In Equilibrium

Tell us about your design studio, Plus.
I started Plus with my husband, Mervin. Because of our background in architecture, as well as graphic design for me, a lot of our works are an intersection of the two, resulting in graphic design outputs that are based on how we view spaces and experiences.

Do you miss doing architecture?
Sometimes I do. As boring as it may sound, there are times I miss looking at detailed drawings, right down to the nuts and bolts and getting to see how things fit together.

What’s the biggest advice you’d give to budding designers?
We’ve had quite a lot of new designers join our team recently, and I often find myself telling them to learn how to be uncomfortable.

Design is not a linear process, so whenever you feel stuck, you’re not at a dead-end, you’re just not there yet. I think the beauty of design is being able to work through the discomfort and learn along the way.

How would you describe your personal design style?
I believe the best designs should be invisible. Design should fit seamlessly into the world and that’s the goal of our practice. Visually, my design is very content-driven. I like to incorporate typography into my work to convey meaningful messages.

Now that you’re a mum, how has the way you work changed?
Before I had my daughter, my life revolved around work. Now, I’ve had to take a step back to figure out a balance between work and motherhood, as well as to make time for self-care and hobbies. I think all of these are equally important in maintaining sanity.

But before I became a human mum, I was (and still am) a dog mum. Our husky Axel is quite independent so it’s definitely been easier to care for him, but apart from that, we consider our dog our baby too (laughs).

Can you share with us the stories behind some of your tattoos?
My first tattoo was of a pair of inverted commas that I got at a point in my life when I realised that everyone sees things differently. We may be looking at the same thing, and we can agree on what it is, but we’ll never really see it the same way. It’s a good reminder for me so that I don’t get unnecessarily affected when people don’t get me and vice versa.

Mervin and I also have matching wedding band tattoos. It’s made up of three circles—one perfect and two hand-drawn by each of us.

I also have a tattoo representing our daughter’s name, Iris, and one of our first husky, Kai.