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You thought about it. Then thought about it again. And again. You can&rsquo;t quite get rid of the bothersome feeling that something&rsquo;s missing&hellip; missing a little bit of you. Then you should book an appointment with Kelvin, a professional small details expert on making places feel like&hellip; you. Director and founder of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sixides.com/professionals/interior-designers/the-local-project"></a><a href="https://www.sixides.com/professionals/interior-designers/the-local-project">The Local Project</a>, he and his team have been around the block for two years. Highly experienced, he&rsquo;s sensitive to the needs of the owner and ensures that, in every job, he&rsquo;s mindful of making homeowners&#39; homes distinctively their own and not designed like cookie-cutter ones. To learn more about what makes Kelvin tick, we kidnapped him (temporarily!) for an interview.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sixides-us/uploads%2F1661230198527-1661230198527.jpeg" class="fr-fil fr-dib" style="width: 100%;">&nbsp;Who Are You And What&rsquo;s Your Position In The Local Project?&nbsp;I am the founder as well as the director of the,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sixides.com/professionals/interior-designers/the-local-project"></a><a href="https://www.sixides.com/professionals/interior-designers/the-local-project">The Local Project</a>.I oversee every running project and day to day operations.&nbsp;Every Artist Has Their Humble Beginnings. What Was Yours? What Got You Into Interior Design? Who Is Or Was Your Inspiration In Interior Design?&nbsp;I have always been drawn to designing and art since young.Unfortunately, I wasn&rsquo;t able to enrol into an art school as my family couldn&rsquo;t support the school fees financially.&nbsp;Did You Always Know That You Were Going Into Interior Design?&nbsp;Not at all! In fact, I studied IT engineering.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sixides-us/uploads%2F1661230198561-1661230198560.jpeg" class="fr-fil fr-dib" style="width: 100%;">&nbsp;So What Happened After That? I was actively looking for a job to financially support myself once I completed NS and that&rsquo;s when I came across a lucrative job where you could earn up to $8000 a month at an interior design firm.&nbsp;That Was Quite The Promise! Did You Get The Job AND That Salary? Definitely, but I only managed to earn $800 per month instead of the lucrative deal which was posted. (Laughs)&nbsp;&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sixides-us/uploads%2F1661230198592-1661230198592.jpeg" class="fr-fil fr-dib" style="width: 100%;">&nbsp;How Did You Feel About That?&nbsp;Well, it wasn&rsquo;t a problem for me back then as I was inexperienced.This job opportunity was a big learning curve for me as I was required to physically be on site every day. That allowed me to build a rapport with the <a href="https://www.sixides.com/articles/best-renovation-contractor-in-singapore">contractors</a> as well as subcontractors. This made it easy for me to ask them a lot of things that I was unsure about and curious about. I definitely learned a lot right from them.&nbsp;How Did You Transition From Being Employed To Being An Employer? What Was The Drive?&nbsp;It was the passion I&rsquo;ve always had for designing and art. (Laughs)Being able to follow my dreams and starting entrepreneurship is super exciting for me as&nbsp;I can shape my company to be something I&rsquo;ll be proud of. I may even pass my legacy on to my children someday.&nbsp;Starting a Business Is a Big Step. Was There Any Hesitation?&nbsp;Not at all as I always knew what I wanted.&nbsp;What Was Your First ID Job? What Was It Like?&nbsp;The first was a really memorable&nbsp;bedroom makeover at Mei Hwan terrace.&nbsp;The owner was a pink lover and this was a makeover to turn her entire bedroom into pink.&nbsp;The bed, Study table, and display cabinet were customized to pink. (Laughs)&nbsp;How About The Most Influential Job &ndash; One That Changed How You Do Things?&nbsp;It was to manage an architect&rsquo;s home renovation where the design and drawings were done by the owner himself. The entire <a href="https://www.sixides.com/articles/6-facts-about-renovating-in-Singapore">renovation process</a> was extremely tedious as every little detail including tile placement had to be exact. From this, I&rsquo;ve learned that no details are too small and this also taught me to be meticulous and detailed orientated to this day.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sixides-us/uploads%2F1661230198614-1661230198614.jpeg" class="fr-fil fr-dib" style="width: 100%;">&nbsp;Every Artist Has Their Proudest Work. What Would You Say Yours Is?&nbsp;I always give my best creativity to fit each and every homeowner&rsquo;s requirement as well as their <a href="https://www.sixides.com/articles/renovation-on-budget">budget</a>. Therefore, every house which I&rsquo;ve designed is my proudest achievement.&nbsp;Kinda Like Asking You To Pick Your Favourite Child?&nbsp;(Laughs) Exactly that.&nbsp;What Guides Your Work? What Would You Say Your Design Philosophy Is?&nbsp;&ldquo;Your home should tell the story of who you are, and be a collection of what you love, brought together under one roof.&rdquo; That&rsquo;s a quote from Nate Berkus that I carry with me all the time. That&rsquo;s why I always ask my clients about their lifestyle, about family preferences, and their hobbies, and try to integrate all that into their home design.&nbsp;How Do You Conceptualise Your Design Ideas?&nbsp;I insist on being on-site to feel the space out. When I&rsquo;m on site, I&rsquo;d close my eyes to visualise everything around the house, thinking of how the space should look like.It works for me every time. What Is One Advice You&rsquo;d Like To Give Up And Coming Interior Designers?&nbsp;Treat every house as your masterpiece. Focus on both the little details and big picture to craft cohesive spaces.

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You thought about it. Then thought about it again. And again. You can’t quite get rid of the bothersome feeling that something’s missing… missing a little bit of you. Then you should book an appointment with Kelvin, a professional small details expert on making places feel like… you.

Interview With Kelvin Cai: Making Homes That Tell The Story Of You

SIXiDES is an interior design tech and renovation platform that uses tech to change the way people renovate their homes. Conceived as a means to safeguard aspiring homeowners in realizing their space with ease and peace of mind. SIXiDES unique features provide an integrated solution that guides the users right from the very beginning till the end of the renovation journey.

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Old habits die hard, they say. But did you know that, with just a few design tweaks to the home, you could change your entire lifestyle? You didn&rsquo;t? Then you should really talk to Averse on how you might redesign your life. Meet Averse Yau: Founder, Director, and Creative Director of A Blue Cube Design Pty. Ltd. (or just ABCD). Beginning his career as a sales designer for an interior design firm before deciding that he wanted to do more &ndash; he wanted to change lives for the better. When no one was looking, we quietly snatched him away for an interview.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sixides-us/uploads%2F1664435151276-1664435151276.jpeg" class="fr-fil fr-dib" style="width: 100%;">Photo Credit:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sixides.com/professionals/interior-designers/a-blue-cube-design">A Blue Cube Design</a>&nbsp;Where Did You Start? How Did You Get Into Interior Design?I came to Singapore looking to get into sales 13 years ago. My first job here just happened to be for an interior design firm and I took on the position of, what I termed, a sales designer &ndash; I didn&rsquo;t see myself as an interior designer then. What I did then was sell renovation packages. What Changed?Doing sales was like selling a set meal. Copy and paste. Doing the same thing. I didn&rsquo;t think my career was progressing. However, I met this client, &shy;and he really inspired me to change &ndash; he had put a lot of trust in me. It was through our relationship, where he treated me more as a friend than a <a href="https://www.sixides.com/articles/best-renovation-contractor-in-singapore">contractor</a>, that I truly appreciated the value of a dream home designer. So, I worked towards becoming one.&nbsp;&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sixides-us/uploads%2F1664435151300-1664435151300.jpeg" class="fr-fil fr-dib" style="width: 100%;">Photo Credit: <a href="https://www.sixides.com/professionals/interior-designers/a-blue-cube-design">A Blue Cube Design</a>&nbsp;What Was The Journey To Becoming An Interior Designer Like For You?Well, I was inspired to learn a lot more about design so, on my own time, I researched things like <a href="https://www.sixides.com/articles/sixider-material-guide-6-kitchen-backsplashes">materials</a>, design language, and ways that design can improve households and change lives. What Would You Say Your Proudest Work Is?My two work studios. Singapore Interior Design Society (SIDS) awarded both as the Best Workspace Award in 2021 and 2022. Is There a Part Of The Studios You Particularly Love?Pretty much all of it. It was designed by my team and me. One was designed when it was just me and the other when I had expanded to a three-man team. I&rsquo;m really proud of them because, for the first one, I took my time designing it &ndash; a few months. For the second, I knew what I wanted for it from my experience with the first one but it still took me a year to plan and come up with it. Being an <a href="https://www.sixides.com/articles/guide-choosing-an-interior-designer-in-singapore">interior designer</a>, we usually design to homeowner requirements, working towards functionality and budgets, which can be tedious. The <a href="https://www.sixides.com/articles/renovation-on-budget">budget</a> and quality don&rsquo;t usually meet. For myself, I understand the function and quality of all the materials, so it was easy to work out the budget for everything. Because of that, I can get materials that I want, understanding their pros and cons. For example, marble is porous and typically not a good material for tabletops. Understanding that I still pushed to use it for my own purpose. While I can&rsquo;t promise my clients that they won&rsquo;t damage marble, I&rsquo;m willing to install &ndash; anything that happens to it is on me. I&rsquo;m responsible for my own design, so I&rsquo;ve got free reign over it.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sixides-us/uploads%2F1664435151320-1664435151320.jpeg" class="fr-fil fr-dib" style="width: 100%;">Photo Credit:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sixides.com/professionals/interior-designers/a-blue-cube-design">A Blue Cube Design</a> How Did You End Up Starting Your Own Outf<span id="isPasted" style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; float: none; display: inline !important;">it?I never thought about starting my studio until Covid-19. The firm that I was working at didn&rsquo;t survive the pandemic. So I got together with some friends and, after some discussion, we started ABCD. What Guides Your Work? What Would You Say Your Design Philosophy Is?Designing a home is like designing a lifestyle for an individual or family. Good design determines a good lifestyle, while bad design does the opposite. Therefore, understanding a homeowner and their family&rsquo;s lifestyle, and their good and bad habits, is very important to designing a home. I&rsquo;ve had the pleasure of knowing housewives who&rsquo;ve never cooked until they&rsquo;ve got a very nice kitchen, children who would never come home early now willingly do so because it&rsquo;s more comfy, and a couple who loves travelling but now can&rsquo;t wait to come home every time they&rsquo;re away. I believe in this thing called art therapy. I had a late friend who found peace through performance arts despite having to fight cancer. Art can heal emotions. That&rsquo;s why design is really important because good art can help people. What Inspires Your Work? Is There a Favourite Place You Like To Go To For Inspiration?Everywhere. I kind of have a poor work-life balance. The two have merged so well that I don&rsquo;t realise whether I&rsquo;m living or working. The moment I step out of my room, office or bedroom, I will just absorb things all around it. So I like travelling. I always find that Mother Earth is the best designer in the world. There&rsquo;s inspiration in things like the unlikely colour combination such as chicken feathers where you get brown and blue together. In marble, you can book-match (matching grains so that both sides mirror each other) them and see things like cow heads. After I&rsquo;ve stored all this inspiration in my head, I use it in my work. That&rsquo;s not to say that I don&rsquo;t get inspired by other designers too!&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sixides-us/uploads%2F1664435151343-1664435151343.jpeg" class="fr-fil fr-dib" style="width: 100%;">Photo Credit: <a href="https://www.sixides.com/professionals/interior-designers/a-blue-cube-design">A Blue Cube Design</a>&nbsp;What Is Your Advice For Up-and-Coming Interior Designers?Interior design has changed. Consumers are more knowledgeable and tend to surf the internet to get information and ideas. Do not be afraid of what&rsquo;s coming next. And do not avoid doing something because you&rsquo;re afraid of making mistakes. Bravely embrace your mistakes, learn to admit it, understand it, fix it, and then improve it.

Old habits die hard, they say. But did you know that, with just a few design tweaks to the home, you could change your entire lifestyle? You didn’t? Then you should really talk to Averse on how you might redesign your life.

Interview With Averse Yau: Designing Therapeutic Homes

Some who become <a href="https://www.sixides.com/articles/guide-choosing-an-interior-designer-in-singapore">interior designers</a> are in it for the money. Others because their parents told them to. And then you have the passion-driven ones; totally and madly in love with design, taking up impossible jobs for the love of it. Jackie Lai is one such person. Founder of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sixides.com/professionals/interior-designers/jia-studios"></a><a href="https://www.sixides.com/professionals/interior-designers/jia-studios">JIA Studios</a>, a multidisciplinary design studio in Singapore with projects in multiple nations. However, that&rsquo;s not all. His accolades and responsibilities are myriad; he&rsquo;s got awards from all around the world &ndash; Germany, Italy, Taiwan, and, of course, Singapore &ndash; AND is a council member of both Society of Interior Designers Singapore (SIDS) and Singapore Interior Designer Accreditation Council (SIDAC). A true believer in the future, he is an Adjunct Lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic to train up and coming interior designers. There&rsquo;s really no space here for everything else about him &ndash; there&rsquo;s just too much. And everyone wants a piece of him. Which is why we drove up to him in a van and dragged him in to force an interview out of him before somebody else did. <img src="https://s3-us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sixides-us/uploads%2F1667523496181-1667523496181.png" class="fr-fil fr-dib" style="width: 100%;"> Every artist has their humble beginnings. What was yours? What got you into interior design? Who is or was your inspiration in interior design?My initial education wasn&rsquo;t interior design but in Marine Engineering from Singapore Polytechnic. It was through the module called Naval Architecture in the course that I took interest in design and architecture. What Made ID Stand Out In The Course? What Exactly Was It That You Liked?From an engineer&rsquo;s point of view, a lot of things have to do with mathematical solutions, forces, thermodynamics... that sort of thing. But with naval architecture, it was all about playing with spaces and structures that conforms well to the shape of a ship. It was different from the usual engineering stuff which I ended up liking. From there, I ended up chasing the dream of being an interior designer instead of continuing with engineering. How Did You End Up In Engineering In The First Place?My family business was in the marine industry; enrolling in Marine Engineering was a natural progression for me. However, it didn&rsquo;t hold my interest and I decided to pursue design instead. What Then?I applied for further studies in architecture at universities in Australia, namely University of Canberra and Curtin University. I passed their entry test and got offers to study. Unfortunately, I couldn&#39;t afford to study overseas at that time. So I took up an internship at an interior design firm that allowed me to study interior design part-time. I ended up doing it locally at Lasalle College of the Arts to pursue my passion and got my diploma in interior design. Every Designer Starts Somewhere. What Was Your First Hands-On Interior Design Work?The firm that I worked at got a job to design an exhibition booth for a company that was going to be at the Singapore Expo. I was selected to curate the exhibition space despite there being other capable designers around. It was pretty exciting. <img src="https://s3-us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sixides-us/uploads%2F1667523496204-1667523496204.jpeg" class="fr-fil fr-dib" style="width: 100%;"> Do You Have An Interior Design Project That You&rsquo;re Proud Of?I would say the Marina One Residences. That one won a lot of awards. This project was unique because the owner came up with the concept: living in the future domain. I wasn&rsquo;t the first choice; I was the fourth. The owner had met three other interior designers before me. Apparently the previous the first three refused to take up the project because it was too challenging and there weren&rsquo;t many craftsmen locally who could fulfil the task. However, I took up the project without a second thought.I spent a lot of time doing research, getting inspiration for the perfect form, and interviewing craftsmen and <a href="https://www.sixides.com/articles/best-renovation-contractor-in-singapore">contractors</a> to do it. &nbsp;Not many were willing to take up the job. The standard I had set seemed impossible to them. Needless to say, I did find someone, and the residence is now one of my proudest achievements. Who Do You Look Up To?I look upon Zaha Hadid for her forward-looking designs. The curves in her work are particularly sexy and served as the inspiration for my Marina One Residence project. I also aspire to be like my teacher and mentor &ndash; Peter Tay. He taught me at La Salle and later, after I graduated, became Designer of the Year 2014 at the President&rsquo;s Design Award. I remember being the only one to graduate from his course because it was too tough &ndash; the course catered to those who wanted to study while working but it proved to be too difficult for many to juggle. <img src="https://s3-us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sixides-us/uploads%2F1667523496222-1667523496222.jpeg" class="fr-fil fr-dib" style="width: 100%;"> What&rsquo;s Your Design Philosophy?A design philosophy defines what a design should be able to achieve or accomplish, design should be able to feel and enhance human experience or even evoke human emotions. I hope to inspire and offer great design that can impact the environment and the community. What Inspires Your Work? Where Do Your Ideas Come From?They come from everywhere. It&rsquo;s an occupational hazard. As an interior designer, I think I&rsquo;m more observant than the usual person. I observe everything in day-to-day life and the environment for inspiration. Nature is a great source of it. Even from a young age I&rsquo;ve been drawn to great designs surrounding us. Beautiful things inspire me. <img src="https://s3-us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sixides-us/uploads%2F1667523496275-1667523496275.png" class="fr-fil fr-dib" style="width: 100%;"> What Is One Advice You&rsquo;d Like To Give Up And Coming Interior Designers?Designing an <a href="https://www.sixides.com/articles/indoor-garden-ideas-for-hdbs">indoor</a> environment is a huge responsibility for an interior designer.An interior designer must plan, research, coordinate, and manage these projects to obtain an adequately healthy and aesthetically pleasing environment for the people who use the space.Passion is what would keep your fire going in this pursuit of excellence, stay hungry for knowledge and stay passionate!

Some who become interior designers are in it for the money. Others because their parents told them to. And then you have the passion-driven ones; totally and madly in love with design, taking up impossible jobs for the love of it. Jackie Lai is one such person.

Interview With Jackie Lai: Passion For Design And The Future

It takes a special kind of person to just roll with it when things go sour. With Dennis Cheok, when life gives him lemons, he doesn’t just make lemonade; he turns it into an Avant Garde sculpture with a story to tell.

Interview With Dennis Cheok: A Series Of Serendipitous Circumstances & Sweat

When it comes to show rooms, it&rsquo;s more than a pretty face. It&rsquo;s a pretty face with a deep and resonant story to tell. A story that speaks to the soul. And that it takes a special storyteller to bring out that tale. And that person is Hilary Loh. Co-founder of 2nd Edition, Hilary began life as an architectural assistant, but her love for the minute details saw her make the jump from that career into interior designing. And since then, she&rsquo;s just been sweeping up accolades after accolades.So many that they would require their own article, but some of them include the Singapore Good Design Award 2022, winner of the Taiwan Interior New Talent Award (TITAN) 2021, and the Luminary Award for Best in Exhibition Design at Singapore Interior Design Awards (SIDA) 2020. She also served as one of SIDA 2022&rsquo;s Youth judges. We had to send in a team to encircle and trap her just to get an interview with her. <img src="https://s3-us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sixides-us/uploads%2F1671758709634-2nd+Edition+-+Ki+Residences+-+19.jpg" style="width: 100%;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Photo: Ki Residences <p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-pan-x: ; --tw-pan-y: ; --tw-pinch-zoom: ; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-gradient-from-position: ; --tw-gradient-via-position: ; --tw-gradient-to-position: ; --tw-ordinal: ; --tw-slashed-zero: ; --tw-numeric-figure: ; --tw-numeric-spacing: ; --tw-numeric-fraction: ; --tw-ring-inset: ; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,.5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-blur: ; --tw-brightness: ; --tw-contrast: ; --tw-grayscale: ; --tw-hue-rotate: ; --tw-invert: ; --tw-saturate: ; --tw-sepia: ; --tw-drop-shadow: ; --tw-backdrop-blur: ; --tw-backdrop-brightness: ; --tw-backdrop-contrast: ; --tw-backdrop-grayscale: ; --tw-backdrop-hue-rotate: ; --tw-backdrop-invert: ; --tw-backdrop-opacity: ; --tw-backdrop-saturate: ; --tw-backdrop-sepia: ; --tw-contain-size: ; --tw-contain-layout: ; --tw-contain-paint: ; --tw-contain-style: ; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px solid rgb(229, 231, 235); margin: 0px;" id="isPasted"><span style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-pan-x: ; --tw-pan-y: ; --tw-pinch-zoom: ; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-gradient-from-position: ; --tw-gradient-via-position: ; --tw-gradient-to-position: ; --tw-ordinal: ; --tw-slashed-zero: ; --tw-numeric-figure: ; --tw-numeric-spacing: ; --tw-numeric-fraction: ; --tw-ring-inset: ; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,.5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-blur: ; --tw-brightness: ; --tw-contrast: ; --tw-grayscale: ; --tw-hue-rotate: ; --tw-invert: ; --tw-saturate: ; --tw-sepia: ; --tw-drop-shadow: ; --tw-backdrop-blur: ; --tw-backdrop-brightness: ; --tw-backdrop-contrast: ; --tw-backdrop-grayscale: ; --tw-backdrop-hue-rotate: ; --tw-backdrop-invert: ; --tw-backdrop-opacity: ; --tw-backdrop-saturate: ; --tw-backdrop-sepia: ; --tw-contain-size: ; --tw-contain-layout: ; --tw-contain-paint: ; --tw-contain-style: ; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px solid rgb(229, 231, 235); font-family: Roboto, ui-sans-serif, system-ui; font-size: 24px; color: rgb(29, 71, 93); font-weight: 700;">Every Artist Has Their Humble Beginnings. What Was Yours? What Got You Into Interior Design?I&rsquo;ve always been fascinated by the composition of objects in shapes, colour and texture since I was young. I grew up in Ipoh, a town in West Malaysia, and left for Singapore at 18 to continue my tertiary education at Singapore Polytechnic.&nbsp; After that, I stuck around here and I moved between architectural firms for 10 years as an architectural assistant. I detoured from that path to follow my inner voice to follow my passion &ndash; <a href="https://www.sixides.com/articles/guide-choosing-an-interior-designer-in-singapore">interior design</a>. I really like to examine things in a micro way, so I thought interior design was a good fit. It was then that I got recommended to Park of Park + Associates Architectural Firm (we would eventually form 2nd Edition in 2005). He was looking for someone to look at his project and I suspect that he didn&rsquo;t know that I had, at the time, zero experience in interior design.&nbsp; So he asked me to just go for it and I started work with one of his clients, a developer. That&rsquo;s how I started on my first show flat and I never turned back. I figured things out along the way and the client had trusted me to get the job done. That&rsquo;s how I got started. Even to this day, show flats are still exciting; there&rsquo;s always something new. It&rsquo;s quite different from doing residential or commercial work. It&rsquo;s fun to create. Show flats are a lot like staging; creating a story. That&rsquo;s what makes it exciting. It never gets tiring. The journey from founding a boutique studio, organically growing it for 17 years, and getting recognized through accolades and portfolios, validates my continuing balance of authenticity, style, and <a href="https://www.sixides.com/articles/6-hacks-for-more-functional-modern-bathroom-designs">functionality</a> in design statements.&nbsp;If You Were To Redo Your Life, Would You Skip Interior Design Altogether?Yeah, I think so. I never tire of what I do. When you see a space, how do you design and compose it? When you can&rsquo;t work it out, it weighs you down, but once you get it, the satisfaction is amazing.&nbsp; Usually the solution is all very simple, not complicated. Good design is all about simplicity and being authentic. That keeps me going. Just like writing, you&rsquo;ll get to a point and you go, &ldquo;Yes!&rdquo;. With writing, there&rsquo;s no true satisfaction &ndash; just constant self-criticism. Then you and I have something in common (laughs).&nbsp; <img src="https://s3-us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sixides-us/uploads%2F1671758784897-2nd+Edition+-+3+Orchard+by+the+Park+-+26-min.jpg" style="width: 100%;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Photo: 3 Orchard by the Park Who Is Your Inspiration In Interior Design?Sue Carr. She&rsquo;s a co-founder of Carr Design Group based in Melbourne, Australia. A client paired us up with her company as their local build partner for a local project. The longer I worked with them, the more I was sure that I wanted to adopt her as my role model.&nbsp; She&rsquo;s in her 70s but her work remains consistent. Quiet and strong. The lines in her work look so simple but so hard to achieve. I follow their Instagram and every time I look at their new posts, they just strike me speechless. She&rsquo;s been running the business for over 50 years so, in comparison, we&rsquo;re still very young (laughs). That&rsquo;s one way to make ourselves feel young for much longer. Yeah! And we shouldn&rsquo;t complain about being tired! But seriously, for her to still have that energy to continue to tirelessly do what she does? You want to know why. That&rsquo;s why I look up to her. Another inspiration is Patricia Urquiola, a Spanish architect, industrial designer and art director. She designs quirky pieces. She&rsquo;s basically the complete opposite of Sue. She&rsquo;s a typical Spaniard that celebrates life with colours and approaching work with a sense of humour. I think we all need that in life (laughs). How Has She Influenced Your Work?It depends on the work. With show flats, we role-play; we have scripts. Different scripts work with different people. Roleplay? Scripts? Tell me more! When designing a sales gallery and show flats , you&rsquo;ve got to create a story&hellip; a script. Think of contexts, experiences and audiences. In that way, that makes the job of designing a show flat meaningful and exciting. So You&rsquo;ve Been Talking A Lot About Show Flats. Do You Do Any Residential Work?Only 10% are residential projects for end users and 90% are project development, sales gallery and show flats.&nbsp; <img src="https://s3-us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sixides-us/uploads%2F1671759000915-2nd+Edition+-+MORI+Showflat+-+33.jpg" style="width: 100%;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Photo: MORl Showflat Every Artist Has Their Proudest Work. What Would You Say Yours Is?Presently, that would be MORI. Mori brings you on a journey through two show units which are presented in contrasting light and dark themes, centred around the main philosophy of <a href="https://www.sixides.com/articles/wabi-sabi-is-not-wasabi-design-la">Wabi-Sabi</a>. The light unit represents a home in its most natural and authentic state, designed to reflect a love of handmade quality , with clay tiles, sandy textured paint, and terracotta tones. The dark unit embodies the art of finding beauty in imperfections and the natural cycle of growth and decay of materials over time. The scheme is a darker, more rugged and textured finish, with selections of burnt wood and tarnished metal to represent the timelessness and fortitude of such materials. <img src="https://s3-us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sixides-us/uploads%2F1671759029376-2nd+Edition+-+MORI+Showflat+-+28.jpg" style="width: 100%;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Photo: MORl Showflat What Guides Your Work? What Would You Say Your Design Philosophy IsStay true to my values, being sincere with emphasis to create unique and distinctive solutions organically. Projects should maintain a balance of authenticity, style and functionality with subtlety and boldness whilst preserving any essence of discovered beauty and purity. It Is Said That No Idea Ever Comes From A Vacuum. What Inspires Your Work? Where Do Your Ideas Come From?By being a good listener to the design brief and react instinctively, be open minded, and contextual. I like to approach things organically. First instincts, impressions, or ideas are always the best. And that&rsquo;s where we begin, fine tuning it along the way. Having to force an idea onto a project often ends badly. What Is One Advice You&rsquo;d Like To Give Up And Coming Interior Designers?Be unwavering, unrestrained, unconventional, and unconditional.

When it comes to show rooms, it’s more than a pretty face. It’s a pretty face with a deep and resonant story to tell. A story that speaks to the soul. And that it takes a special storyteller to bring out that tale. And that person is Hilary Loh.

Interview With Kelvin Cai: Making Homes That Tell The Story Of You

You thought about it. Then thought about it again. And again. You can’t quite get rid of the bothersome feeling that something’s missing… missing a little bit of you. Then you should book an appointment with Kelvin, a professional small details expert on making places feel like… you.

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