Connecting with the family at Christmas

DECEMBER IS A SPECIAL MONTH for Velda Tan, the stylish mumpreneur and founder of home-grown fashion label Our Second Nature (OSN). Not only will she be celebrating the brand’s anniversary – it turns eight this year – she’ll also be marking the month she moved into her new family nest with husband Frederick Yap and daughters Ellery and Eleyna.

Tan, 36, created her label on an ethos of simplicity and quotidian utility. True to form, the four-bedroom, 3,800-square-foot house in the Holland area is similarly lacking in ostentation and embellishment – it’s simply furnished and modestly decorated for the festive season.

A Christmas tree anchors a corner of the living room, complemented by a floral centrepiece by Floral Magic on the coffee table. Similar arrangements dress the dining table, family room, and the alcove between the kitchen and dining room. 

For both Tan and Yap, 36 – who runs a textile manufacturing business in China – the fourth quarter of the year is typically an extremely busy period, so the family doesn’t make any year-end travel plans. They do, however, plan to host “two or three gatherings”, with around 20 to 30 guests each time.

“Last year, we moved in in December, so it was a perfect time to have friends over for house-warming over Christmas,” says Tan. 

Tan leaves the food and beverage planning to Yap, who’s a bit of a foodie. He used to run a seafood distribution business, which has since been divested. He was also the owner of Pince & Pints, a restaurant in Duxton Hill known for its lobster rolls, which was sold off. His festive menu will consist of cheese, oysters, steaks, king crabs and plenty of wines. 

“Over the week, I think we’ll go through about 100 bottles of wine,” Yap quips. The couple enjoy bordeaux blends, such as Chateau Pichon-Longueville “Les Griffons de Pichon Baron” for daily drinking, reserving their favourite Chateau Latour for special occasions.

After the boisterous gatherings are done and dusted, the couple make it a point to spend Christmas Day on their own, sans kids. “One tradition that Fred and I have for Christmas is that we usually keep Christmas Day free. We will book lunch somewhere, just the two of us. We started without kids. But when the kids came along, we kept to the tradition,” Tan explains. 

Like a couples’ retreat, the occasion is meant for the pair to take stock of the year and plan ahead for what’s to come. “We’ll go through what happened in the past year, and assess our goals and aims for the coming year. We align as a couple then.” 

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New beginnings

Tan and Yap got hitched in 2012. For eight years, they lived in a three-bedroom condo, also in Holland. It was perfect for a couple, but when Ellery – now five – came along in 2018, it reawakened in Yap his desire to have his kids grow up in a landed property, just as he did.

“I attribute who I am today to the fact that I got to play outdoors a lot,” he says. “My neighbours and I cycled everywhere, climbed hills, caught spiders and guppies… That’s what I want for my children.”

In 2019, they came across their current property through a friend’s recommendation; they liked its size, its price, and the fact that it was an old dwelling that they could demolish and rebuild. They engaged a builder to construct the two-and-a-half-storey house before turning to 932 Designs to finesse the interiors. Tan later hired the award-winning firm to design her second boutique in Great World. Construction was delayed for over a year because of Covid-19, resuming only in mid-2021.

What drew the homeowners to the firm’s style is their eye for detail. “A lot of (design firms) can get the colour scheme and the concept right,” says Yap. “But (932 Designs) had a different way of detailing, like with their datum lines and false ceilings, which I thought they were very good at.”

The couple also knew what kind of vibe their home had to have, but their ideas weren’t set in stone. Says Tan: “We simply told them our needs – that we needed two children’s rooms; a study, because Fred and I work from home quite a bit; and a guest room, so that my parents can stay over.”

She adds: “Both of us like peace and quiet, and we felt that our home should be a place where we can find true sanctuary. We wanted it as uncluttered as possible, quite minimalist, and functional.”

Yap shares his fondness for staying in designer hotels, which added to their laundry list of requests. “I appreciate nice hotels, and we wanted the living space, master bedroom and master bathroom to feel like a hotel.”

Divide and rule

Taking all their requests into consideration, CK Low, co-founder of 932 Designs, proposed segmenting the living room from the dining area and kitchen with a divider. This was done to create “a sense of arrival and progression”, and had the added benefit of giving the occupants more privacy. 

Entering the home, visitors find themselves in the living room, as if stepping into a hotel lobby. Moving on to the dining area and dry kitchen gives the impression of walking into a hotel’s all-day dining venue. This space is built for entertaining, with a custom-built, 12-seater dining table, 400-bottle-capacity wine fridge and lengthy island counter that allows food and drinks to be displayed. A wet kitchen and barbecue grill in the adjoining outdoor terrace complete the setup. 

The girls’ bedrooms, family room, and study-cum-guest room occupy the second level. A skylight floods the stairwell and family room, extending into the dining room below. Tan and Yap created a haven for themselves on the attic level, where the master suite is located. Here, a spacious terrace offers panoramic views of the neighbourhood; it’s also where the couple unwind after a long day. 

“After we’re done with work, we try to carve out one or two hours to spend time with the kids, before they go to bed,” says Tan. “We probably spend the most time hanging out in the family area. Next year is really precious for me, because it’s the last year before Ellery goes to primary school. And (one-year-old) Eleyna is growing bigger. She’s getting more interactive and a bit more playful.”

The family will go on their annual ski holiday after Chinese New Year, with Eleyna joining for the first time. 

On the business front, Yap is excited about growing his new private chauffeur business, AVFLIMO, which will offer luxury transport services to the growing ranks of wealthy individuals and families residing in – and passing through – Singapore. 

As for Tan, OSN’s Great World boutique recently upgraded to a new 4,000 sq ft location in the mall, with one-fifth of the space devoted to her new sustainable label, Atlas Kind. In 2024, she plans to expand OSN’s footprint to the region.

“Hopefully we can do some pop-ups in Q3 or Q4 of next year, to explore new markets,” she says. “Our top few markets, surprisingly, are not in South-east Asia, but we are cautious about next year’s climate. So, in order to maximise our resources, we will take strategic steps to expand regionally.”

Credits: Art direction: CK. Makeup and hair: Benedict Choo and Zoel Tee