President*s Design Award 2020: 12 Recipients And Projects To Know asiatatler.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from asiatatler.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The building blocks of Ng’s success are grounded in a thoughtful amalgamation of user requirements, materiality and technology; a triumvirate of elements that “any good design can harness”, he says. Besides, as impressed as he was by the ornate structures of his holidays, Ng’s design language is bound to time and context.
“In Singapore, I will not design a classical house featuring ornate decorations and gargoyles as it does not suit the design language of this country,” he says. “Rather, I create projects with a design language which is relevant to modern Singapore, such as contemporary tropical houses.”
The conceptual alabaster space was conceived by Ministry of Design (Photo: Courtesy of Figment)
What sparked the idea for Figment?
Fang Low: I wanted to help bring back shophouse living, and the first step in establishing Figment was to take a risk and reinvent the very same shophouse I grew up in as a boutique home for co-living. Local design firm Ministry of Design had the radical vision of painting the entire house white as a blank canvas for us to start writing this chapter in reimagining shophouses and the neighbourhoods around them.
What do you love about living in shophouses?
Tatler Design Awards 2021: The Winners asiatatler.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from asiatatler.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
As Phunk enters its 25th year, the strength of this collective still remains steadfast and strong. “We learned through our ups and downs, and we also had our pivotal moments where we argued,” says Tan. “But we’re also able to catch each other’s thoughts quite well. Before we speak, we can sort of pre-empt what the other person will say; thus we can also pre-empt how we work with each other in a harmonious sense.”
Besides launching an exhibition and an exclusive robot collection at The Artling in celebration of their 25th anniversary, the homegrown design collective has also released a monograph that offers an arresting insight into Phunk’s works over the years. Authored by Justin Zhuang, a local design writer and researcher, the book allows readers to gaze into Phunk’s perspective via their works and in-depth interviews.