An Appetite for Design
We spotlight a few folks in Singapore’s buzzing food and beverage industry with a complementary creative eye
Folks in Singapore’s buzzing food and beverage industry with a complementary creative eye
It’s not hard to see how various art forms could collide naturally with one another to rather stunning effect, particularly where the culinary arts and the diverse world of design are concerned. And while the idea of eating out in style might also bring to mind restaurants established by fashion brands, there are already many ways that restaurateurs have inculcated an element of style and design into their spaces.
From artful plating to the trendy halls of our favourite restaurants and cafes, not to mention their equally dapper staff, the synergy—though at times subtle—is undeniable. As such, it is not surprising to find proponents from complementary creative fields combining a passion for gastronomy with a keen or trained eye for design and vice versa.
A VERSATILE SPACE
Coffee houses have long been spaces where the creative community feels particularly at home. For trained architect Laura Phay, it is where she has been able to balance her passions, while living out the dream of running a couple of speciality coffee hotspots with her husband Vincent Teng. They had spent their entire twenties in Melbourne where Teng had also worked fulltime under the mentorship of the Colls family, which is behind establishments such as Federal Coffee Palace and Darling Coffee. Not surprisingly, upon their return to Singapore in 2009, the couple decided to open their first cafe, The Plain, during the recession, and subsequently Ronin, which ended up amassing quite a following. The two cafes have since shuttered, though their two newest ventures, Punch and Gather, present an apt picture of how far the business has grown.
The former is a picturesque urban escape tucked along North Canal Road, while the latter at the Raffles Hotel Arcade boasts a complementary mix of indulgences—namely gourmet coffee, galettes and sweet crepes with a side of curated retail therapy. What most are probably unaware of is the fact that Phay is the design brain behind all their cafes. She explains: “Punch was designed in 2015 to be a hidden green oasis, a nondescript shop fronting Hong Lim Park, so I wanted to let the landscaping in the back courtyard and the custom tessellating floor tiles (both designed by Richard Hassell of Woha) take focus while I let the
“The perennial theme is timelessness, pragmatism and keeping it simple with attention to the little details” — LAURA PHAY
rest of the interiors quietly complement the bones of the shophouse.” The aim is to allow guests to feel like they are stepping into a home with an open kitchen, complete with a view of the hanging curtains of Javanese ivy.
For Gather, though, Phay wanted to take site-specific references from the Raffles Hotel Singapore’s terracotta walkways and its buttermilk-painted timber windows. “In both projects, the perennial theme is timelessness, pragmatism and keeping it simple with attention to the little details,” she elaborates. Given the space’s unique shape, the narrower rectangular space running parallel to the heritage windows is where the kitchen/coffee workbench is located. Over at the retail area, a single brass rack features a rotating roster of garments from the likes of Cosmic Wonder, Awomb, The Hinoki and Ito Personal Brand—established and ingénue labels from Tokyo and Kyoto.
“We wanted to make a reference to the old design but also wanted an updated and more sophisticated feel to reflect the next stage of Lerouy’s growth”
— WILLIN LOW
The point is not to overwhelm the customer, which is the ethos that unifies the dining and shopping experience, “from the continuity of materials and tones, to having expectations exceeded despite the simplicity on the surface”.
ART AND IDENTITY
Widely recognised as the pioneer of Mod-sin (modern Singaporean) cuisine, local chef and restaurateur Willin Low is famously imaginative—not just when it comes to his exceptional brand of cuisine. The lawyerturned-chef certainly knows how to pull off a cropped pants suit, but his flair for looking his best while doing what he does best is just as apparent. This involved designing his own chef’s whites, inspired by a traditional
Chinese robe or Tang jacket for men. “It’s because I’m Chinese,” he quips, before affirming that he wanted something different from the traditional uniform, a design that would speak to his heritage because while subtle, “it’s part of what my cuisine is about”.
Less obvious but significant is the creative eye Low brings to setting the stage for guests to comfortably immerse themselves in the dining experience. He may not have designed the much-talked-about nest-like lattice structure of his since-shuttered restaurant Wild Rocket (that was the work of design studio Produce), but Low has since grown confident in designing a restaurant space. His first successful attempt was for the first version of Michelin-starred modern French restaurant Lerouy, helmed by chef Christophe Lerouy, which debuted on
Stanley Street. It has since relocated to Amoy Street, complete with a stunning feature lighting that Low also designed.
“The original design of the restaurant featured a curvy counter because the shape of the narrow interior made it necessary,” he shares. “In the new design, we wanted to make a reference to the old design but also wanted an updated and more sophisticated feel to reflect the next stage of the restaurant’s growth,” he expounds, highlighting the “little things” that may go unnoticed, such as the storage spaces for crockery and equipment that was previously visible to guests seated at the counter.
“We also know a restaurant with so much hard surfaces will be noisy with unbearable echoes, so we added sound absorbing material, hidden in plain sight, unnoticeable to the untrained eye,” he asserts.
FORM AND FUNCTION
A graduate of fashion design, Jennifer Lee’s foray into the less-than-glamorous world of professional cooking happened by chance. She had moved to London as a fresh grad, and ended up working in the food and beverage industry while she looked for “the right job”. A self-taught chef, she also dabbled in tending bar and managing a restaurant.
But it wasn’t until she landed the role of helming the kitchen of the now-defunct Vasco, a Latin American gastrobar, that it dawned on her just how special it is to be a chef, and a female one at that, in Singapore. Even so, she admits to never really feeling comfortable in the standard chef’s whites. Lee explains: “I never felt I was a ‘proper’ chef as I had not been culinary trained and wearing the white chef’s coats seemed a little awkward. I first started covering the buttons on my chef’s whites in bright-coloured fabric, which eventuated me designing some jackets for events.”
Unable to simply shop for something suitable,
Lee decided to put her eye for fashion to good use, establishing Mizbeth, her brand of chef’s clothing for women, in 2018. It has since grown into a popular label for functional and modern workwear for chefs. Aprons have been the most popular item among her clients (male and female alike), and while the business has evolved to embrace a variety of apparels and accessories, the goal to bridge the gap between streetwear and uniforms remains clear. Lee, who is adamant about Mizbeth being a Singaporean brand and that its products are made locally, is thankful to have found a local manufacturer that provides quality workmanship. “They have been incredibly supportive throughout this unexpected journey,” she notes. “They aren’t as cheap as having my products manufactured in China or Vietnam, but I believe in their business model, their extreme care for their clients and the attention to detail.”
This stylish sensibility has certainly caught the attention of the island’s best chefs and restaurateurs, as well as more recent startups such as Fleurette on Rangoon Road. Lee adds: “Cloudstreet (Sri Lanka-born Rishi Naleendra’s take on contemporary cuisine) was a wonderful project to work on where the aprons were to match the beautiful interior of the restaurant. Pärla in Phuket, helmed by chef Seumas Smith, was also a memorable experience using a mixture of leather, braid and fabric, which was a small homage to the Sami tribes of Sweden (a nod to the chef’s ancestry roots).”
Customised aprons and jackets have been the bulk of her business to date, though she has plans to provide an off-the-rack retail range, a larger selection of aprons and even accessories made with offcut fabrics.
All these are not, however, getting between her love for cooking. “It has always been my passion and therapy—in particular, baking,” says Lee, who is currently the general manager of Starter Lab bakery’s Singapore outpost. “It’s as though all my experiences working around the world and in a variety of businesses have led me to this wonderful role,” she declares. To be sure, she certainly makes it look good.
“I first started covering the buttons on my chef ’s whites in bright‑coloured fabric, which eventuated me designing some jackets for events”
— JENNIFER LEE