Creative Capital: The botanical architect in Singapore who makes preserved moss art
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Creative Majuscule: The botanical architect in Singapore who makes preserved moss art
InOut Atelier's Chia Ming Kuang creates terrariums and preserved moss installations to reconnect people to nature.
(Photo: InOut Atelier)
30 May 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 10 Jul 2022 06:14PM)
Twenty-ix year old local entrepreneur Chia Ming Kuang wants to add some greenery to your life. This affable, immature architect-turned-biophilic-designer-and-artist runs InOut Atelier, a business focused on what he calls "mosstallations" or, for the rest of us, preserved moss installations.
A preserved moss installation, Ming Kuang explained to me, is a piece of botanical art that can fit into almost indoor spaces. He has created A5-sized moss frames with personalised typography as well equally 3-storey tall mosstallations that are displayed every bit feature walls in landed houses. The mosstallation, he tells me, is keen for both homes and offices.
The moss he uses is carefully handpicked from the forests of Northern Western Europe and shipped to Singapore. The mosses are and so dried, preserved and laid individually by Ming Kuang himself.
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Besides their aesthetic value, Ming Kuang believes that mosstallations bring about biophilic qualities in the infinite: They can help to increase productivity, enhance well-being and social relationships, and ease stress levels. The pole mosses used are also dumbo plenty to absorb dissonance, which, according to him, makes them an effective and aesthetic style to soundproof any room.
WHAT DREW Yous TO BOTANICAL ART TO BEGIN WITH?
I've loved plants, architecture and design since young. I mostly got my love for nature from my dad who kept pets such as fish and birds, and grew ornamental plants and fruit trees. I've ever been intrigued by how plants grow and I discover satisfaction in growing them well.
I'm also inspired by artistic and artistic design. I enrolled into Temasek Polytechnic's School of Design and, thanks to my training at that place, I've learned to ally the things that I love – botany and design.
Our preserved mosses are simply similar Captain America frozen in ice.
Initially, I focused more on the design while the botanical attribute was only a medium for experimentation. This inverse when I entered university and learned more about biophilic design, and the wellness and economic benefits that it brings. I realised that I could use my botanical art as a medium for incorporating greenery into our everyday spaces and to abet its corresponding biophilic benefits.
WHEN Yous Kickoff STARTED THE BUSINESS WITH FRIENDS, DID You E'er THINK THIS WOULD Become YOUR CAREER?
InOut Atelier was incepted as a pet projection dorsum in 2022 over a dinner with three friends. Information technology was intended to be a weekend activity that we did for fun and as an outlet to try something hands-on. Our start-up capital letter was merely S$400, so never in our wildest dreams did we imagine that our initial effort and small majuscule could atomic number 82 united states to where nosotros are today.
ARE YOUR FRIENDS Even so INVOLVED IN THE BUSINESS?
Yep, my friends Sunny, Izzwan and Meishien are however heavily involved in the business. I am the only one who has decided to focus on information technology full time, but each of them plays an important role, and are valuable colleagues and partners. Despite their commitments to their corresponding 24-hour interval jobs, they are constantly helping me on the side and are always there for me whenever I demand advice on design or decision-making.
YOU FINISHED Architecture Schoolhouse –AND EVEN DID A MASTER'S Degree . HOW HAS Architecture School HELPED YOUR Business organization?
I think there are a few apparent traits in my arts and crafts which I brought over from my years of studying compages. One of them is understanding that the functionality of a design is every bit, if not more, of import than the aesthetics of our products. Aesthetics may play a very large part as we deal with botanical art, but I believe that it is the purpose of the product that gives it its value.
Before we propose a blueprint to the client, we will try to understand the purpose of our product in the suggested space. This is to ensure that our craft adds value to the infinite by meeting the needs and wants of our clients.
It could be a mosstallation project that acts equally a feature wall, to soften the interior space, or even serves every bit an acoustic barrier to a sound-sensitive room. Regardless of how large or small the mosstallation or terrarium project is, nosotros need to view the space holistically and visualise how the production will interact with the other interior elements in society to create cute and pregnant work.
WHAT DID YOU Learn FROM WORKING AT AN ARCHITECTURAL STUDIO THAT YOU Take APPLIED TO YOUR OWN Business?
I worked at an architecture firm for two years after graduating from the National Academy of Singapore, and earlier turning InOut Atelier into my full-time passion.
I was groomed in my previous job to be independent, resilient and proactive, especially when it comes to problem solving and projection management.
A nifty chef doesn't hateful he is equipped with the proper noesis to run a eating house. There is a commercial attribute in doing that.
I learned people skills from observing my boss' interactions with his clients and how he managed to continue in touch with them fifty-fifty afterward the end of the project. This has led him to generate more businesses through word-of-oral fissure and enable the company to remain profitable. This is ane of the biggest takeaways and something that I've applied in my own business organization.
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST MISPERCEPTION ABOUT WHAT YOU Practise?
The biggest misconception that people accept nigh our mosstallations is that they are dead plants on the wall, when in fact, they are actually preserved mosses.
We try to educate the public and potential clients that at that place is a difference between dead and preserved. We have never used the discussion "dead" in our business considering it does non reflect the actual country of the mosses, and it brings about a somewhat negative connotation to our products and what nosotros offer.
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The thing about alive plants or mosses is that they grow, and when they are dead, they disuse. Nosotros all know what a expressionless found looks like and information technology definitely does not fit the description that people use when they come across our mosstallations.
The mosses are neither expressionless nor alive but merely frozen in time in a preserved state. A low-cal-hearted analogy that I e'er use is that our preserved mosses are just like Captain America frozen in ice.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE HARDEST CHALLENGE IN RUNNING YOUR OWN BUSINESS?
The hardest challenge is to run information technology as a business and not a passion. I honey to give this analogy to my friends: Nosotros are alike to a dandy chef who knows the best method to melt his dish and present his food. The gustation is fabulous and everyone loves his cooking. But a groovy chef doesn't mean he is equipped with the proper knowledge to run a restaurant. At that place is a commercial attribute in doing that, and at that place is no apply serving the best nutrient if at that place are no customers to bask it. The restaurant volition have to shut down eventually, which is a shame.
Similarly, the four of u.s. as designers did non have any prior cognition in running any businesses. We did not take adequate capital funding and we did it without a mentor for guidance. Nosotros learned through trial and fault, and from the mistakes made along the mode.
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InOut Atelier has e'er been an outlet for us to express our inventiveness more than than equally a acquirement stream. But now that it is my total-time gig, I need to go far a viable and profitable business. That means I need to sometimes make the hard determination to look at the commercial side of business more the craft that nosotros love.
Can Yous EXPLAIN THE Diverse SERVICES YOU Offering?
Our services currently include building bespoke enclosed terrariums and preserve mosstallations. We also conduct workshops for terrarium edifice and preserved moss frames. These workshops are open up for the public to book on our website, and are held on weekends in the afternoons.
We as well practice corporate events and team-building workshops for many institutions and corporate companies.
WHICH OF THESE ARE Y'all Almost PASSIONATE Near?
I love everything that I do at InOut Atelier, and I truly believe that at that place is some truth to the saying, "love what you practice and you'll never work a mean solar day in your life".
To be honest, that is exactly how I experience since I took on InOut Atelier full time. The different things that I do here permit me to reap different rewards and experiences. And then, information technology's hard to determine which attribute I am most passionate about.
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For example, when I'yard edifice a customised terrarium for a customer, I volition visualise myself inside the landscape from a micro perspective, and appreciate the arts and crafts from the lens of a figurine from the inside out.
When I've completed the terrarium, I take a footstep back and appreciate the landscape that I've crafted from the outside in. During that process and in those moments, I experience like I'thou in a different realm while working on the intricate details.
On the other mitt, the procedure of edifice a mosstallation requires me to visualise the overall masterpiece from a macro perspective. I need to imagine myself appreciating the arts and crafts from a distance and come across how the colours, textures and contrast catamenia. The experience is definitely very different compared to edifice a terrarium, but equally rewarding.
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And for the workshops that I've washed, I take every opportunity I have to advocate the importance of biophilic design and the positive touch on it has on the states. I savor sharing and didactics my craft. Seeing my students bring habitation a work that they have created through my teaching gives me a great sense of satisfaction.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE Nigh REWARDING PROJECT TO Date?
Nosotros are blessed and thankful for all the opportunities given to us. There is a story behind each and every project that we have done. And each of them is rewarding in its own style. But if I accept to pick one out of the many, I would choose the most challenging ane, which was a mosstallation project for a corporate customer.
The customer wanted an eight-metre-square mosstallation for his office. It was one of the biggest projects we had taken on at that betoken in time. The project brief was pretty straightforward – he wanted a argument piece and a chat starter. Nosotros also began to understood that he wanted a mosstallation that helps to demarcate the space inside the role. A space of focus and emphasis.
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The projection took a few months to consummate and nosotros managed to install it before the lockdown concluding April. It was a rewarding and memorable experience, and it was our first big installation.
WHAT IS YOUR DREAM PROJECT?
My dream project is to collaborate with architects or developers on a biophilic architecture project. I hope to explore and push the boundary of biophilic applications in indoor and outdoor spaces. It would exist a projection with a value beyond but aesthetics, one that drives the biophilic trend and advocates the importance of incorporating nature and greenery into our lives.
WHAT'Due south YOUR VISION FOR INOUT?
Nosotros promise to constitute ourselves as a proper biophilic pattern studio. Across botanical art and installations, we hope to offer interior, product, graphical and fifty-fifty landscape blueprint – all with the intention of reconnecting people closer to nature by creating tranquil, at-home and relaxing environments.
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/entertainment/creative-capital-chia-ming-kuang-inout-atelier-255551
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