“I have come a long way since. Many opportunities abound during the growing economies, but I had chosen to pursue my biggest passion and longest dream, that is, to become an top Interior Designer.”
Kef Tan
Being born in the 1970s allowed me to grow up during a retrospective era where the lifestyle of the period gave me the details I wanted in life. I wasn’t born to be a designer, neither was I brought up as one. During my secondary & tertiary education days, I wasn’t the bright one in school. In fact, I was often the one with the crazy ideas and I was kind of impressed with my own hands-on projects. Basically, many 70s kids enrolled in the IT or Business diplomas and oddly enough, I took up the IT Design Media course.
During the 90s, I.T. was like a little bubble waiting to burst, which got me to think if I should continue in the industry. Frankly, I hated school and knew I was never cut out for an deskbound office career.
When my National Service ended, I joined a high profile hair styling salon which catapulted me to London where my life changed after joining Vidasasson and Toni & Guy Academy. I stayed in the fashion industry for 14 years and it got me thinking again, that in order to make my life more interesting, I should step into interior design field and enrol myself into NAFA.
The rest is history. A leap of faith into this industry and 10 years had passed. I am 44 years old now and have worked on 100 odd houses, in Singapore and overseas. I have won multiple interior design awards and I am the owner of d’Phenomenal.
Basically, I travel quite a fair bit and I was also trained in carpentry in Japan for a short period of time. I have also stayed in many fancy concept hotels and Airbnb before. These experiences helped me a lot in conceptualising what I wanted to do for my future design. I always believe in being hands-on and travelling to broaden my ideas and mind. Please don’t ask me what my signature concept is. I studied enough concepts to build a house rather than copying from some used ideas. There is no such thing as a signature concept these days. As a designer, we should be well trained in all fields.
All designers should be able to draw out basic 3D sketch to provide a clearer presentation and vision for the clients rather than grabbing it off Google or Pinterest, which later on may cause some misunderstanding. Those were the days where so called “Designers” can brush off using verbal agreement or air drawn concept. Our company’s practice is more towards the architectural way of detailing. I believe in creating a holistic and architectural interiors that marries both form and function. Creating an experience with functionality, workmanship and value. My core value is built upon my personal drive that makes a difference in the interior design industry.
To be continued.