LIMIT - #Issue2

L I M I T M AG A Z I N E I S S U E # 0 2 GA N I S AT I O N A L C U LT U R E

L I M I T I S A S E R I E S O F P U B L I C AT I O N S , B O R N TO CA P T U R E THE PERSONAL EXPERIENCES AND INSIGHTS OF D E S I G N E R S T H R O U G H T H E I R C R E AT I V E WO R K S PAC E S .

Contents

Contents FOREWORD

04

The organisational CULTURE

06

Introduction

12

RELAY ROOM - the Interview

14

THE PRESS ROOM - the Interview

38

Notes

72

Contributors

74

L I M I T M a ga z i n e I SS U E #02 [4]

foreword

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Fo r e wo r d

Welcome to Limit.

Limit is a series of publications, born to capture the personal experiences and insights of designers through their creative workspaces. Our hope is that through this we will get to share our inquisitive fascination and enthusiasm for workspaces with other like-minded individuals, who in turn can be inspired to personalise their work environment.

The magazine will be featuring creative workspaces of designers, both established and emerging, from different parts of the world. We understand that how a workspace is being defined can affect not only how people feel, but also their work performance; the commitment to their employee, and the creation of new knowledge in the organisation. A workspace is dictated foremost by the culture of the studio and people working there.

Therefore, the purpose of the magazine is to inspire, through research and interviews, the individuals in personalising their workspaces.

But also to encourage the discovery of new possible ways in doing it. Of course allowing individuals to understand the process and value of workspace personalisation; how it can affect their work process indirectly.

In addition, we hope that this magazine will also be a source of inspiration where we can initiate dialogue and collaboration among individuals in their workspace personalisation.

In this second issue, we would be looking into the workspaces of various design studios, understanding their studio cultures;. Also to analyse how their workpace has been defined to support the studios’ culture. The theme for this issue is ‘organisational culture’, identifying the different type of studio cultures.

L I M I T M a ga z i n e I SS U E #02 [6]

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O r ga n i s at i o n a l cult u r e

The Organisational culutre Did you know that workspace personalisation is determined more by one’s work situation such as organisational culture rather than by personal factors?

Wells, Thelenand and Ruark, (2007)

L I M I T M a ga z i n e I SS U E #02 [8]

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O r ga n i s at i o n a l cult u r e

the organisational culture Organisational culture refers to the personality or soul of an organisation and is reflected in its values, leadership styles, policies, and definition of success. It has an indirect effect on workspace personalisation, via personalisation policies or norms and employee status. Therefore the organisational culture is an important variable in the study of personalisation.

Moreover, organisational culture has a powerful influence on organisational effectiveness as well as morale, organisational commitment, productivity, health, and emotional well-being. Thus, organisational culture is one of the main factors that can affect people of the extend in personalising their workspaces.

What are the Types of organisational cultures?

There are four common type of organisation culture, known as clan, adhocracy, hierarchy, and market. The clan felt like an extended family and can be characterised by teamwork, open communication, empowerment, and leaders who act as mentors. The adhocracy is characterised by innovation, creativity, risk taking, and visionary leaders.

Thirdly, the hierarchy is characterised by efficiency, control, and leaders who are monitors. Lastly, the market is characterised by achieving goals, beating competitors, productivity, and hard-driving leaders In many small-scaled design studios, the culture of the organisation leans towards more to clan and adhocracy, such as 3 Deep Design, a design and image studio from Melbourne, Australia. With only 5 people working in the design studio, the studio culture has the ‘clan’ culture that encourage designers to throw in ideas and exchange of spontaneous communication.

On the other hand, design agencies like Leo Burnett and Ogilvy & Mather stems towards the ‘hierarchy’ culture.

Due to their big structures, these organisations are required to work in a chain of command environment, with every individuals rank with different designations, doing a specific nature of task.

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L I M I T M a ga z i n e I SS U E #02

wo r k s pa c e p e r s o n a li s at i o n

‘OUR studio is fun, relaxed and crazy’ QUOTE by graphic design studio, tin & ed From melbourne, Australia

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L I M I T M a ga z i n e I SS U E #02

introduction

Spaces that called for collaboration The design studios featured in this issue, reflect several similarities in terms of their studio culture, workspace layout and even their studios’ location. They are Relay Room and The Press Room. Both design studios have about 6 designers working for them respectively.

Coincidentally, they are both located in the creative district of Singapore, reasonably close to many art museums, art supplies stores, and national library.

For studio culture wise, both design studios do not run on regimental routine. They have a more free and easy culture which provides a cosy environment for the designers to work. They encourage teamwork, open communication and empowerment. The designers at both studios work together like a family.

For instance, the creative director of Relay Room, Mark encourages discussion of ideas which include doing a lot internal feedbacks. Likewise, Kelley the creative director of The Press Room often do her rounds and sit beside her designers to go through design briefs together.

As both studios have a very collaborative culture, the workspace are set up in a way which helps to encourage this flow of communication. Their tables are arranged in a linear manner which encourage spontaneous communication and idea exchange in the group. These collaborative workspace energise people, put the designers at ease, make them feel connected with their colleagues and open them up to exploring ideas.

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I NTROD U CT I ON

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R e l ay r o o m - M a r k d E w i n n e

Relay room Mark dE winne Relay Room is a typography-led branding and creative consultancy. Their vision is to create beautiful experiences which are both elegant and enabling. They help businesses build their brands & products through design marked by a careful attention to typography. They work across branding, print and digital platforms. http://www.relayroom.com/

Mark and his designers hard at work in the studio.

‘The workspace forces us to be efficient in terms of how we use it’ Tell us a little about your studio.

We have been around for one and a half year. Before that, it was like my freelance job. I was doing freelance and teaching at the same time. One and a half year has been pretty interesting so far. It’s pretty tiring. The only reason why I was doing freelancing was because I was teaching.

When I made the decision not to continue to teach, it was either working for somebody else or delve into doing it full time and seeing how that would work out. That’s how it started. It helped that I have a job that paid me a nice amount of money that could enable me to start looking for work and have to worry about making ends meet.

How many people work at the studio?

As for now, there are 6 people. At the end of the month, it would be 5. Our intern is going into army. Me and my wife with 3 designers. Quite multi- culture. There is one Italian guy, one Malaysian, one malay girl.

What type of work do you do?

We have an emphasis on type. We are very picky about it.

Type is not the one and only solution to every project. So it depends on the work. The work we do recently is pretty varied. We do tests like we stick our test prints on the boards and we stand across the room to kind of see how it looks at a certain distance. Which definitely helps when you do exhibition design. We did one for OCBC. How clear did it look or how small can it go from a distance looking at it. This helps us to make decisions.

It’s mostly branding and editorial works. We do a lot of books which is major paper wastage. We would keep printing and proofing. We do a lot of branding which is very long process of versions after versions. Mostly about 80% of the works we do are like branding and editorial kind of works.

What is your studio size?

Small. It is 4 by 7 metres, 21 or 28 square meters.

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T H E I NTER V I EW

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R e l ay r o o m - M a r k d E w i n n e

Mark has an unwavering passion in typefaces, hence the collection of many typedriven posters and books.

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R e l ay r o o m - M a r k d E w i n n e

What is your average day like?

We start at 9:30am supposedly. By the time everybody gets in, we will start work about 10am. Some of us would eat in the office. If some of us don’t eat breakfast, we would start feeling hungry. Like today, we went to lunch at 12 noon.

It’s pretty early for us.

But usually, when we come into the studio. If everybody is there, we would do a thing called, Scrump, which is basically detailing what needs to be done. To see what is everybody working on today as supposed to yesterday. If I wasn’t around, we just need to do what is on everybody’s priorities and to see if they have any specific task they have to finish for sure that day. If not, we are all gonna do certain things or delegate who’s going to do what. It’s kind of a daily thing. Work.

What is the first thing you’ll do when you enter the studio?

Check emails. Unfortunately, there’s nothing spectacular.

Depending on how bad the night was before. I might grab a coffee on the next day before coming in to work.

‘We would do a daily Scrump; which is detailing what everybody is working on and the things that need to be done’

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T H E I NTER V I EW

Mark and his designers sharing creative ideas and feedbacks for one of their ongoing projects.

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R e l ay r o o m - M a r k d E w i n n e

A collection of nostalgic stuff: letterpress stamps of Relay Room.

What type of music do you listen to when working?

We don’t really play music in the studio. Everybody has their own taste. We try to keep it quiet. So if you want to listen to music, then you plug in your earpieces, which is what usually happen anyway. There’s no radio.

When everybody has both earpieces listening to music, it’s hard to talk and ask questions. And you have to go waving your hands to get others’ attention. What I usually do, is I’ll only have 1 ear piece. Unless I really do not want to be disturbed. But that doesn’t really happen.

No heavy metal music. It really depends. Sometimes when I really don’t know what to listen to, I will just turn on Lush 99.5. You got the web radio service. Music helps.

But there are times you really just the space to think. I don’t have any music on so it facilitate and trying to solve whatever problems you are thinking about.

Why don’t you guys have an office telephone?

We don’t have a office telephone. It’s can be a pain in the ass as they keep ringing and it’s irritating. I used to work in another office and ended up picking the phone all the time.

I got so fed up. There were 3 people in the office. Boss don’t pick up phone. If the part time accountant is not there, I became the default secretary. I hate the sound of the phone ringing. It makes me feel “Kan Chong” (Singlish for panic).

So I killed office telephone. It’s pretty quiet. It can be pretty quiet if everybody is working. You will just hear clicks.

So how do people contact you guys if it’s urgent?

As everybody’s email signature has their handphone number, so if they want to reach us, they will call us via our handphone. You may get sms over weekends but you can decide if you want to reply or not. I try not to reply on weekends as to reinforce that my weekends are my weekends. Of course first thing on Monday morning, I will reply to my clients right away.

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T H E I NTER V I EW

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R e l ay r o o m - M a r k d E w i n n e

‘We would switch our work stations at times, depending on the people that we have and who works well together’ Do you have any favourite spot in the studio?

No, not really. It’s very small. Our original idea was that we should try to squeeze a sofa in somewhere. But it hasn’t really happen. There’s no space for it.

There’s no favourite spot. I have moved places within the studio about 3 to 4 times now, depending on who we have. We have people change like previously, I used to sit in front of the window. Then I moved and have my back facing the window the second time. Third time, I moved to the corner, and across.

The tables are always there but I just moved and so like out of the 8 tables, I have like sat about 4 of them different times. Seeing who works well together, also depending on the people that you have. For instance, we have one designer from Italy, his English is not that eloquent so when he sits next to Ben Wee on the other side, he was a bit lost. He’s like by himself there cause the other guy don’t really talk a lot either. So we bring him across the table so he can talks to Johanne, who’s more chatty. She very patient with him. We tried to juggle how people work. See who blends better with somebody else.

Your desk is usually cluttered with?

I am a very messy person. My desk is usually cluttered with namecards, my phone, papers that I’m referring to, notepad, laptop and there will no additional space. It is not a very big desk. Sometimes when I referring to books, there will be stacks of them on table as well. We try to put back to the shelves. Or else, everything will just piles up.

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What do you see when you look out from your window?

We usually draw the binds as the sun is streaming in too brightly. You can see a bit of NAFA. There’s a row of old condominiums right across the road. There’s this thing Singapore Counsel of Woman Organisation just opposite us. The view is not that great.

But there is a view. There are wall to wall windows. So can’t complain. Natural light is good to have at design studios.

What do you like about your studio location?

Apparently, Bras Basah, Bugis and Selegie are like some kind of creative districts. We are reasonably close to 2 or 3 museums so it’s convenient when we do projects with them.

They are all walking or bus distance. We are located conveniently near 3 MRT stations: Bugis, Cityhall, Waterloo. Our studio is also close to Basheer and national library which is greatly useful.

There are quite a great variety of food to eat in this area although we don’t quite venture out to eat due to time constraints.

A silk-screen tote bag hang on the bookshelves.

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T H E I NTER V I EW

Chocolate chip cookies made with love for everyone during teatime breaks.

SO Where DO you guys usually go for lunch?

We usually lunch together downstairs. If we have no time or we are lazy. All the food stores downstairs are not too bad. Today we went to 15 minutes cafe, in Lasalle for brunch. We have been to Bugis. Also to the Singapore Counsel of Woman Organisation’s cafe called Talk which is not too bad. It is like 15 minutes without the weirdo music and hipster students.

We have eaten at Rendezvous Hotel, there this Mexican place. It called Baha Fresh something and it’s very heavy.

After eating, we will have food coma. We have gone to City Hall to eat. There’s food downstairs. Not that far. There’s this Plaza by the Park opposite SMU. There are a couple of food courts.

There also food in the area of Lasalle. There’s another food centre at the other end of Waterloo street where the temple is. We would just walk there. We walk to Purvis street often. There’s food in that area too.

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R e l ay r o o m - M a r k d E w i n n e

‘We LIKE TO COLLECT THINGS and put up posters to DECORate our space’

What do you like most about your workspace?

We have our own room. As we work in a co-working space, there are some places which are open so we have a little bit of privacy. We try to decorate it. Like in a designish fashion. There are certain things about the workspace which came as it is like this wooden thing in the middle of the room. This wooden thing was there when we moved in. Another design company that used to be in that space built it. All the power plugs are in there. They made this space to put plants. But we basically use the spaces to put our stuff. That wooden part can’t be changed.

We tried to put up posters. Stuff that inspire us. Things that we collected. Prior to white walls, blank canvas not terribly helpful. Ideally, we want to do more. We have a chalkboard which we don’t really used it to draw. We do strategy stuff on it. We got a bunch of cork-boards that we pinned up stuff.

But we don’t really have individual desk space we would be inspired and put our own moodboards and stuff up. It really kind of finding a collective kind of space. Whatever odds and ends, it’s not very well created. I haven’t spend any money on buying some really nice art work we saw online. Whatever stuff we found, it up there; like posters we brought back from the conference.

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‘Our culture is very collaborative, so we try to set up in a way that supports the flow of communication’

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R e l ay r o o m - M a r k d E w i n n e

Mark, the creative director of Relay Room at his work desk. He sits together with his designers.

‘the tables are set up in a linear manner, so everybody is facing each other when working’ How does your workspace helps to define your work?

The workspace forces us to be efficient in terms of how we used it. We have configure it a little bit. For instance, we use our chalkboard on the wall, for mindmapping of ideas. One person would stands up and draw everything, everybody would look this way and ‘shout’ ideas. As the flow is circular, if one of us has to show something, everybody can just gather around. We have set up the tables like in a linear manner, so everybody is facing each other. You don’t have to walk extra distance to find the others. You can called across or side to side for people to come and take a look your work. We do quite a lot of internal feedback and ask each others’ opinions. The studio is set up in a way which helps to support that flow of communication. I’m sure there are better way of doing it.

Our culture is very collaborative. It could be more collaborative but when there are a lot of ongoing projects you have to delicate. There are certain projects which belong to certain people. We do something for the library and there would be one person to handle it most of the time. Unless they need help and we would give our opinions. But it’s basically her ‘baby’. It really depends on the project too. If one person can handle, then it’s not too hard. If it is a big project, which would need multiple of people doing it.

There isn’t much hierarchy here. Though I am the creative director, I don’t sit at a different room from everybody else. Everybody is there. I sit closer to the door cause I’m not around the most as I have to meet clients. So in a way, I wouldn’t disturb others. Other than that, we are pretty much constrained by the space.

Technically, the room can fit 10 people if you really packed them in. But we do not want to reach that stage. With 6 of us, it already quite filled. As we have a lot of things, the table beside us would become the junk table filled with our stuff. We need more shelves. The table opposite our side has the printer and our stage table or cutting mat table.

Whatever else you need to do is on that table. Or it can be used an intern desk.

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T H E I NTER V I EW

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R e l ay r o o m - M a r k d E w i n n e

What do you do when you are faced with creative blocks?

Take a break and think of something else. I might look at the book see if I can get any inspirations. Sometimes, I get out of the studio. We should get out of the studio more but we don’t. It is very small studio so it can get claustrophobic. At times we will go down and grab a coffee if we feel sleepy and eat something. Nothing massively will change. But it helps to take a break mentally.

Or ask people to contribute ideas. Even a causal passing remarks from somebody can be very inspiring for something else. The space ideally is arranged to help support the spontatetous exchange of ideas. Usually everybody is very quiet, unless at times when you want ideas or rushing for projects.

‘Even a causal passing remarks from somebody could be very inspiring for something else’ What is the best advice you have experienced or received and that you would like to offer to the young designers?

I think the students in Singapore tend to be very competitive and ambitious. They all want to wound up each other, with the mentality of ‘I must continue to do well’. It is very easy to get frustrated when you don’t seem to get the kind of things you want it to be done. Assuming this person is hardworking.

It is something that I thought about it recently. When you are still early in the game or process, be easier on yourself.

Certain things just take time to develop and grow. You can only accelerate the process so much.

My advice to students is whatever you learn now will only make sense next year. When you are in the midst, it is like total chaos. You don’t see many things. You do the best you can. Understanding will only come after. Certain things take time to register.

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T H E I NTER V I EW

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R e l ay r o o m - M a r k d E w i n n e

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W H AT I S YO U R WORKSPAC E L I KE ?

the press room Kelley Cheng The Press Room is a young publishing and design consultancy that seeks to find new dimensions and language in publishing and design. As with most young firms, we will like to proclaim that we are quite dynamic, in fact, our dynamism has often been compared to that of President Barack Obama. http://www.thepressroom.com.sg

‘i believed workspace has a big impact on the studio culture’ Tell us a little about your studio.

I started my own publishing firm called Hypersummer Matters Pte Ltd to publish my own architecture and design magazine, iSh. Two years later, I was headhunted by a giant publishing company, PageOne Group, to spearhead the publishing. So I became the Editorial and Creative Director of the publishing department.

I left PageOne Group in 2008 and started The Press Room alone and it slowly grew. You know, actually this company has started since 10 years ago before I started ish, it is meant to be the name of my design and publishing consultancy, but when I got into a partnership, to keep things separate, we started another firm Hypersummer Matters for the magazine. So after 10 years, finally I can operate under The Press Room.

How many people work at the studio?

6 people working in the studio. So happened that all of them are girls. We had 2 boys but they left. It seems quite comfortable now with all girls except that no guys to help out in doing the rough work, like changing light bulbs.

What type of work do you do?

We do graphic design, many areas of it such as branding, publication and assortment of designs. I am trained in architecture so I also do some 3D and interior projects, set designs. Draw ourselves to challenges from time to time.

So we don’t get suck with 2D designs.

What is your studio size?

This place is about 1500 square feet. I shared the building with my partner, Wendy who own an architecture firm.

A peek into the creative studio of The Press Room.

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T H E I NTER V I EW

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Th e p r e ss r o o m - K e ll e y ch e n g

What is your average day like?

We don’t have a fixed routine. Which is why every studio have a different way of working. I know of some studios that could be very regimental. Like we will do this from what time to what time. 2 to 3 p.m could be discussion time. Company has policies such as enforcing the designers to pack their table by the end of everyday. It has to be clean.

There are also studios that do not allow personal belongings on the table or in the office. Those are not my style. To be honest, I’m not too sure how much workspace affect the design itself. Don’t think it have a big impact on the design itself. But it definitely have a big impact on the studio culture. For us, I don’t mind at all that the designers have their personal things. I don’t force them to clean their tables unless it gets really messy and became an eyesore. I guess it’s a bit more causal in this kind of situation where it’s not so regimental. When you don’t have so many rules and people feel more at ease.

Those studios that run at a more regimental, I guess it has their advantages. Like one of my friend who run their small design studio, he is very firm and serious guy. Everything has a fixed schedule, even for the designers. It is very systematic for their studio. They are very into systems, everything has a system. They start work at 9 am sharp. Unlike us, we may wander in slightly later. For them, it would be a serious matter if they are late. And they work intensely from 9am to 6pm, without any fooling around. So that everybody could go home by 6pm. That is his company culture.

The reason for being so strict because he emphasised work-life balance.

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T H E I NTER V I EW

Kelley at her work desk, busy at work.

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Th e p r e ss r o o m - K e ll e y ch e n g

‘we don’t have a fixed routine here in THE PRESS ROOM’

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T H E I NTER V I EW

But work life balance is subjective. For me, work-life balance is encompassed in the workspace. Workspace itself should have some fun element and have a balance of both, not just work strictly kind of situation.

For him, he has a distinct separation of work and life. That is his company policy. It depends on how the boss or creative director is like. Then you will attract like-minded people. For example if people who are regimental comes to my studio, they might feel like there is no system here. Likewise for my designers, if they were to go to studio that runs on regimental manner, I think they may feel uncomfortable.

The outcome of the space can be the same. I don’t believe if the workspace has such a big impact whether it makes you what type of designers. But definitely it has a great impact on the studio culture.

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Th e p r e ss r o o m - K e ll e y ch e n g

As mentioned, I don’t think they joke in the office. I think they are very serious. That is their studio culture. On the other hand, ours is a bit more free and easy. What I’m trying to say is that workspace culture doesn’t really make us a better designer. For example, our workspace is messy so we are more creative. It don’t have that kind of link.

The transit is not direct. It’s not like workspace is like that and therefore designers design a certain way. Workspace is like that so it creates a certain kind of company culture.

Which with that kind of company culture, I guess it might reflect indirectly on the work. Most important thing, is space, company culture, the people, design outcomes. I don’t agree that workspace has a direct impact on what kind of works you produced. What I’m trying to say is that workspace can create a certain company culture, which will dictate what kind of people want to join this company, and what kind of personalities they have. These will then have a certain kind of effect on the works. They are the two other important things that will or may affect the design outcomes.

The space influences the culture, the culture attract the kind of people and these kind of people might produce a certain kind of work. But from what you know, there is no scientific theory and it could be very subjective. It could be a completely different company but the work outcomes could be very identical. We might arrive at the same place.

It is very subjective.

‘for me, worklife balance is encompassed in the workspace so it should have some fun elements’

T H E I NTER V I EW

The Press Room is filled with many fun and humorous posters.

‘The workspace influences our studio culture and thus attract like-minded people’

what is your studio culutre like?

Our studio is quite democratic. We talked and discussed.

Usually for me, we would agreed and execute on the best idea. Let’s say we take a project brief from the client, I will usually think about it and have some board ideas.

Then I will share with my designers a broad framework which they can work within and be creative with ideas.

Sometimes when I give ideas to my designers and they counter proposed with a better idea, I will go ahead with theirs as well.

It is the company culture which I preferred a more democratic way of working, instead of a top down. I am not the kind of boss who will get angry if you don’t follow what I tell you to do yet coming up with a better solution.

But of course, don’t do something that’s off the mark.

There is always a lot of opportunities for discussions and talking within the studio. I would randomly do my rounds as there are a few projects going on at the same time.

Usually sit next to the designer and discuss. Again like I said, I prefer a more intimate kind of conversation. Not using those kind of projectors to discuss. Not my style. I’m much appreciate an intimate conversations with each of my designers.

‘We are quite democratic.

I prefer a more intimate kind of conversation and environment with each of my designers.’

Kelley doing rounds, going to her designers to discuss the projects.

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T H E I NTER V I EW

The vast collection of design books in Kelley’s studio.

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Th e p r e ss r o o m - K e ll e y ch e n g

What do you like most about your workspace?

I guess there is a reason why I created this informality within the workspace. I believed that as humans we are all equal. For example, the cleaner’s job is to clean but as a human being, she’s older than me so as human being I will respect her as she’s my elder. Regardless of our position, we have to have a respect for each individuals. So that is important to me. Let’s say if you screwed up in your work, I will definitely scold you without a doubt as that is work related. But as a person to person, I will help you to carry your bag or sweep the floor, clear the rubbish just like anyone. That is a kind of a more intimate kind of setting.

I think finding that kind of balance could be difficult at times. If you tried to be too friendly or nice, it is hard to draw the line and you might lose certain authority at work.

Which at times could be important. The danger is that when you start to be too easy going, designers may not take their work seriously. As I can be nice and lenient, that is when mistakes could happen. That is the part which I try to be cautious about. When is work concern, I will draw a line. If you screwed up, I am going to give you a hard time.

I like the intimacy with my designers. In a lot of ways, I prefer to see them more of like a family. I know it may sound cliché. But as we spend more time with each other than we do with our real families. So if we hate each other, I feel that it is going to be difficult to work together.

If we can have that kind of kinship we have with our family members, then it would make our work a lot more enjoyable. We have to face each other everyday.

‘I LIKE MOST ABOUT MY WORKSPACE IS THE INFORMALITY THAT I CREATED’

Kelley’s shelves filled with many books and random items.

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Th e p r e ss r o o m - K e ll e y ch e n g

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T H E I NTER V I EW

Swiss Design 2003, DĂŠsir Design.

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Th e p r e ss r o o m - K e ll e y ch e n g

Your desk is usually cluttered with?

Oh my god. It is cluttered with so many things. As designers, I guess you will refer to a lot of magazines. So every time when I referred to them, I will just chucked aside. I will also tagged many pages as I thought I will perhaps need it soon. As more projects come in, a lot of things I will probably need soon. All the letters and bills come in everyday. Then it start stacking again and this is how the mess build up.

Then different paper documents you print, you thought you are going to look through. I also have paper to always jot down notes in case I forget. It pretty much a mess of everything. I don’t like my table being messy. There is a saying that, table is a reflection of your mind. So I think I have too many things on my mind and preoccupied, so I guess it is true. Every point of time, I am thinking of like maybe ten different things. That is why every thing has to be within my reach. But I don’t like it.

Occasionally, I get so irritated. Then I will packed my table. It would be clean for maybe 2 days. Then it will get messy again. There are too many ongoing projects. I don’t know how it happened sometimes. I don’t like it to be messy. I don’t think it is a reflection of who I am. But it is a reflection of my current state of mind. I have too many things on my mind.

Sketches of ideas on Kelley’s work desk.

‘oH my god, my table is cluttered with so many things’

[59]

T H E I NTER V I EW

‘I don’t like my table to be messy.

I don’t think it is a reflection of who I am. But it is probably a reflection of my current state of mind, preoccupied with too many things’

[60]

[61]

Do you have any favourite spot in the studio?

When I am very stressed, I will go down to the bar at level 2, to unwind and have a drink.

The bar is a joint venture between me and the architecture firm. In the day time, I am usually very busy. I don’t have the time to even faced with creative blocks. You just have to go on. The only time I need to relax and think about something else when I am very stressed, then after 7 p.m, I will probably go down for a drink.

It either in my room or I will come to this sitting area. This area can be considered as a more informal place. If we all ‘da bao’ (Singlish for take away) lunch, we will all sit around here and eat. It is a luxury that we have this sort of informal space. So not everything feel very office-like.

Tell me what you see outside your window.

Not the one from my room as the window from my room as it’ kind of stuck. Plus it is tinted black. So I don’t usually open. I do like to breathe in fresh air. There is a spiral staircase behind with a landing. So from time to time I will go there and have a breather.

‘it is a luxury to have this sort of informal space to relax’

The sitting area for designers to eat their take-away lunch together.

[62]

Th e p r e ss r o o m - K e ll e y ch e n g

What do you like about your studio location?

We were very fortunate to get this place 6 years ago. Before the rental gets too crazy. As here is quite near town.

With the rental going up like crazy these 2 years, I don’t know if we can afford it anymore. The rental is revised every two years. The first few years is slow and recently our property market just go hay-wired the last 2 years. HDD, private property, it just went up by 100%. It will just keep going up. There is a possibility of moving if they increase beyond reason. I think this is a problem with all business. You are always at the mercy of your landlord. The best is that you buy a place. The rental will hold you as hostage.

The entrance of the building leading to The Press Room.

‘When I am very stressed, I will go to the bar at level 2, to unwind and have a drink’

[63]

T H E I NTER V I EW

[64]

Th e p r e ss r o o m - K e ll e y ch e n g

How does your workspace define your work?

I guess every designers have the spirit of experimentalism.

You need to try out new ideas and all that. I supposed when you look at every design briefs, you always try to be unconventional with your ideas and tried on something new. But it is not easy. As in graphic design, your projects are dictated by your clients.

You cannot just determined you want to do a certain style. For product designers, I designed a product and do whatever I want and tried to sell the stuff. Unlike product designers, graphic designers are very client driven. So I feel that you can be creative with your ideas, but you cannot be too experimental anyhow. It serious matter. You have to help your client to achieve what they want.

What do you do when you are faced with creative blocks?

I think everybody basically go through a certain kind of creative blocks. But for me, is to find different sources of inspirations. I tried not to do the obvious. There are two ways of overcoming creative blocks.

If I’m having creative blocks and tomorrow is the deadline, I will look at graphic design books and see if there’s any ideas that you can adopt and adapt. Like this is what I tell my students as well, if you can find a design, adopt and adapt. It is just like some bands, they took a cover version and they sang it completely different and even more successful. That to me is not copying but improvising. For me, that is one way out of creative blocks. I could look at the works of other but I will have to twist it somehow and make it my own. Not copying wholesale. That can be one form of inspiration.

The second form of inspiration if I have more time. I would really not look at the work for a while and maybe watch an art movie, go to the art museum. Do something inspirational.

But not deliberately of relating to what you are looking for. So in those areas when you are watching the movie, I might find an idea inspired by something else.

A KFC poster of Kelley Cheng.

[66]

‘ As long as you are content and happy with what you do, that is good enough’

[67]

What is the best advice you have experienced or received and you would like to offer to the young designers?

I think the most important point I always tell young designers is that be patient. When I was a 25 years old designer as compared to a 40 year old now today, to be honest the kind of enlightenment and the way you see things is a world of difference. Somehow it comes with maturity. When I was a 25 years old designer, I cannot see certain things. Simply I have not seen enough. You have a more limited depositary of information, imageries and things to play with. When you walk though the journey and you reach 40 years old, you realised that you build up so much vocabulary, imageries. With such a big depositary, you can remix them. This is when you can “ 收方自如 ” (Shōu fāng zìrú) which means you can dictate things freely. I can do this now but somehow I can’t when I was at the age of 25 years old. You can’t rush it, you see.

When I was 25 or 30, I was probably damn cocky or I think I was damn good. When I look back at things I did before, some are quite terrible. Now, I can see it. Probably at that time, I think is very nice. Back then with that capability, I thought it was very nice. But maybe with the change of trend and taste over generation and era. That intrinsic sort of understanding of things was not there yet. It sort of matured with age. I think is something that everyone has to be somewhat patient and you will see it. You will just suddenly see it when you get older. Also, practice makes perfect. Never stop doing. It is through many rounds of doing, then you will start to get better. You will start to get enlightenment. If you are lazy, then you won’t get enlightenment when you grow older.

I think being patience and keep working. The critical point when both of it combines has no shortcut. Whether you are in the trade of being a designer, architect, or even a lawyer, I think you just have to really keep working on it. I don’t think there would be an overnight sensation of becoming a millionaire or becoming famous. None of this would happen. The realistic thing about it. Maybe there is a 1% of people like Philippe Starck or Thomas Heatherwick, they have won projects that really catapult them to global fame. The realistic part of this is that these are the only 1 % of people who are very lucky. For the rest of us, I think there’s no shortcut. Just keep working and do.

You will be good at what you do. Not everybody is lucky to get global frame but at least a fame in Singapore is some sort of small achievement.

[68]

[69]

‘the most important point I always tell young designers, is to be patient’

[70]

Th e p r e ss r o o m - K e ll e y ch e n g

[71]

W H AT I S YO U R WORKSPAC E L I KE ?

[72]

L I M I T M a ga z i n e I SS U E #02

NOTES

Go ahead and write down any ideas that you like from the featured design studios. Feel free to apply any of these ideas in your workspace personalisation. Be bold. Be inspired. Have fun!

[73]

n ot e s

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L I M I T M a ga z i n e I SS U E #02

CONTRIBUTORS

[75]

C o n t r i b u to r s

Relay room DESIGN STUDIO

the press room DESIGN STUDIO

The Selby Is in Your Place

I Wished I Worked There!

Where They create

Open Studios

Where We Work

Inspiration Office

Mark De Winne

Todd Selby

Paul Barbera

Ian Mccallam

Future Office

Christopher Grech & David Walters

Kelley Cheng

Kursty Groves

Lotta Jansdotter

Daniela Pogade

APARTAMENTO

Apartamento magazine

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L I M I T M a ga z i n e I SS U E #02

First published and distributed by LIMIT Publishers

Designed & edited by Jooey Lek Copyright Š 2012 Jooey Lek The copyright on the individual text and design work is held by the respective designers and contributors.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval systems or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner(s).

The caption and interview in this book are based on material supplied by the designers whose workspace is featured.

Printed and bound in Singapore

Jooey would like to thank all the designers and design studios who have involved in the complication of this book. This project would not have been accomplished without their significant contribution to the production of this book.

Jooey would also like to express her gratitude to all the designers for their invaluable opinions and assistance throughout this entire project. The successful completion also owes a great deal to many professionals in the creative industry who have given Jooey precious insights and comments. And to many others whose names are not credited but have many specific input in this book, Jooey would like to thank them for their continuous support the whole time.