GS05 x Shentonista: Going Up

Dennis is part of local multi-disciplinary collective Upstairs, sharing and collaborating with creative minds and personalities to conjure architecture and interiors, furniture and products, graphics and branding, fashion and accessories, art and video installations, and exhibitions and sets. This mishmash of influences and outcomes also seem to be present in Dennis’ sense of style; the dinosaur on his sweater, he says, was illustrated by a 12-year-old boy. We speak to him and find out what else is on his plate.

It’s problematic in the way that my job requires me to be constantly client-ready, yet resilient and comfortable enough to run around at site in. It’s a very huge problem. I dress obsessively in monochromatics, mostly blacks and whites — sweat shows a bit too well in grey, I tend to avoid it. So shopping is actually a lot more focused and streamlined for me, I only look at things in black or white, and when you do this a lot you tend to tune out the colour and focus more on the details. Some days I also try to mix in a bit of print or colour to feel less manic-oppressive.

For guys: pin-striped anything. And the ladies: office wear with rubber flip-flops. You see a lot of both at lunchtime, unfortunately.

In order of my priorities right now: Spending more time with family. Spending more time on each project. Spending more time on getting drunk.

2015 has actually been a very kind year for me, my studio would have ticked a few dream projects off my personal bucket list. So, far for this year, we would have completed by the second quarter: a bar, an art gallery, an ad agency, a small private house, and if all goes well, a co-sharing workspace. The one project I’m really dreaming of right now is a small boutique hotel. We were quite close to one last year and even spent a huge amount of time and effort working out a design proposal, but that ended up being a lot of talk and was really demoralizing. But fingers crossed for this year then!

I tend to think that our local identity comes exactly from being a very varied mix of everything. It’s challenging trying to really define it in a broad way which works for every single one of us, so those attempts then to end up a bit contrived.

6. Can you name us something Singaporean that’s close to your heart? It could be your favourite local dish, homegrown musician, particular location, etc. 

Anything with curry. I Am David Sparkle. Old housing estates and Chinatown.