Allow me to indulge myself in a rant.
One of the reasons why this site has seen little activity is due to the near completion of my new abode, The Berth. It is the first development on Sentosa, an island off Singapore. Unfortunately, the excitement in anticipation of finally moving into my apartment is being negated - daily - by those who hawk themselves as “interior designers”. The situation is dire indeed.
Their first failing is simply not listening. This is what is desired, but that is what is delivered. I suspect this lack of understanding is not totally ill-intended, but a result of an inability to conceive of what a non-Singapore residence means. Their template has been cast, their thinking, their creativity can be measured not in leaps and bounds, but in millimeters, as their crawl their way through pages of countless magazines in seach of what carries weight in the market. All different but yet all the same. This is no bad thing if the typical Singapore apartment or house is the pinnacle of style, the embodiment of aesthetic living. This is not the case. I shudder at the thought of these hideous, hideous domiciles and the impact they exert on the creatures living within them. Always the 42″ plasma TV, king of the living room; always the Zen/Resort feel, a perennial longing for something that their rat-race lives demands as meagre compensation, only to elude them; or, always the gaudy curtains and the little items of individation that litter the place, suffocating space.
The third failing is of course quite understandable. It is their inter-linking with contractors who implement their “vision”. Virtually all of these interior design companies, or “space planners”, are glorified contractors. They are the front end of a very base chain. Hence their preference to design and construct homes which are flooded with needless feature walls, raised platforms, where embellishments and profits take centre-stage instead of good taste.
And so … until the next update, when I shall report on the results of my own designs! How difficult can it be?
Entries (RSS)
But the bathroom accessories, Tom! Think of the bathroom accessories!
i can so identify with the celebration of mediocrity that is so us(read singaporean)…hiazzz pass the sledge hammer