“Best of the best.”

These were the words Tung Ching Yew used to describe the crop of winners at the eighth Singapore Interior Design Awards (Sida). Speaking to Haven at the awards ceremony in Marina Bay Sands on Nov 8, the president of Society of Interior Design, Singapore, said this year’s winners have raised the bar for the annual competition.

Sida, which recognises excellence in the global design industry, has awards split into three categories: Completed Projects, Concept and Youth. The first two are for industry practitioners, while the third is for students of both local and international design institutions.

Addressing the crowd at the ceremony was Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah. “The achievements we celebrate tonight are a testament to your dedication, and I am confident that Singapore’s design industry will continue to shine brightly on the global stage,” said Indranee, who is also Second Minister in the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of National Development.

SIDS received nearly 700 entries this year, with the bulk coming from Singapore-based designers and firms; 11 other countries were also represented among the entrants, including first-time submissions from Cambodia and the UK.

Brandon Fee, chairman of this year’s awards, notes that Sida has substantially expanded in scale since the first edition in 2017. “Sida has grown from a platform dedicated to spotlighting Singapore-based designers to a highly respected regional competition that sets the bar for design excellence across Asia,” he says.

Fee adds that the awards have also gone beyond celebrating professional achievements, and now are a “launchpad” for local and international designers alike to “showcase their creativity on a global stage”.

Besides the main categories, there were also a number of special awards at Sida 2024, given to individual designers and firms for outstanding work with long-ranging impact.

The Designer of the Year award went to Averse Yau, founder of A Blue Cube Design (ABCD). Starting out on the sales end of things, Yau worked his way to becoming a designer in his own right, which led to him launching ABCD in 2020.

Four years on, ABCD has expanded to a team of 30, with projects showcasing a variety of aesthetics and styles. The panel notes that Yau’s scope of work, though broad, is individualised: “[His] virtuosity is evident in his plethora of works, each with their own character. His play with materials and colour is commendable, underscored by his attention to detail.”

In the Young Designer of the Year category, the panel chose Dickson Phoon, co-founder of Twothree Design. “His work reflects a refined sensibility and dedication to creating spaces that are both stylish and functional, embodying the principles of contemporary design with a timeless appeal,” says the panel.

A self-professed minimalist designer, Phoon actually studied engineering before a pivot to interior design with guidance from his brother, Jonathan. After gaining some years of experience in the industry, the duo went on to start Twothree Design. Speaking to Haven fresh off the stage from his win, Phoon shares that they intend to expand into the commercial space, having mainly focused on residential projects so far.

Taking home the Best Design Firm of the Year title was Super Assembly. For the panel of judges, it was the firm’s “clear and consistent” approach to design that sealed the deal. With a repertoire that spans both residential and commercial projects, its philosophy is centred on the idea of open-ended inquiry, an approach that involves asking open-ended questions that encourage broader, less restricted thinking, rather than standard yes-or-no questions that may limit the scope of what a project might become.

Kingsmen Creatives deputy chairman Simon Ong, meanwhile, picked up the Lifetime Achievement Award. The firm, which Ong co-founded in 1976, has 18 offices in the Asia-Pacific and North America today. “Simon is a pioneer in his field who continues to push the boundaries of experiential design,” says the panel, adding that the 71-year-old design veteran’s “countless contributions to the industry are an inspiration to all designers”.

Speaking on Ong’s win, Tung says: “Those of us who are now in our 40s and 50s would have heard of Kingsmen, and how it changed the whole interior design fraternity, since our days in school.” He adds that Ong himself has evolved “from a builder … reforming his company’s structure to focus on design and [creating] experiences”.

The Afternaut Group’s Gwen Tan won Design of the Year for her work on homegrown laminate company EDL’s regional headquarters in Woodlands. The panel notes that “many interesting spaces have been planned for” in the three-storey building, which was recently featured in Haven. A large showroom space on the top floor, for instance, allows clients to browse EDL’s portfolio of laminates under a variety of lighting conditions.

Finally, Ho Sock Yee was named Design Educator of the Year. The course chair for Temasek Polytechnic’s Diploma in Interior Architecture and Design course was given the award in recognition of her passion for education, which the panel says “extends beyond the classroom, towards practice and the industry”.

In total, 107 designers and firms from eight countries received awards at Sida 2024. Tung notes that the judges spent “a long time deliberating whether to moderate the number of awards to be given out this year”, given the high calibre of submissions received. They ultimately decided to honour “the cream of the crop”, he continues. “Although we have fewer winners compared to previous years, I’m very sure the quality of work has set a new standard for Sida.”    

Looking forward, Tung says the world of interior design will become more intersectional. Already, he has seen increased affinities between the field with the world of sustainability, demonstrated also among this year’s awardees. “In interior design, sustainability is hugely neglected,” he points out. “It’s about time that we acknowledge the importance of such practices and look into how we can support the movement to help our environment.”

On a wider level, Tung believes that such cross-disciplinary work will result in more collaboration with other industries, as non-design companies start to practise design thinking. “I think that’s beautiful, because design has no boundaries; seeing designers coming together to work together … is definitely very encouraging.”

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