Celebrating SG60: 20 creative voices on icons of Singapore design

Also interviewed at the awards gala was Eugene Chin, director of partnership at DesignSingapore Council, who chose Singapore’s public housing as his answer. “It is more than just functional aspects of housing people. It’s really about social design on a national scale. It embodies the cultural aspects that Singapore has built over the years. It has also endured time and space.”

Zooming in on the scale, Singapore’s built environment, past and present, stands to many as the object that speaks of Singapore design. Take Pearl Bank Apartments, named by Tiah Nan Chyuan, founding partner of Farm and the current president of Singapore Institute of Architects, as an object of Singapore design: “One of its kind and ahead of its time in terms of scale, imagination and innovation. Conceived and completed by a local team of architects, a builder and a developer led by architect Tan Cheng Siong.”

To Terri Tan, design director of Designworx Interior Consultant, our architectural heritage is best encapsulated by the early SIT flats in Tiong Bahru. “Their design is a mix of art deco and early modernity, reflecting tropical adaptations of cross-ventilation, overhangs and courtyards,” she notes. “Some of their design DNA that we embrace in interior design includes curves, aeronautical lines, porthole motifs, terrazzo floors, mosaic tiles, and exposed plaster finishes in a soft, dusty palette.”

The then-humble and now-iconic Singapore shophouses represent Singapore design to both Molina Hun, co-founder of interior design studio Sujonohun and Jillene Chen of kitchen specialist Unique Kitchen Fusion. “The way they look is very iconic to Singapore,” says Hun, while Chen elaborates: “They embody the ethos of Singapore design; where we are forward-looking, yet remain grounded in our identity.”

Nowhere else in the world does public housing carry as much prestige and appreciation as it does in Singapore, where 80 per cent of the population dwells in it and some units fetch million-dollar prices on a par with private developments. Their design elements have thus achieved the status of iconic objects in the eyes of many.

As architect Edmund Ng, founder of Edmund Ng Architects, reflects: “The void-deck bench and the very invention of the void deck is something truly unique to Singapore. There’s no other place in the world where the ground floor of public housing is intentionally left open as a communal space for the kampong spirit to thrive. The humble bench, cast in concrete, becomes a quiet witness to everyday life—from weddings to wakes, chess games to heart-to-heart chats.”

Patricia Ho-Douven, founder of interior design studio White Jacket, echoes this communal sentiment with her choice of void-deck table and stools. “The simple design and functionality encourages social interaction and integration, providing the residents with a spot to hang out or seek shelter—a celebration of the lepak culture.” Ho-Douven even modelled a sitting area in the White Jacket office after the void deck, complete with the distinctive table and stools.

Sarah Tham, founder of Cube Associate Design, named another distinctly Singaporean invention—the household shelter—as her choice. “Compared with houses in other countries, this is a unique feature… one of the challenges in designing a house with a good layout starts with the consideration of the household shelter’s positioning, followed by creativity in its usage instead of just turning it into an ‘expensive storeroom’.”

Singapore’s design vernacular has always responded to its equatorial climate. Ventilation blocks, a humble design element that has made countless buildings breathable and iconic, are quintessential Singapore design objects to Leong Hon Kit, co-founder of Wynk Collaborative. “It represents our climate, but is also done in a way that is aesthetic and functional.”

“[It is] the object we always see when we were young… it comes in many forms, shapes and varieties. [It is] good for our climate, as it acts as a divider as well as a ventilation method for heat to escape, helping our interiors to be more cooling, where air conditioning wasn’t that popular in the past,” elaborates Mark Chen, the co-founder of Artistroom.

To Teo Su Seam, partner at LTW Designworks, climate-consciousness is embedded in the very materiality of a rattan chair. “You’ll find it everywhere—in kopitiams, in family homes, in the pages of memory. It’s unassuming, quietly democratic, and yet architecturally, it carries weight: form following climate, tradition, necessity. In its woven lattice is a kind of vernacular intelligence, a material language that pre-dates trends and outlasts them.”

Not all personal icons of Singapore design are architectural or artisanal—some are paperbound, mass-produced, or quietly mounted on the walls of public corridors. To photographer Khoo Guo Jie, it’s the Yellow Pages. “Memories of the Yellow Pages perhaps left a deep impact—how it seeped into our lives beyond just acting as a directory,” he recalls. “It really shows how technology has disrupted certain industries. To people my age, who used a Nokia 3310 or a 56k modem connected to the phone line, that book represents a different time.”

Furniture designer and artist Nathan Yong also reaches into the past, turning his memory of the HDB mailbox into an installation work titled Boxing Letters. “Long before e-mails and the Internet, those letterboxes were how people received information from the ‘outside’ world—good news, official news, bad news, junk,” he shares. “With Boxing Letters, I wanted to reflect on how even something as mundane as a mailbox can reveal the structures around us—how design mediates the balance between individuality and conformity.”

To many, the objects that define local design are those embedded in the collective memory. To Tung Ching Yew, founder of SODA (Spirit Of Design Analogy) and current president of the Society of Interior Designers Singapore, the hawker-centre table with its fixed stools is a “humble yet powerful emblem of Singapore design” and a “quiet icon that represents how thoughtful design shapes daily life”. He adds: “The fixed stools are a functional innovation, reducing clutter, preventing theft, and maintaining orderly layouts—a nod to Singapore’s emphasis on purposeful design.”

Ed Ong, founder of Dwell Interior Design, points to the classic kopitiam chair as his icon. “It’s at the kopitiam that daily news and happenings are enthusiastically shared every day, where Bentleys are parked next to bicycles, and where CEOs and construction workers alike queue up to buy their favourite wonton noodles.”

Nur Hidayah Abu Bakar, dean of the Faculty of Design at Lasalle College of the Arts, turns her attention to another everyday seat: the Unica 007 red plastic stool. “Although it is easily forgotten or ignored, it plays a functional and quiet role in our everyday lives,” she says. Designed by Singaplastics in collaboration with Chew Moh-Jin, the stackable stool is now a fixture not only in kopitiams, but also at weddings and funerals—rites of passage staged in void decks and open spaces.

A number of interviewees chose objects created by specific individuals that embody a distinct creative voice while still expressing something universal about place, memory, and cultural identity.

To Colin Seah, founder of Ministry of Design, it’s the porcelain works of Hans Tan. “His witty porcelain manipulations, from the iconic Spotted Nyonya to the Sarong Party series, perfectly embody what I believe Singaporean design should aspire to: be fresh, relevant, and innovative, yet profoundly rooted in history or context.”

Gallerist Jazz Chong, founder of Ode to Art, names the expressive ink paintings of the late Lim Tze Peng, particularly his depictions of the Singapore River and old Chinatown. “His paintings are more than just beautiful images—they are living records of a Singapore that once was, captured through bold, intuitive brushstrokes that reflect both memory and emotion.”

Having worked with the artist for over 16 years, Chong adds: “His ability to blend calligraphy with abstraction speaks to a design language that is deeply rooted in tradition, yet ever-evolving.”

Elaine Lek, CEO of Luzerne, sees this duality of tradition and modernity reflected in her company’s SG60 Diamond Collection. “It is a proud expression of Singapore design, where timeless craftsmanship meets modern simplicity, and every detail reflects our commitment to everyday best,” she elaborates.

Designed in celebration of Singapore’s 60th anniversary, the collection features landscape artworks by Singaporean watercolourist Ng Woon Lam of NTU’s School of Art, Design and Media, capturing the history of the country in fine porcelain.

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