Award-Winning Singapore Architects Venture Into Product Design
Can't live in a WOHA-designed house or condo? Now you can live with their designs in your interiors
WOHA are considered one of Singapore’s most well known and awarded architects and their residential designs include Newton Suites and SkyVille @ Dawson. Their commercial and hospitality projects may be more familiar: PARKROYAL on Pickering, Alila Villas Uluwatu and Oasia Hotel Downtown. Those of us who’ve stayed at a WOHA-designed hotel or resort, or are fortunate enough to live in their condo or HDB can testify to their dedication to excellent and sustainable design. For the rest – well, now we can experience WOHAbeing, a line of product collaborations the architects launched at Maison&Objet in Paris in September as the international fair’s Designer of the Year (Asia).
WOHA founding partners Wong Mun Summ and Richard Hassell developed six collections with a total of 39 items including furniture, lighting, rugs, tableware and bathware with brand partners apaiser, Industry+, Luzerne, The Rug Maker and WonderGlass. Hassell shares about these designs that are currently on exhibit at the National Design Centre until January 7, 2018.
WOHA founding partners Wong Mun Summ and Richard Hassell developed six collections with a total of 39 items including furniture, lighting, rugs, tableware and bathware with brand partners apaiser, Industry+, Luzerne, The Rug Maker and WonderGlass. Hassell shares about these designs that are currently on exhibit at the National Design Centre until January 7, 2018.
Photo by WOHA
Our WOHAbeing objects have their origins in architectural projects, mainly in the hospitality sector. Our Ulu Collection has its origins in our Alila Villas Uluwatu project but we have changed the colour palette and have added pieces to this collection that we did not have in the hotel – but the pieces are essentially the ones people experience during their stay at Alila.
Our WOHAbeing objects have their origins in architectural projects, mainly in the hospitality sector. Our Ulu Collection has its origins in our Alila Villas Uluwatu project but we have changed the colour palette and have added pieces to this collection that we did not have in the hotel – but the pieces are essentially the ones people experience during their stay at Alila.
The Bintan Collection’s Turtle Easy Chairs with ottoman in Raspberry Red and Indigo Blue on top of Pantai Rug (made in collaboration withThe Rug Maker). Photo by Marek Swoboda Photography, courtesy of WOHA
When and why did you decide to venture into product design? How differently from architecture do you approach the product design process?
We’ve been working on architectural projects for over 20 years and have been designing objects for just as long, mainly for our projects. One of the main reasons why we have been thinking about making the pieces available for retail is because people have been using them for many years in our hospitality projects and have been asking about them. We work at all scales, designing masterplans, buildings, interiors and also furniture, lighting, home- and bathware. Each scale brings its own set of unique challenges but we apply our overarching strategies to each one. For instance, it’s important to us that our projects connect to the location they are set in, and we will consider the culture and history of that location in our design of the architecture and also the objects we place within the space.
When and why did you decide to venture into product design? How differently from architecture do you approach the product design process?
We’ve been working on architectural projects for over 20 years and have been designing objects for just as long, mainly for our projects. One of the main reasons why we have been thinking about making the pieces available for retail is because people have been using them for many years in our hospitality projects and have been asking about them. We work at all scales, designing masterplans, buildings, interiors and also furniture, lighting, home- and bathware. Each scale brings its own set of unique challenges but we apply our overarching strategies to each one. For instance, it’s important to us that our projects connect to the location they are set in, and we will consider the culture and history of that location in our design of the architecture and also the objects we place within the space.
The Corak Collection of hand-made rugs was created in collaboration with The Rug Maker. Photo by WOHA
WOHAbeing will be available for retail to the public via our collaboration partners (customers will be directed to the correct partner via wohabeing.net too). The objects that are manufactured by our newest partner, Wewood, will be available online and we are in discussions with a retailer here in Singapore.
WOHAbeing will be available for retail to the public via our collaboration partners (customers will be directed to the correct partner via wohabeing.net too). The objects that are manufactured by our newest partner, Wewood, will be available online and we are in discussions with a retailer here in Singapore.
The Diaspora Collection, Chinese Tea Cup and Saucer Set shown here, is made in collaboration with Luzerne. Photo by WOHA
How do you select which partners to collaborate with? Is it a conscious decision that each collaboration be distinctly different from another?
We partnered with collaborators who are on our wavelength in terms of design vision, quality and sustainability standards and ethics. They are experts at what they do, so our collaborations aren’t necessarily distinguished by ‘look’, but by who has the necessary experience, expertise and quality standard to manufacture a certain object. For instance, Wewood will be manufacturing pieces from both the Bintan and the Ulu Collections, and the look of these collections are very different, but we know that Wewood is able to produce both collections equally well.
How do you select which partners to collaborate with? Is it a conscious decision that each collaboration be distinctly different from another?
We partnered with collaborators who are on our wavelength in terms of design vision, quality and sustainability standards and ethics. They are experts at what they do, so our collaborations aren’t necessarily distinguished by ‘look’, but by who has the necessary experience, expertise and quality standard to manufacture a certain object. For instance, Wewood will be manufacturing pieces from both the Bintan and the Ulu Collections, and the look of these collections are very different, but we know that Wewood is able to produce both collections equally well.
The Ulu Collection. Photo by WOHA
Photo by Marek Swoboda Photography, courtesy of WOHA
Oli 44 is made in collaboration with WonderGlass. Photo by WOHA
Photo by WOHA
The Sampan Double Vanity made in collaboration with apaiser. Photo by Marek Swoboda Photography, courtesy of WOHA
TELL US
Are you a WOHA fan? Which of these products for the home would you consider buying?
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TELL US
Are you a WOHA fan? Which of these products for the home would you consider buying?
MORE
3 Singapore Design Duos You Should Know
How was your Maison&Objet (M&O) Paris experience?
It was a very good experience for us, and the first time we experienced M&O as exhibitors. We learned about the breadth and depth of the homeware industry and how enormous it is. It’s a good thing in that it’s a huge market but also daunting when you see the range of existing products. We also saw that it’s a very crowded marketplace and very driven by trends. Our designs evolve out of our project experience so we are less trend-driven and more grounded in specific problem-solving – which we see as an advantage. We got a lot of positive feedback from people visiting M&O, saying that our design, viewpoint and products felt very fresh and were very appealing. Lastly, we were curious if our designs appealed more to a certain region of the world, and we were pleasantly surprised to get an evenly positive response from Europeans, Asians and Americans.
(above) The WOHAbeing pavilion features the world’s first façade to use a plane-filling curve panel system that looks like a single continuous directional winding stem the designers call “the beanstalk”.