The Singapore-based designer describes designing the boutique of Singapore’s first luxury vulva and intimate care brand, and her most memorable career moment
For local industrial designer Olivia Lee, the word “inventor” was part of her vocabulary even from a young age. “My mum had bought me an inventor’s handbook for children; as an inventor, I learnt that I was supposed to look for problems and build solutions. Looking back, I see how the essence of that exists in the practice of industrial design. In many ways, I am living out my childhood dream of becoming an inventor.”
Whether it’s designing products or crafting experiences within spaces, inventing is clearly something Lee excels in. Having launched her eponymous practice in 2013, the designer’s career highlights span from showcasing her work at the Triennale di Milano during Milan Design Week to designing the Singapore pop-up store for Hermès Petit H.
Distinctive and multilayered, each evocative design is marked with a soulful character. “I think my design style is less about an aesthetic sensibility and more about an approach driven by concepts and stories,” explains Lee. “Having said that, I love creating beautiful things. I just also love hiding layers of meaning, cleverness and symbolism beneath the surface for people to discover.”
Lee is also the creative force behind the design of Singapore’s first luxury vulva and intimate care brand Two Lips’ physical store debut. “As a studio, we were intent on creating a welcoming, intriguing and intimate experience,” she explains. “In wanting to create an atmosphere of warmth and refuge, we took our material and colour palette from shades of earth and clay.”
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In wanting to “evoke a sense of the elemental” during a customer’s multi-sensorial journey, the 500 sq ft store features curvaceous walls made from an antique-pitted mineral clay finish in a terracotta hue. Large rust-coloured glazed porcelain tiles from Italy line the floor, while the custom-cast terrazzo sink top and tap imbue a sense of luxury with their brass and copper accents.
“[When I was a child], I enjoyed creating new things; it did not bother me that there was no precedence or points of reference. Looking back, I see how the essence of that exists in the practice of industrial design. In many ways, I am living out that childhood dream of being an inventor,” says Lee, with pride.
Here, the designer tells us more about her creative process and recent design favourites that have caught her eye.
Tell us about the inspiration behind the design of the Two Lips store.
We proposed the concept of a modern-day curiosity shop, where rare curios, objets d’art and antiquities from around the world are collected, displayed and sold, as a framing device for mingling aspects of discovery, education and retail. It was also a play on being curious about your body.
We reimagined this idea for the Two Lips flagship and its contemporary customer; showcasing products alongside a selection of thematic and thought-provoking art projects specially commissioned by Two Lips to create open and honest conversations around vulva care.
My favourite thing about the store is the bold decision to obscure key retail displays behind peepholes and hidden within bespoke ceramic cloches. In a noisy retail landscape, this sets the store apart as an oasis of calm and consensual storytelling. And, inspired by rare shows of the past, these peephole elements play on the tension of privacy and voyeurism, curiosity and intrigue.
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