Atelier V&A: 9 months in the making

Atelier V&A is a project I’ve been working on quietly for close to a year.

It began not as a brand exercise, but as a question. What would it look like to create a space where furniture, objects, florals and materials are treated with the same care as architecture. Where making is slow, decisions are deliberate and craft is not decorative, but foundational.

From the outset, this project had clear intent. We set a goal to launch in September 2025, and we did. But the objective was not speed for its own sake. It was about doing something materially different in Singapore, responding to a gap that felt increasingly obvious. A space that sat between gallery and studio, between object and environment, and invited people to engage more thoughtfully with how things are made and experienced.

The project came to life through a shared alignment with my co-founder, Venetia. Our approaches are different, but our values around craft, restraint and intention are deeply aligned. That partnership allowed the idea to move from concept to reality with focus and momentum.

The work unfolded across many layers. Concept, spatial planning, material testing, sourcing, prototyping, layout and narrative. Every zone of the showroom was designed to function, but also to communicate how we think about space, not as a backdrop, but as an active participant in how people experience objects, movement and pause.

Atelier V&A works because it is design-led, not trend-led. It balances restraint with expression. Each piece and spatial decision is considered in relation to longevity, use and how it will age over time. This is where my design thinking sits most clearly. The discipline of asking the right questions early, setting constraints with intention and resisting the urge to resolve everything too quickly.

Since going live, the response has been affirming. Not because of attention or media coverage, but because people understand what the space is trying to do. Clients, collaborators and editors have responded to the clarity of intent. That tells me the thinking translated.

At its core, this project reflects how I approach my work more broadly through Hills & West. Design is not about adding layers. It is about editing. It is about identifying problems before they fully surface, responding to early signals and building considered solutions rather than reactive ones. Often the most meaningful work begins with a quiet sense that something is missing, before it is widely articulated.

Atelier V&A is ongoing. Like any considered project, it will continue to evolve. But the foundation is set. The thinking is clear. And it marks the beginning of something significant, a long-term mission alongside Hills & West that brings thinking, making and space into closer conversation.