Gotta have ’em: Creative furnishings for urban living

THE fact that living spaces have shrunk and continue to diminish in size is an inescapable fact.

But life goes on, even when you suspect your living room today seems to have the same dimensions as your bedroom when you were a kid. Plus, people are creative, resilient creatures. So, the trick is to come up with solutions that not only work well under space constraints and in noisier urban environments, but are also aesthetically pleasing and environmentally friendly.

And that is exactly what the Singapore Furniture Industries Council (SFIC), supported by Enterprise Singapore, set out to do with its Design Innovation Programme (DIP). Kicked off in 2019, the DIP fosters partnerships between local furniture brands/manufacturers and Singapore and international designers to produce commercially viable products for increasingly dense urban living spaces.

“With the majority of the world’s population now residing in cities, it’s important to design and furnish urban spaces to meet not just practical needs but also enhance our quality of life,” says Joshua Koh, SFIC’s vice-president and chair of its design committee.

From its first run, 30 projects have been completed, a few of which can be viewed at the Asian Civilisations Museum’s Urban Living Showcase 2024 from now till Sep 24. Thereafter, they will be presented at Find – Design Fair Asia from Sep 26 to 28 at Marina Bay Sands.

At Find – a furniture and interior design trade show – one other project from DIP’s second run, which targets the completion of 20 projects by June 2025, will also make an appearance.

We take a look at some of the inventive solutions that have materialised.

Leika Collection by Scanteak x Forest & Whale

When Forest & Whale embarked on the Leika collection for Scanteak, the world was in the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic. But the widespread work-from-home culture then also gave the multi-disciplinary design practice food for thought as to how their furniture – comprising a dining set, bed and sofa – should be designed.

To accommodate folks working at their dining table, they pushed the apron of the table in, so office chairs with armrests can be tucked underneath. “Even if it’s a small detail, it really makes a difference,” explains Forest & Whale co-founder Gustavo Maggio. “This flexibility was critical for those moments where the home became everything.”

SEE ALSO

How to turn your HDB flat into a dual-key unit

Pushing boundaries to make an impact through design

Ciao: Singapore designers head to Milan Design Week

Hitting the big time: How this Singaporean came to design for luxury furniture brands B&B Italia and Herman Miller

More

Maggio was also keen on reducing the amount of wood used. So Leika’s dining chairs, for instance, were made smaller, with everything a little thinner. Yet, comfort was not compromised. The chair sports rounded surfaces and curvatures that also function well with the forward-leaning position typically adopted when one is working at a table, for example.

Urban Living Collection by JotterGoods x Jarrod Lim

Although Jarrod Lim was designing for confined spaces, he wanted to get away from fold-out beds, extendable tables and such.

“When I lived in Italy, I had a studio apartment with a fold-out sofa,” says Lim. “And that was my bed, living room and workstation, because in the end, you never fold these things up!”

Instead, the award-winning designer, who runs his eponymous design studio, was determined to come up with solutions which would meet the needs of users’ “innate laziness”. This meant a collection where pieces can mix and match, and easily fit inside or underneath each other and interlock.

At the same time, he wanted the furniture to look and feel luxurious, rather than merely come across as space-savers.

This was achieved with the Urban Living Collection he designed for JotterGoods, where add-ons can transform the usefulness of furniture. Beds, for instance, can come with leather side pockets on their headboards to hold mobile phones or glasses. And if you can’t fit a coffee table between your sofa and TV, a small side table attached to your sofa will give you the surface you need to place your cups and remote controls.

Meanwhile, coffee tables can be easily slotted into each other when more room is needed, and a walnut trolley functions as a table that can be moved around.

Turn by Verotec x Gabriel Tan

Tackling noise pollution in today’s fast-paced, urban environment is what Verotec’s Turn range of door handles is all about.

“The door handle is emotive because it’s the first thing you come into contact with when you enter a space,” says Verotec’s founder Mark Yong. Yet, while other furniture systems such as drawers and doors often feature quiet, soft-closing mechanisms, that isn’t the case with door handles.

“If the handle spring is very strong or very weak, it tends to bounce back abruptly, and that creates ambient noise and adds to all the stresses of our everyday life.”

Enter Turn door handles, which eliminate the jarring noise of traditional door levers with a patented soft-rebound mechanism that allows a door handle that is pushed down to gradually rebound silently.

“In museums, spas and hotels, we want acoustics to be well-managed, and we believe this also adds to the quietness and elegance of the space,” says Yong. One can also appreciate the usefulness of silent door handles at home. For example, users can enter or leave a bedroom without waking a sleeping occupant.

With Portugal-based Singaporean designer Gabriel Tan as creative director, the collection of nine sleek handles combines Verotec’s innovative noise reduction technology with the design flair of international architects and designers. Apart from Tan himself, other designers include Norm Architects, Studio MK27, Staffan Holm, Jin Kuramoto and Hallgeir Homstvedt.

+K by Craft Axis x Kensaku Oshiro

Already established in the handcrafted wallpapers, textiles and lighting market, Craft Axis wants to plug the gap for furniture that “truly complement” their offerings, with +K.

Conceived by renowned Japanese designer Kensaku Oshiro, the +K collection was born from the desire to create a cohesive and harmonious living environment, which also reflects the brand’s commitment to sustainable design, says Craft Axis’ general manager, Cecilia Chua.

The collection, which includes sofas, armchairs, dining tables and coffee tables, combines form and function and is made with responsibly sourced, circular materials such as recycled polyester fabric, recycled glass, Forest Stewardship Council wooden panels and cork material.

“The compact yet functional designs are perfect for small spaces, while the sustainable materials contribute to a healthier and more eco-friendly environment,” says Chua.

Flutes by Pepperwall x StudioNorm

Given that the way we live and work has transcended traditional boundaries – from co-working spaces and remote working to co-living arrangements – the solution to quiet conversations could lie in sound barriers that offer not only a shielding effect from ambient noise, but also privacy.

Therefore, acoustic panel and wall coverings distributor Pepperwall has collaborated with design consultancy StudioNorm to create Flutes, which comprises two lines of space-saving and aesthetic sound barriers.

Available in a wide selection of colours, the Flutes bench acts as an acoustic pod in a home or office environment. Meanwhile, the Flutes booth, when enclosed, is perfect for a private conversation. When not in use, the booth opens up completely and can stand flat like a feature wall, hardly taking up any space.

“Our concept revolves around the idea of space and function efficiency as well as circularity in the design approach,” says Nigel Yap, Pepperwall’s director. Flutes benches and booths are made of polyester fibre, 50 to 60 per cent of which comes from recycled PET plastic bottles.