Sydney, where they received a great response, after being introduced onto the stage by a short stocky Asian guy with big calves ("one of the highlights" wrote The Daily Telegraph).

In 2007, the band departed on a tri-state residency which saw them play Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane every week for the month of April - a bold move which brought further attention to the band for its original idea.^[5] Riding on the wave of this tour, Schroeder, De Backer and Heath departed on their first overseas tour which saw them performing 26 shows around Japan, Norway and the United Kingdom.^[6] They also toured twice more up the East Coast, one of which was with popular Japanese band The Bawdies. Their song 'Rattle My Chain' was used in a series of commercials for Volvo Australia. The song 'Hey There!' featured in the British film The Bank Job - starring Jason Statham - and was used as the backing for a February 2007 short film directed by Tim Longhurst called The Rip. Their song 'Better' was featured in a surfing documentary about the invention of the shortboard in 1967.

In 2008, the band appeared on Australia's Channel 9 for Australia Day celebrations, performing two of their songs - 'Just Hold On' and 'Hey There!' - to an estimated audience of 2 million. Securing an Australian Government grant, they embarked on a two-month tour of Australia, specifically targeting "culturally underprivileged groups" in rural and regional schoolchildren and Indigenous communities. The programme had them holding masterclasses and performing alongside Indigenous groups in the remote Northern Territory and Queensland.^[7][8] Their initiative also had them raising money for the charity Lifeline^{[disambiguation needed ]}, their contribution to which was recognised with a plaque at the end of the tour. Season two of Californication starring David Duchovny featured their cover of the classic 'Have Love, Will Travel', most famously covered by 'The Sonics'.

In 2009, The Basics for the first time enjoyed the support of Australian radio network Triple J, which had reportedly snubbed the band's previous material.^[9] The singles 'With This Ship' and 'Like A Brother' were added to the station's playlist, and momentum carried The Basics overseas for a second tour of the United Kingdom and Norway, and also a series of shows in Dublin, Ireland. They were joined by the longtime front-of-house engineer Stuart Padbury, who had been mixing them since 2005. The band was often seen in the Grafton Street Mall in Dublin, busking to promote their concerts there. Their second show in Oslo, Norway, saw the band perform with Hot Tub, one of the members of the Norwegian boy band "Boyzvoice", in his first performance for several years. Season Eight of Scrubs featured the song 'Lookin' Over My Shoulder'.

Despite all this promise, the band's album Keep Your Friends Close - produced and part-recorded by Peter Cobbin at London's Abbey Road Studios - though enjoying many favourable reviews,^{[10][11][12][13]} failed to impress Richard Kingsmill, music director of Triple J. This effectively ended the band's apparent upward spiral and the resulting album launch tour was reportedly "trying".

2010: Hiatus and live album[link]

In 2010, following the band's fourth stint at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, and the recording of a yet-unreleased live album, an indefinite hiatus was announced on the band's websites. This was in part due to the impending release of a new album produced by Wally for his Gotye project, and also to reported tensions within the band following the previous year's disappointments.

However, this hiatus was soon broken with a two-month residency at the Northcote Social Club in Melbourne, which saw an apparent return to form.^[14] The band's EP "Wait For You" enjoys airplay on Triple J.^[15] The Basics also played a one-off show at Sydney's Oxford Art Factory.^[16]

On 20 August 2010, The Basics released their fourth LP /ðəˈbæzɪtʃ/, available free and exclusively from their website for digital download^[17]. The band had reportedly moved to expand their listenership through this free giveaway, though 300 "Deluxe" CD/vinyl versions have been printed. /ðəˈbæzɪtʃ/ was recorded at the Northcote Social Club on 6 February, "in front of a live studio audience", and like the previous record, was mixed by Peter Cobbin at Abbey Road Studios. Technically a self-titled album, the phonetics spell out the accurate pronunciation of the band’s name. Kris Schroeder: "For years we’ve worked at bringing our live energy into the studio and thus far it’s been a bit hit-and-miss. Our trick this time was to pull a switcheroo and bring the studio to us instead; the result is the best and closest to us we’ve sounded yet."

Melbourne thespian and Dog With Wheels bassist David Bramble - friends with Heath from university days - has occasionally joined the band on tour, playing keys, often while sporting a large moustache. Other guests have included Jake Mason (saxophone), also of Cookin' on 3 Burners and The Bamboos^{[disambiguation needed ]}, Gideon Brazil (saxophone, flute), Simon Imrei (guitar and vocals) and Monty MacKenzie (saxophone).

Covers have often made an appearance from various sources: to date, some of the bands covered have been Cream, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, The Police, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, New Kids on the Block, Richard Berry, Sonny Curtis and The Crickets, JJ Cale, Harry Nilsson, Bill Scott, Ryan Adams and The Coasters (via The Beatles for their cover of Three Cool Cats).

Members[link]

Current

• Wally De Backer - drums, vocals (2002-present)
• Kris Schroeder - bass, vocals (2002-present)
• Tim Heath - guitar, vocals (2004-present)

Former

• Michael Hubbard - guitar, vocals (2002-2004)

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Get Back (15 January 2004)
• Stand Out/Fit In (5 May 2007)
• Keep Your Friends Close (25 September 2009)
• /ðəˈbæzɪtʃ/ (20 August 2010)

EP[link]

• For Girls Like You (11 July 2005)
• Lookin' Over My Shoulder (10 February 2007)
• Like A Brother (5 June 2009)
• Wait For You (21 May 2010)

Singles[link]

• Call It Rhythm & Blues (20 August 2004)
• Just Hold On
• With This Ship (22 February 2009)

Upcoming projects[link]

The band is taking a three year hiatus, with an announced return to the stage together in early 2014. Wally De Backer launched Making Mirrors under his Gotye act in August 2011, Tim Heath will be touring and recording with Blood Red Bird, and Kris Schroeder recorded a solo EP titled, Patience in the Face of Control, before leaving Australia to work with the Red Cross in Kenya for a two year sabbatical.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Myspace Website