The Right Fit

LIVINGDNA

IS YOUR HOME IN NEED OF A NEW LOOK? You could (a) buy new furniture, (b) paint the walls, or (c) jazz up the space with a rug.

Denise Kaur, founder of home furnishing store LivingDNA, can attest to that. She started her store selling rugs and decorative items, but noticed that her customers were more interested in the former.

"I have rugs for practically every nook in your home - living, dining, bedroom, study, balcony, kitchen, and bathroom," says Ms Kaur.

Naturally, rugs take centrestage in her new store at Tampines, where clients can touch and feel the different materials, such as cotton, hemp, wool and viscose, which are used to make the rugs.

"Customers can compare rug designs, quality and function as LivingDNA rug experts walk them through the collection to find that perfect rug," says Ms Kaur. While there is a physical store, there's the option to buy online, with prices starting at S$295 for a runner.

To make shopping a more pleasant experience, the Tampines store is enveloped in soft colours, evoking a carefree, holiday mood, reminiscent of a Mykonos boutique hotel and Moroccan riad.

To complement the rugs, LivingDNA also carries homeware such as Moroccan trays, African tableware, ikat fabrics, modern batik, Kashmir embroidery, lanterns and baskets. Prices range from S$116 for a handcrafted wall clock from Japan to S$4,990 for a Gregoria chair, a throne-like seat with ornate carved balusters set in a semi-circle of different heights, while the seat is made of handwoven rattan.

"Our homeware are rare, soulful pieces that embody the heritage I source from," says Ms Kaur, naming Morocco, Kenya, Uganda, Tunisia, Indonesia, Japan, India and the Philippines as the countries she gets her products from.

"I'm a bohemian at heart, but I'm also very conscious about what I buy," says Ms Kaur. "Our products exhibit the timeless aesthetics of world cultures."

01-10B Space at Tampines, 18 Tampines Industrial Crescent, Singapore 528605, Livingdna.sg.

CUSTO

About a year ago, Dutch designer Camiel Weijenberg faced a problem that many homeowners are familiar with. His apartment had an odd space, which made finding the right wardrobe tricky.

Since he had a carpentry background, Mr Weijenberg saw an opportunity to make life better for people with the same problem.

He came up with the idea of Custo, a one-stop online furniture design platform that allows users to customize their own storage furniture in an easy and affordable way. The brand offers fully made-to-measure storage furniture, such as shelves, cupboards and sideboards.

"Custo's formula is simple - customers know their space constraints. And our versatile online platform gives them the opportunity to customize storage furniture that best fits their individual needs," says Mr Weijenberg, who also runs his eponymous design firm.

On the website, customers select the storage furniture they want to build. They key in the dimensions required, such as the height, width and also the depth of the cabinet. They can decide how many rows and columns of storage shelves they need, and whether they want doors, feet, and loose drawers built in.

Custo gets local workshops to make the plywood furniture. Plywood is used for its strength and sustainability, says Mr Weijenberg. A high pressure laminate finishing is applied on the plywood to make it scratch resistant.

Prices start from S$200 depending on the dimensions and options. You can either assemble the pieces yourself by following a manual, or pay a small fee for it to be done for you.

Mr Weijenberg adds: "The average living space in Singapore has shrunk over the past 30 years. Many homes and offices face space constraints, and there are challenges to creating areas that are both functional and liveable. At Custo we try to optimise both home and work environments."

customizedstorage.com.

BLAFINK

Furniture shopping should be fun, not frustrating, which is what can happen when you can't find the perfect piece. Maybe you need a sofa of a particular size, or you find the right shape but the fabric prints don't appeal to you.

Customisation is the solution that Blafink prides itself on. The local furniture company sells a range of ready made pieces, but it's their customisation services that clients go back to them for.

"Singaporeans want to customise everything from sofas and beds, to dining tables, built in benches, and clothing racks," says co-founder Ashley Choo. She recently received a request to build an airline first class seat.

"There are also customers who come with their own designs inspired by specific needs," she says. For example, she had a customer who wanted a three-tier bed, the first for the mattress, the second for drawers and finally a pull-out bed.

Blafink's forte is in upholstered sofas, beds, and benches. They offer an assortment of options from size, comfort, upholstery and embellishments. The company works with different factories with different skill sets, but in general, sofas are made in Singapore, while the beds are made in Malaysia.

"We lean towards contemporary designs, adapting to what the market wants," says Ms Choo. For example, when the Scandinavian style was the rage, Blafink built a lot of leggy sofas with skinny arms upholstered in plain colours such as grey. For 2018, they are doing more "muscular looking designs upholstered in rich, luscious velvet coverings," says Ms Choo.

She adds that if there is a look that Blafink can be associated with, it would be for the bold print upholstered couches with muted seat covers. The choice of fabrics at Blafink is mind-boggling, running into the hundreds.

Customers cannot make purchases on the website, but they can build their own pieces virtually to get an idea of how much they should budget for. For example, a sofa starts from S$1,180.

"We encourage homeowners to talk to us at our guide shop because there are so many moving parts to customisation and it's easy to misplace expectations," says Ms Choo.

122 Eunos Ave 7, Richfield Industrial Centre, Headboards and Bed Base - #07-17, Sofas, Chairs, Benches - #08-04, www.blafink.com.