Education (Gin)

Education (Tamir)

Company

Founded in

Office (2011-2014)

Team Size (Jerusalem)

Office (2015 -2020)

Team Size (Israel) 

Office (2016 - Present)

Team Size (Singapore)

Gin graduates from Central Saint Martins with a Bachelors in Womenswear design.

2002

2005

2010

2011

Ginlee Studio opens in Singapore. Wins the Emerging Designer of the Year for Fashion at the Singapore Fashion Awards.

2016

Gin and Tamir move back to Singapore. Opens retail store in Great World City. Launches project MAKE.

2020

After working with global fashion brands in London and Shanghai, Gin Lee realised a fundamental flaw in the industry, something which called for a shift towards more sustainable practices. With her training in womenswear design, she decided to take things into her own hands; and in 2011 her label Ginlee Studio was born. Beginning their journey in Israel, Gin and her partner Tamir have since established their brand in Singapore, opening their Great World City boutique just last year. Translating their experiences, cultures, and beliefs into unique silhouettes, Gin and Tamir continue to challenge consumer and industry practices by crafting their own culture of slow fashion. 

Slowing Things Down 

Founder

Birthdate of Founder

Education

Previous job

Other pursuits

Graduated from Singapore Polytechnic, Diploma in Architecture Technology

2003

Graduated from Curtin University, Degree in Interior Architecture

2007

2012

2018

2019

Appointed Adjunct Lecturer in Interior Design at Temasek Polytechnic

2021

If you have been to Violet Oon’s Kitchen at National Art Gallery Singapore before, and wondered who is the designer behind the exquisite interior, it is actually done by a relatively young designer in her 30s, Cherin Tan of Laank. Laank is a 8-year-old interior design studio that has done some remarkable interior works focused on human-centric spaces. Today, we speak with Cherin Tan on her design-in pajamas-from-the-bedroom one-woman-show beginning to how she overcome teething problems to build her studio of 12 today. And as curious and adventurous as most creatives, she shares with us her other loves in fashion, art, botany and occasional.. gluttony.


Made of Little Wins

1st Office

Team Size (1st Office)

Current Office

Team Size (Current)

Previous Job

Graduated from Temasek Polytechnic, Diploma in Product Design.

1991

1999

Graduated from University of New South Wales, Master in Design.

Awarded Designer of the Year, President*s Design Award.

2008

Nathan Yong Design & Grafunkt was founded

2009

 Appointed LaSalle College of the Arts, Industrial Design Programme Leader.

Founder of Nathan Yong Design and one half of the partnership at Grafunkt, a successful lifestyle and furniture store, Nathan Yong is one of the most prolific and successful product and furniture designers in Singapore. He shares with Kelley Cheng his carefree childhood by the sea, his up and down journey as a designer, entrepreneur and artist, his views of an ideal education in product design, the secrets of his success and why his pet beagle is named Jagger.



Don't be Shy & Never Say Die

TEMASEK POLYTECHNIC, VISUAL COMMUNICATION

Company 

1997

2001

First collaboration with Filmmaker, Royston Tan.

Founded The Design Society with 6 other creatives.

2014

2015

Awarded Design of the Year 2016, President*s Design Award for Bynd Artisan

Trials and tribulations have made Larry Peh, of &Larry, the man he is today. With his fair share of rough beginnings and difficult times, the simple goal of doing good with design and the driving force to succeed eventually got him named Designer of the Year, at 2014’s President*s Design Award. With the belief that in a business for the people, good design should fade into the background. &Larry has made a solid reputation in the local design scene.

To Build a Studio with Purpose, Reason and Voice

Education (Calvin)

AKITEK TENGGARA, DESIGN PRINCIPAL AT NIKKEN SEKKEI INTERNATIONAL

Previous Jobs (Calvin)

B.A. ARCHITECTURE, UNIVERSITY OF OREGON & UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL

Education (Boon)

MICHAEL HOPKINS & PARTNERS IN LONDON, PROJECT DIRECTOR AT ALFRED WONG PARTNERSHIP

Previous Jobs (Boon)

Founded company in

Team Size - 1st Office

2nd Office

Team Size - 2nd Office

3rd Office

Team Size - 3rd Office

4th Office

Team Size - 4th Office

Current Team Size

Current Office (Thailand)

Current Office (China)

Boon graduates from the University of Liverpool with a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture.

1987

Calvin graduates from the University of Oregon with a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture and returns to Singapore, where he joins Akitek Tenggara. Boon begins working at Michael Hopkins & Partners in London.

1989

Boon returns to Singapore. Eco.id is founded by Boon and Calvin.

1996

Moves into office in Mohamed Sultan Road.

1998

2000

Completes Metropolitan Bangkok, Thailand.

Opens office in Shanghai, China. Ecoid wins the President's Design Award from the Naumi Hotel, Singapore.

Opens office in Bangkok, Thailand. Receives the Highly Commended Award at the World Architecture Festival for the Ivy Bound International School in Bangkok. 

Moves into current office in Henderson Drive.

From friends to co-founders, Sim Boon Yang and Calvin Sim have always set their sights far beyond local bounds. Starting from a cramped shophouse basement in Geylang, Eco.id has since expanded its offices to China and Thailand, designing hotels and resorts in some of the most unique destinations around the world. With a speciality in hospitality, Eco.id has left its footprint in countries like India, Kazakhstan, and Zanzibar. It is from their extensive work overseas that Boon, Calvin and their partner Carol, have found creative inspiration and fulfilment in their work. 

Going Beyond the Bounds

Previous Jobs

Current Office 

Current Team Size 

Graduates from NUS with a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture. Joins Tang Guan Bee Architects as a full-time employee.

Selected by URA to be showcased in 20 Under 45: A Selection of Works by Under-45s.

2004

Moves into current office in Morse Road. 

2006

Wins the President's Design Award for Design of the Year.

2013

Completes the Wondrous Light Children's House.

2017

Chang Yong Ter founded Chang Architects in 2000, right on the cusp of the new millennium. Since then, he has gone from strength to strength, starting with winning the URA 20 Under 45 award in 2004 followed by a multitude of other achievements. Although 17 years have passed, Yong Ter’s passion for design continues to burn as bright as ever. Testament to his sensitivity as an architect, Yong Ter and his wife recently founded the Wondrous Light Children House, an activity centre for preschool children that focuses on the development of the senses rather than just a traditional education. 

A Practice of Humility

Founded Company in

Graduates from NUS with a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture. Joins Alfred Wong Partnership. Joins the art collective Plastique Kinetic Worms.

1997 

Designs the Singapore Pavilion at the World Expo in Aichi, Japan.

Co-founds gallery-bar, Night & Day, with Kelley Cheng.

Wins the President’s Design Award for his collaborative artwork Building as a Body (2011). Moves into current office in Golden Mile Tower.

Curates Singapore: Inside Out in Beijing, London, New York and Singapore.

Collaborates with urban farming initiative, City Sprouts, for Archifest.

With a fairly young design tradition, it was only in recent years that more designers have been branching out across different disciplin. But Randy Chan of Zarch Collaboratives has always embraced the interconnected relationship between art, architecture and design. It was when he joined the art collective, Plastique Kinetic Worms, that he fully realised the potential of a collaborative approach. Being involved in curation, conservation, architecture, and art installation, Zarch Collaboratives deconstructs the traditional rules of genre and approach, demonstrating an innovative vision of what design can be.

A Creative Ecology

Education (Exchange Programme)

Current Office Singapore

Current Team Size (Singapore)

Current Office Portugal

Current Team Size (Portugal)

Wins the Bombay Sapphire Designer Glass Competition at Tokyo Design Week. Wins the Electrolux Design Lab Award at Future Design Days in Stockholm.

Graduates from NUS with a Bachelors of Arts in Industrial Design. Attends an exchange programme at École cantonale d’art de Lausanne in Switzerland.

Exhibits at Milan Design Week.  Co-founds furniture design brand OutofStock Design with Gustavo Maggio, Sebastián Alberdi and Wendy Chua.

OutofStock wins President’s Design of the Year award for the Black Forest Table.

Gabriel Tan Studio is founded. Moves into office in Hythe Road. Joins Japanese furniture brand Ariake as Creative Director. Founds interior design brand Studio Antimatter.

Joins Singapore door handle brand Turn as Creative Director. 

Founds craft object brand Origins in Portugal

In a small country like Singapore where the local market is small, being a furniture designer is just as difficult as being a fashion designer—it is hard to make it abroad and it is hard to sell just in Singapore. To make it as a furniture designer, not only do you need talent and perseverance, you need to be resourceful and sometimes, you need some sheer brute strength. Homegrown designer, Gabriel Tan, a designer who is constantly evolving and searching, moved beyond product design to embrace interior design, art directing and creating brands for companies outside of Singapore, carving his own niche as a wunderkind in the world of furniture and beyond.

From Nothing to Something: A Journey Beyond Design

Education (Jesscia)

Education (Pamela)

CO-FOUNDER – OATS INTERIOR AND GRAPHIC DESIGN STUDIO, TILL 2012

Previous Job (Jessica)

VICE PRESIDENT – BANK OF AMERICA, TILL 2012

Previous Job (Pamela)

Pamela and Jessica meet while attending Junior College.

Pamela and Jessica move to Shanghai for 1.5 years. Jessica interns with MadAboutDesign, a graphic design company. Pamela interns with OCBC bank. Jessica graduates from NUS with a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture.

Pamela graduates from NUS with a Bachelor of Science in Economics.

Designs the SHANG System. Pamela and Jessica move back to Singapore. Moves into first office and showroom at Institution Hill.  Wins a special commendation at the President’s Design Award for the SHANG system. 

2014 

Moves into their permanent flagship at Beach Road.

Opens store in Raffles Hotel Arcade. (This has since closed) Wins silver at the Singapore Creator Awards for the XUAN Table.

2019 

Launches the Cane Collection with local brands Onlewo, Binary Style and Minor Miracles.

An internship in Shanghai uncovered their love for the Chinese culture, which led to a journey in search of their own cultural roots through design. Jessica Wong and Pamela Ting of Scene Shang share their inspiration and journey in pursuit of a new chinoiserie, one with a small sprinkling of Singaporean-ness.