Lawrence Puah’s journey in design began long before he entered architecture school at the National University of Singapore. He started by honing his skills in graphic and web design, before finally embarking on his architectural journey, including an eight-year apprenticeship with President’s Design Award recipient Richard Ho of RichardHo Architects.

“I have always been drawn to all creative art forms, yet at the same time, I am very logical by nature. That was how I ended up in architecture school, which eventually led me down the path of a designer,” Puah shares. He is now an associate member of the Singapore Institute of Architects, a professional member of the Society of Interior Designers Singapore, and accredited as an Interior Design Practitioner: Class 1 (ID1) with the Singapore Interior Design Accreditation Council.

He is also the founder and director of Akihaus Design Studio, a firm founded in 2010 and currently comprising a team of three interior designers. Starting his own firm gave Puah the autonomy to fully exercise his design philosophy: “We believe that every single project is unique because every client is unique,” he shares of his team’s approach. “Each space that we design has its own character. As such, we take on a highly collaborative approach with our clients during the design process to create bespoke works meant just for them.”

Beyond this bespoke design language, the team also seeks to discover and bring out the spirit of each site. Akihaus’s works are unique because the firm practices the design philosophy that it preaches: “Every project is highly bespoke and unique to our clients, and every design, while being new, always appears to have been a part of the original architecture and its spaces.”