Truly Great Design Is More Than Just Instagram-Worthy Moments
Singapore Tatler|March 2019

Truly great design is more than just Instagram-worthy moments, hospitality consultant Florian Sander tells Hong Xinyi

Hong Xinyi
Truly Great Design Is More Than Just Instagram-Worthy Moments

It is barely 11am when we step out for this photo shoot, but the sunlight washing over us already has the harsh potency of high-noon heat. Welcome to yet another scorching day in Singapore—weather that is all too common here, and something that shouldn’t be ignored when it comes to design, says hospitality expert Florian Sander.

Take, for example, Kesa House, the 60-room flexible-living concept along Keong Saik Road that opens this month. Back when this row of 10 conservation shophouses housed the Naumi Liora hotel, it was painted a warm shade of coral. Florian, whose iThink Consulting Group worked on Kesa House for developer 8M Real Estate, decided to go a different way. “Singapore is very bright, and I wanted to give people a refreshing feel using colours,” he explains enthusiastically. The resulting aquamarine exteriors and grey walkway tiles are inspired by the hues of the Mediterranean coast, “and these are colours that are modern but also classic. They have an elegance that makes you feel you are encountering something of a certain calibre”.

This story is from the March 2019 edition of Singapore Tatler.

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This story is from the March 2019 edition of Singapore Tatler.

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