VISUAL HARMONY
Topic Design Studio’s original artwork achieves a graceful balance of geometry and colour
When asked to recall the most memorable projects undertaken at Topic Design Studio, design director Tan Sze Ling mentions the clients who owned a museum-worthy collection of antiques and art. “We had to create a space that threads through different genres of art and styles, while still staying relevant to contemporary living and retaining the familiarity of a home,” she shares. It is this desire to create personalised spaces, which are equally luxurious and thoughtful that provides the guiding philosophy for every project the design firm takes on. Since founding Topic Design Studio in 2006, Tan and her team have gone on to win regional and international accolades for their polished work, which included commercial and residential projects in Singapore and beyond. The practice’s holistic design approach also embraces time-tested principles from multiple schools of thought including Maximalism and the Bauhaus movement. “We are constantly searching for the meaning of timelessness in design, and we hope to achieve that through our works by creating a dialogue between these schools of thought,” explains Tan.
SENSE OF SPACE
Applying the firm’s design philosophy towards producing an original artwork, Topic Design Studio created a Cubist-style tableau inspired by a painting by late architect Lauretta Vinciarelli. “We chose to explore the artwork via a theme of internal spaces of equilibrium and balance,” says Tan. The artwork thus deconstructs the precision and colour saturation of Vinciarelli’s watercolour paintings and reconfigures
them into a geometric interpretation. The harmonious balance of light, space, and dimension evident in the paintings is depicted here using laser-cut Arova laminates in gradient hues, suggesting three-dimensional depth and the planes of light and shadow created by natural daylight. Bearing elements of abstract art, architectural drawings, and chiaroscuro, Topic Design Studio’s laminate artwork is a visual balancing act—particularly fitting, it seems, for this design firm.