In this spirit of collaboration, Tatler Homes Singapore asked three interdisciplinary talents to convey their unique take on this issue’s “modern Asian” theme with the help of AI. These Singapore-based talents tell us more about their design process, the cultural provenance of their creative philosophy, and the poetic resonance of how generative design can potentially draw out the best of both human brilliance and technological advances.

Here, we present some of these wondrous visions dreamt up by industrial designer Karyn Lim; she puts together dreamy visions with Midjourney to create Snøwood, a fictional resort that’s been imagined as a holistic haven inspired by nature and traditional herbs.

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As a design practitioner, Karyn Lim already has in her creative arsenal the expertise and experience to turn visual concepts into actual objects. Be it hand-woven metal sculptures, transformable bags, linen clothing or eco-conscious furniture, Lim has worked widely across product types, and also provides branding services for boutique firms.

While the world of generative design was still a new area to her, this industrial designer took up the challenge with gumption when prompted to create a “modern Asian” concept for the August 2023 issue of Tatler Homes Singapore. “I believe in creative collaboration—be it with a client, another designer, craftspeople or even AI. [It’s how] I become inspired to create new work,” says Lim.

Lim started her design process for this project by asking the AI chatbot ChatGPT what “modern Asian” could mean. While the answer that it gave was too broad to be useful, it got her to dig deep into the idea of how “Asian roots” might be represented visually. A particular fungi species sprung up as a source of inspiration: the snow fungus, a commonly used ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine.

“A lot of traditions draw symbolic elements from nature, and I took this as a starting point for creation. I wanted to use these AI-generated images to tell a story that would reflect a way of living that might be considered ‘modern Asian’, but [done] in an international style to appeal to visitors from any part of the world,” she says.

The 31-year-old designer experimented with over 200 designs using Midjourney before arriving at a hospitality concept inspired by ideas of wellness. “Snøwood is a fictional luxury resort nestled high in the mountainous woods somewhere in Asia. The name, Snøwood, is an amalgamation of the Chinese name for snow fungus—bai mu er—which translates literally as ‘white wood ear’,” she elaborates. “The large, billowy sculptures featured around the resort bear an aesthetic resemblance to snow fungus. The ‘o’ is typed as ‘ø’ to represent the Westernised influence globalisation has had on this Asian brand, and its desire to appeal to an international audience.”

The amenities envisioned for this resort also draw inspiration from Chinese medicinal herbs and motifs. These include the Osmanthus Bar & Cafe, the White Willow Wellness Room and the Opal Lounge, which reference the plants, materials and colours associated with East Asian cultures. The designer also came up with Snøglas, a glassware brand for the resort produced by local makers. “Visitors to the resort value wellness, high-quality products, and kindness to the earth and its inhabitants,” she adds, on the importance of local provenance.

“Our modern style of living might reflect some nostalgic longing for nature as a refuge from the intensity of the digital world,” she says. “As technology develops a greater presence in our modern lifestyles, I imagine it to eventually fade in its physical presence so our spaces can remain calming, natural and warm.”

At this time of writing, Lim sees generative design as a tool to kickstart new concepts for future projects, and is much encouraged by her results. “AI-enabled art generators are, like most software we use, not an end product. AI doesn’t understand language the same way humans do, so it’s important to figure out how it will interpret our choice of words,” she says, commenting on the design process thus far.

“The other approach is to relinquish control, send volumes of prompt variations to the AI, and then hope that it returns something good. In some outcomes, we might find iconic or classic pieces being poorly distorted or juxtaposed in an unlikely scenario; it’s [been] amusing.”

She adds: “It might change the way we generate moodboards, and be quite helpful in the ideation process. There are still some gaps when it comes to using AI-enabled art generators in product design, but I’m excited to see how this might work in a future in which humans and AI speak the same language and have a stronger understanding of each other.”

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