Cover The Meyer House living room’s blue furniture echoes the hue of the swimming pool, designed by Maer Atelier
The Meyer House living room’s blue furniture echoes the hue of the swimming pool, designed by Maer Atelier
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Danielle Ma, founder of interior design studio Maer Atelier, shares how she draws inspiration from expressive artworks and weaves authenticity into her tailored interiors
Authenticity, empathy, and a balance of luxury and intimacy— these are the principles that guide Danielle Ma’s design philosophy. With a longstanding passion for interior design and architecture that was first sparked on a trip to Paris, her designs are not just evocative, but also backed by a practical mindset and keen expertise honed over years spent crafting residential and commercial spaces.
After six years of working under and alongside renowned architects and designers, she eventually founded her own design studio, Maer Atelier, in December 2022. The firm specialises in high-end residential projects, including Good Class Bungalows, landed homes, and penthouses. The atelier’s team has also expanded to take on commercial projects, leveraging Ma’s substantial experience in hospitality design.
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Above Danielle Ma
Danielle Ma
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No matter the type of project, Ma’s design philosophy has remained intact over the years. “We don’t want things to be too posh. We don’t want our projects to be over-designed,” she explains. “We also want to make sure that everything we put in a space is useful, that it’s about more than just the look. And we let the space breathe, allowing it to flourish as the client builds their lifestyle into the interiors over time.”
The right materials are another priority for the team. “A layout can be simple and purely functional; the finishes you choose can then make it luxurious,” she says.
Most importantly, the small team of just four designers at Maer Atelier works in close collaboration to unravel the story behind every client brief, getting to the heart of the project.
The first step? “Asking a lot of questions!” Ma reveals. “We want to understand our projects very thoroughly, to understand our clients as people, their hobbies and their lifestyles, then we can understand the project requirements. We gather all the information they give us, then we sort it all out; clients tend to get excited, and I think our job is to pull them back and help them to focus on what they really want.”
The handsome bedroom in Maer Atelier’s Villa Marina project
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This allows every space the firm designs to be uniquely tailored to the client. While Ma has her preferences—such as a penchant for unconventional luxury furniture, statement lighting, and curated artworks—each home she designs is ultimately a reflection of the homeowner. Her design approach manifests in unique spaces that enhance personal lifestyles with beauty and functionality, and foster a strong connection between the occupants of the abode and their living environment.
Ma’s prolonged involvement in the world of art has had a profound impact on her work, enriching her sense of spatial awareness and lending each of her projects an additional layer of emotional depth and nuance. She has a particular soft spot for artists who communicate complex messages and ideas through their works, such as Beijing-born painter Liu Ye, Chinese painter Wu Guanzhong, and Singapore artist Wyn-Lyn Tan.
For her work, Ma draws inspiration from the artists’ use of colour, texture, composition, and the histories behind different pieces. The versatility of art and the countless ways to display it in a living space are another source of delight for the designer, leaving ample room for experimentation and the creative freedom to complement the pragmatism that is key to solid interiors.
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Above This children’s room features a playful slide
Above A sleek material palette worthy of a high-end boutique
This children’s room features a playful slide
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One of Maer Atelier’s standout projects, an apartment at the award-winning MeyerHouse, allowed a sense of luxury to permeate a home without overtaking it. “The original design was less homely, too luxurious, and too ‘showroom’ for the client,” Ma shares of the project. To counteract the unwelcoming ambience, dark wood and textiles were embedded in the interiors, softening their look and feel.
At the same time, the client wished for an extraordinary finishing touch, prompting the addition of eye-catching furniture against toned-down backdrops. Some of the statement pieces were sourced from Space Furniture, such as furnishings from Edra, a brand known for furniture pieces that straddle the line between art and design, transforming interiors into one-of-a-kind spaces.
In 2022, Villa Marina was taken on as another proud residence in the designer’s portfolio, with building works completed by In-Expat. The old condominium unit required a complete overhaul and posed an additional challenge in the form of an unconventional layout.
“Every room was either in the shape of a triangle or there were at least five angles,” Ma recalls. “We removed all of the walls and reconfigured the layout to make the space feel more rectangular.” Mirrors and glass dividers were incorporated throughout the unit to visually expand and bathe the narrower spaces in natural light.
The MeyerHouse living room’s blue furniture echoes the hue of the swimming pool
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The design highlights in the home were closely adapted to the resident family’s preferences, including distinctive additions such as a playful slide in the children’s room and Indian-inspired patterns incorporated to reflect one of the owners’ cultural backgrounds.
“The clients were very helpful, tasteful and open-minded throughout the project,” she shares. “The materials we used are high-quality, including surfaces from Cosentino and the real stainless steel we used for the island. Not every homeowner would have been on board, but they appreciated that we proposed authentic materials.” Bang & Olufsen speakers backlit with custom LED strips, statement lighting and fittings from Sol Luminaire, and sanitaryware from Gessi constituted the perfect finishing touches.
Ma’s design expertise, which encompasses residential work as well as the skilful transformation of commercial spaces, is apparent in the Maer Atelier showroom itself, which is an immersive space that warmly welcomes the firm’s discerning clients.
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Maer Atelier’s Smith Street showroom is decked out like an art gallery
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Housed within a shophouse on Smith Street, the originally run-down unit was transformed with higher ceilings and restored windows, retaining some of the existing elements, such as the exposed beams. “Designers, we love to keep some old stuff. We actually hacked away the finish and exposed the raw beams underneath,” she explains.
The showroom was then furnished with curated pieces from Space Furniture and pendants from Sol Luminaire. Before it was fully converted into a workspace, the design firm kept the space open to the public for a few weeks. “The idea was to bring these curated designer furniture and lighting pieces to the public,” she tells us. A pop-up art gallery with Artitude Galería joined the tie-up, immersing visitors in a world of art and design.
Maer Atelier
48A Smith Street, 8791 7688, maerstudio.com
Above Artworks and designer pieces help to set the mood
Artworks and designer pieces help to set the mood
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Credits
Images: Courtesy of Maer Atelier
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