Here's just some of the successes they've achieved in the past year.
As we come closer to the unveiling of Singapore Tatler's 2017 Generation T list, we catch up with a few of the alumni from the 2016 list to find out what they have been up to.
We love (and are proud of the fact) that many of them have been continuing to challenge the norms of their respective industries for the better.
Here are some of their biggest accomplishments in the last 12 months.
Photo: Darren Gabriel Seow
Nicolas Travis, founder of skincare brand Allies of Skin, recently made it onto Forbes' 30 Under 30 Asia 2017 list under the Retail & E-commerce category. He has also expanded his brand into the international market—nine countries, to be exact—and is working on adding five more to that list in the next six months. Nicolas' brand is stocked on international sites like Net-A-Porter, Mr Porter and Barneys, and he's the first Singaporean beauty brand to get this honour. Allies of Skin is also available on beauty giant Sephora's e-commerce site in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Hong Kong.
Felix Ng (right) with Anonymous partner, Germaine Chong; Photo: Darren Gabriel Seow
Felix Ng, together with his partner Germaine Chong, founded the multidisciplinary studio, Anonymous, which has worked with major companies such as for Nikon Japan, Uniqlo, Studioriley, WOHA Architects, and more. At the moment, Anonymous is working on their 7th edition of A Design Film Festival—a film festival on design and culture—that will be held in October 2017.
Photo: Darren Gabriel Seow
Rachel Lim, the co-founder of fashion retailer, Love, Bonito, has opened the brand's second brick-and-mortar store in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in Paradigm Mall; the first being in Mid Valley Megamall. With co-founder Viola Tan, she is working on establishing the brand's first flagship store in Singapore by the end of the year.
Photo: Darren Gabriel Seow
Besides maintaining two Michelin stars for Restaurant André, chef André Chiang's hard work continues to pay off as his establishment scores high spots on other esteemed lists such as the 14th in the World's 50 Best Restaurants 2017 list and 2nd in Asia's 50 Best Restaurant 2017. The co-owner of six other restaurants, which includes Burnt Ends and RAW in Taipei, also sees the cookbook on his culinary philosophy, Octaphilosophy, continue on its world tour. After a successful collaboration with chef Dan Hunter of Australia's Brae restaurant in June, local diners can look forward to more special dinners of such with chef André and other restaurants around the world. We hear Spain's Tickets, Norway's Maeemo and France's La Grenouillere are in the line-up, but keep it to yourself if you want to be able to reserve a seat!
Photo: Darren Gabriel Seow
Rebekah Lin continues to put plans to help the underprivileged in Singapore into motion. From May to December 2017, The Social Co., the social movement she co-founded in 2014, is leading a fundraising campaign called Pledge It Forward in a bid to encourage people to help more charities. The campaign is a result of the February 2017 announcement by the Singapore government that tax residents will be given a personal income tax rebate (capped at $500) for income earned in 2016. Says Rebekah, "We thought, why not donate that savings of $500, or any amount of that, towards charities that are doing a great job building a stronger and more inclusive Singapore?" The full amount of donations will be equally distributed to 51 charities, which are registered as member organisations under National Council of Social Service and have IPC (Institutions of A Public Character) status. Rebekah also recently joined fintech firm FundedHere, which connects professional, institutional and accredited investors with post-seed startups.
Photo: Joel Low Photography
Benjamin Kheng has kept busy with frequent trips around Asia with his bandmates for projects with other artists and YouTuber friends. After a successful first concert at the Hard Rock Hotel Singapore in July 2016, The Sam Willows will be heading to Tokyo, Japan, in August to perform at mega music festival, Summer Sonic 2017, which is headlined by the likes of Calvin Harris, Foo Fighters and the Black Eyed Peas. That same month, Benjamin's new film, Wonder Boy, will premiere in theatres. In the Dick Lee biopic, he plays a young Lee, who aspires to fulfil his dream as a musician in 1970s Singapore.
Quek Siu Rui (left), Lucas Ngoo (centre) and Marcus Tan; Photo: Darren Gabriel Leow
The trio behind Carousell have achieved great feats this past year. This includes receiving a US$35m in Series B funding from big boys, Rakuten Ventures, Sequoia India, Golden Gate Ventures and 500 Startups in August 2016. The mobile classifieds marketplace, which has become the go-to lifestyle and shopping app for many in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, also achieved 1m listings in Hong Kong and Australia that same year. More recently, the company launched a new paid service called Bump that boosts users' product listing to the top of their category at 24-hour intervals for three days.
Photo: Tom White
Following the success of his New York Times Best Seller graphic novel, The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, cartoonist Sonny Liew created his second project for the Singapore International Festival of the Arts 2017, titled Becoming Graphic. His contributions to the international art scene have also yielded him the Pingprisen 2017 Danish Comics Prize for Best International Comic, as well as three Eisner Awards (dubbed the Oscars for comics). He was also one of the five finalists for the Prix Asie de la Critique ACBD 2017 (Best Asian Comic Book Award).
(Related: How 2017 Will Be Different For 5 Generation T Listers)