Inside Singaporean brand Scene Shang’s new home at the Raffles Hotel
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Inside Singaporean make Scene Shang's new home at the Raffles Hotel
Scene Shang co-founders Pamela Ting and Jessica Wong take pride in the fact that theirs is the only local retail make amidst international names at the iconic landmark.
Scene Shang founders Jessica Wong (Fifty) and Pamela Ting (R). (Photo: Alvin Teo)
10 Oct 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 04 Jul 2022 10:30PM)
Footstep into the Scene Shang's new abode at Raffles Hotel Arcade and you lot'll feel right at domicile.
The space is less exhibit and more apartment-similar, with natural light flooding the loftier-ceilinged interior, enhancing the sense of spaciousness without compromising on that cosy, welcoming feel.
I could alive here, I recollect to myself, as I'm introduced to the brand'south co-founders, Pamela Ting and Jessica Wong.
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This lived-in ambience was the pair'due south initial intent for their second store, equally they sought to create a space where visitors could peruse their award-winning piece of furniture and objets d'fine art while absorbing a new understanding of time, history and culture – over dainty cups of hand-blended tea.
To limited the patina of time, Ting and Wong worked with artists who painted an aged moss relief on the walls, and added dark-green vines and creepers within the shop. Particularly sourced vintage forest trim with Western-style leafage mouldings and geometric links emblematic of the Great Wall of China skirt the walls.
Art pieces by local artist Arthur P.Y. Ting, renowned for his storied Singapore streetscapes and who happens to be Ting's begetter, adorn the walls.
"Nosotros imagined our shop as a respectful, gentle and new inhabitant of the space – where the aged walls touched our newly-laid flooring, and the former and new run into," said Wong.
The duo too added personal touches, such every bit a tiled entrance comprised of modest hexagons – a shape valued in Asian cultures for stability and harmony – that grade abstract plum flowers, symbolising force and beauty.
The tiled threshold, reminiscent of the foyer of Scene Shang's conceptual birthplace in an fine art deco building where pair lived in Shanghai five years agone, serve as a sort of insider cloak-and-dagger betwixt the two, harking back to where and when their entrepreneurial journey first began.
The pair met 15 years ago, equally schoolmates in Raffles Junior Higher, and it seems somewhat apt that their make now calls the newly refurbished Raffles Hotel home.
"Raffles Hotel has always been quite grand in terms of compages, and information technology's well-nigh intimidating to step in here. And then, when we were given the opportunity to exist a part of information technology – knowing it'southward not contrived as information technology actually gels with the brand – is quite humbling," shared Ting, a former banker. "And to exist the merely local retail brand amongst international names here is quite an honour."
For Wong, the feeling is virtually poetic.
"Before the renovation, at that place used to be an antique shop at the corner that sold beautiful Chinese furniture. I stepped in once and I was very inspired. Then, being here is very meaningful in the sense that nosotros become to continue that beloved for artistry and culture, but in our own Singaporean vocalization," said the trained architect.
"To be the only local retail make amid international names here is quite an accolade." – Pamela Ting
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A BEAUTIFUL NARRATIVE TOLD IN Blueprint
Information technology's a story of classic Chinese pattern told through a gimmicky lens. And the 132-year-old landmark in which it is now housed is indeed the perfect dais to articulate this story so beautifully encapsulated in Scene Shang'south tagline: "Ode to the sometime, nod to the new".
Its 1818 collection, for example, is rife with narrative. Named after the year before Singapore's founding begetter, Sir Stamford Raffles, landed here, the collection of blue and white porcelain plates feature paintings by Wong's blood brother, an illustrator, with famous Singapore icons similar Marina Bay Sands, the Esplanade and the ArtScience Museum subconscious within the artwork.
"This series is inspired past Ming dynasty porcelain. We try to draw in legends from Singapore'due south past, but nosotros also attempt to include some elements from today," offered Wong.
Though nigh imperceptible, these tiny details are redolent of the thoughtful and punctilious approach to blueprint that has garnered the immature brand accolades such as the prestigious Gilded A' Design Laurels in Furniture, Decorative Items and Homeware Design in Italy three years agone.
This was for its signature SHANG Arrangement, a modular storage system featuring several hallmarks of Ming dynasty pattern simply interpreted with a modern aesthetic, which also attained a special citation at the President's Design Award 2022 in Singapore.
More than recently, the brand bagged silver for its XUAN Tabular array at the Singapore Creator Awards 2019.
"We try to draw in legends from Singapore's past, but nosotros too attempt to include some elements from today." – Jessica Wong
While near of its pieces are manufactured in Malaysia, China and Vietnam, just two proudly carry a Made in Singapore characterization, which is an immense source of pride for both Ting and Wong.
The first is the Brass Chinese Chess Set, designed past Wendy Chua and Gustavo Maggio, and manufactured past Mr Yee from Hup Yick, a lxx-year-former proprietor who is ceasing his machine parts workshop in Jalan Besar due to dwindling demand.
"Through this collaboration, we managed to utilize his skills for an industrial product and channel it towards a lifestyle product," said Ting.
The second Singapore-fabricated item is the Yan sofa.
Are in that location plans to industry more piece of furniture in their native country? "Definitely; for every bit long as the manufacturing industry and the craftsmanship allows, as there are simply a few such craftsmen left. And bearing in mind the toll," said Ting.
COLLABORATION IS KEY
Such collaborations, the ladies believe, are the key to take the brand forrard.
"Working with other designers who may non be in the same field every bit us tin requite us a different perspective and add more than layers to the story of whatever we're trying to design," Wong explained.
Scene Shang began roping in other design minds in its fourth year of business; first for the Brass Chinese Chess Set and later for the special Invisible Arrangement version of its Shang System.
Designed past renowned local designer Larry Peh, the limited edition in acrylic (just 10 pieces) comes with a S$2,899 price tag.
"Working with other designers who may non be in the same field as u.s.a. can requite u.s. a different perspective and add more layers to the story of whatever we're trying to blueprint. " – Jessica Wong
"That'south the manner forward – to work with other designers to provide a dissimilar perspective to our classic designs," Wong added.
The other, is expansion. "The challenge nosotros face is the market size," she noted. Taking the make international is, therefore, on the cards.
"We are proud that it'due south a Singaporean brand run by Singaporeans, which speaks a lot about our culture. But we will do it step-by-footstep," said Ting.
How do they think their largely Asian-centric designs will fare in overseas markets?
"Nosotros practise have a lot of customers from Europe, the United States and Australia who observe what we are doing very interesting," Wong stated. "The voice of the make is a flake more of a new Asian lifestyle, and we are trying to find a manner to bring that vocalisation overseas. Withal, nosotros need to work out what the production offerings for the dissimilar markets will be."
Ultimately, the duo does not meet the brand's future express to only furniture and homeware.
"We encounter Scene Shang as fronting Asian contemporary blueprint and a way of life – enjoying and appreciating the beauty of Asian civilization then we could abound laterally also," said Ting.
"We are proud that it's a Singaporean brand run by Singaporeans, which speaks a lot about our civilisation." – Pamela Ting
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/people/scene-shang-raffles-hotel-245866
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