Well-designed products should not only be aesthetically appealing, but also unique, practical and commercially feasible.
In the first of a four-part series about firms that have clinched the Singapore Good Design Mark Award, Chia Yan Min speaks to Polystone co-founder May Koh.
WHILE entrepreneur May Koh spends much of her time travelling the world in search of beautiful natural stones, one of her latest discoveries was more animal than mineral.
Mrs Koh, 76, the director and co-founder of Polystone, was so taken by an artwork by designer Kwek Sin Yee at an exhibition that she decided her company should produce it for sale.
Named Memento, Ms Kwek's work - which features four marble pieces resting on a beechwood base - can be used to display bite-sized food.
Its contours are modelled after the highest mountain in the Italian region from which the marble was sourced.
The piece was among the winners of the inaugural Singapore Good Design Mark Award (SG Mark) given out in March.
Polystone, which supplies processed imported stone and provides bespoke marble designs, hopes to produce a range of similar products designed by Ms Kwek.
"I was amazed by how she came up with such an intricate work, and I knew that I had to get in touch with her... I wanted to catch her, and make sure her talents are used," said Mrs Koh.
Ms Kwek, 37, quit her job as an interior designer a few months ago and is now doing freelance work for Polystone, whose clients include homeowners and companies in the building, architecture and interior design industry.
She spent six months working on Memento, which was created as a project for a Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts course.
"We should support local artists... Many of them, like Ms Kwek, have a lot of guts," said Mrs Koh, who founded the company with her husband in the early 1970s.
She is no stranger to showing courage.
Mrs Koh started a gallery in Plaza Singapura in 1974 - although "there was no market for art at that time" - displaying artworks made from building materials.
"It's much better now, but at the time, it was difficult to talk about art," adds Mrs Koh, who was a librarian at Singapore Polytechnic for 13 years before deciding to strike out on her own.
"I wanted to open a gallery to promote art... It was very tough when I started out, there were no 'feasibility studies'; we just did what we could."
The daughter of a school principal with an interest in Chinese calligraphy, the effusive Mrs Koh says she has artistic blood running through her veins.
Though she laments that "I cannot draw", the mother of three taught herself about art and working with stones.
"I often feel that the stones are singing or talking to me... Whenever I have difficulties facing people, I talk to my stones," said Mrs Koh, who has been all over the world in search of rare natural stones. "Stones look hard, but they are actually full of feeling."
Polystone's office and gallery are tucked away in a colonial-era building on tree-lined Upper Wilkie Road.
The company also has a factory in Sungei Kadut.
Its clients include politicians and high-profile businessmen, as well as large corporations - though Mrs Koh now prefers to focus on "individualised projects which I enjoy more... it's not just about making money".
She employs 30 staff members and intends for her daughter, who is a sculptor, to eventually take over the business.
Mrs Koh, who said working with with Ms Kwek to produce her work for sale marked a "turning point" for the company, also hopes to help more local artists and designers to commercialise their work.
"I love artists because they inspire me so much," she said, adding that she now hopes to take the company's designs in a more "avant garde" direction.
This article was first published on August 6, 2014.
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