Home-grown designer Nathan Yong launches luxury furniture and lifestyle brand
Nathan Home is the latest venture of renowned Singapore designer Nathan Yong, seen here with the brand's Tetris sofa.
SINGAPORE – Design Within Reach. Herman Miller. Living Divani. These are all prominent international names in the world of furniture design – and Singapore's Nathan Yong has conceptualised designs for these and other global brands.
Now, the 2008 President's Design Award winner has a new furniture and lifestyle brand, Nathan Home (
nathanhome.co ), which will let Singapore customers acquire his designs online and in person.
The brand offers home furnishings, including sofas and sculptural pieces. Many of the pieces can be customised, such as the Tetris sofa (from $3,950) that is made up of modular pieces. Customers can order the 'end' and 'middle' pieces in a few different sizes. Two fabric colours are available.
All products are made in Malaysia by Mr Yong's factory teams, who have worked with him for the last two decades.
'They are the same factories that have been producing my designs for international brands like Herman Miller,' Mr Yong, 54, tells The Straits Times.
His relationships with established brands have spanned years. American furniture company Herman Miller has been selling one of Mr Yong's designs, the Line Media Console, since 2010. Nathan Home offers a variation of that louvred design, the Line Legs Console ($4,500), in white ash or walnut.
The brand's full catalogue is on its website. But most items can also be viewed in person, by appointment only, at the Nathan Home showroom at 8 Baker Street.
The restored double-storey colonial house feels as serene on the inside as its isolated and verdant locale in Seletar, and was launched together with the brand in June.
Finding and settling on the place took a year, says Mr Yong.
Nathan Home's showroom is located in a colonial bungalow at 8 Baker Street.
PHOTOS: CALEB MING
'I felt strongly about creating an environment where people can see the actual products, touch the materials, and make purchasing decisions in a very clear and peaceful manner.'
With its calm, tropical vibe, Nathan Home feels like a place out of time. Likewise, the products showcased within are items the owner can grow with, rather than toss in a few years because they are out of trend.
That sense of timeless harmony also describes Mr Yong's design approach and philosophy.
'I believe in design that makes your life better by making it more beautiful,' he says.
Function is important, he notes, but a functional space does not make a home. 'Home should be a place of beauty and restoration, a place where you can relax and enjoy time with your loved ones,' he says.
At the same time, calm and relaxed design often equates to boring and grey. Hence, the Rio sofa (from $2,610), for instance, is available in a dusky pastel pink that feels soft, playful and welcoming.
The Rio sofa is available in pastel pink as well as teal, cream and grey.
PHOTO: CALEB MING
'Colours do not have to be loud or jarring. It's all about balance. You can't go wrong with speckles of colour and a thoughtful mix of wood, vintage and sculptural pieces,' he points out.
But one material you will not find in his designs is plastic. 'I don't like plastic. Wood, on the other hand, is trustworthy. It lasts and lasts and lasts.'
Along with responsibly farmed solid wood, he also favours stone, stainless steel, leather and natural fabrics such as 100 per cent cotton – materials that are comfortable and lasting in Singapore's equatorial climate.
The transportive power of home furnishing design was imprinted on him early in childhood, he says, when his mother took him to Swedish furniture retailer Ikea.
'This was in the old days, when it was located in Katong, where I grew up. It was just so completely different to anything I had seen up till then,' says Mr Yong, who describes his family as being 'very humble and very working-class'.
Designer Nathan Yong's furnishings are not only functional, but also infuse a home with beauty and serenity.
PHOTO: CALEB MING
Mr Yong was part of the second batch of students to take the industrial design course at Temasek Polytechnic, which itself was the first of its kind in Singapore.
When he graduated in 1991, he knew exactly what he wanted to do – design and build his own furniture – but realised it was an as-yet-untapped niche in Singapore.
This led to his first venture, Air Division, launched in 1999. It did well, with Mr Yong's designs for the brand earning him the President's Design Award in 2008.
Despite the company's success, Mr Yong was forced out in 2009 due to internal disagreement. He still considers it a personal low point.
Not being one to hide away and mope, he forged ahead on his own. He built on the work that he began in Air Division, such as collaborations with international clients, including French furniture company Ligne Roset.
Then, new and successful enterprises followed. Grafunkt, a furniture shop he co-founded in 2009, is going strong, and settled into its own Joo Chiat shophouse in 2024. The upscale boutique, which specialises in imported pieces, started out at shopping centres like the former Park Mall before moving to Millenia Walk and then Funa n.
With the launch of Nathan Home, Mr Yong hopes to bring both fresh and established designs from his oeuvre direct to the Singapore market.
Nathan Home offers both fresh and established creations from designer Nathan Yong's oeuvre.
PHOTO: CALEB MING
'I don't like to stay still. I get bored easily. I think I'm just too interested in life and too curious about why people or things think or work in a certain way,' he says.
'I suppose I'm at the age where people start thinking about retirement, but there's still so much I want to do.
'Not many Singaporean or South-east Asian designers have had the same opportunities to work with international brands, and I feel a responsibility to make the most of this moment and do what I can, while I can,' he adds.
Nathan Home may yet be his swansong, he says. But, for now, he is already contemplating his next design: stainless-steel floor lamps.
'I can already see the core concept in my head – I just have to get around to drawing it,' he says.
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