‘Being brave’ is something Mia Feasey and Penny Sloane of Australian firm Siren Design live by – and it’s a concept that they are now bringing to Singapore’s shores.
June 1st, 2012
Since setting up Siren Design in Sydney in 2006, Mia Feasey and her small but dynamic and youthful team (now numbering 15) have been pushing the envelope in interior design, seeking to give their clients – and themselves – an element of surprise with each project they take on.
“We love diverse, intuitive, exciting yet practical design. Some people call us design junkies! We work in and on all sorts of spaces, designing from the inside out and from the outside in, whatever works,” says Feasey. “Our design aesthetic is fresh and always surprising. Nothing is the same, it’s always new.”
Accenture
Apart from Sydney, Siren Design has offices in Melbourne and Brisbane, but their most recent expansion is their biggest move yet.
The firm has set up its first Asian office in Singapore spearheaded by Penny Sloane, who has been working closely with Feasey since the company’s inception.
Tongue
The opportunity arose when Sloane came to live in Singapore with her husband. While here, it became apparent to her fairly quickly that Singapore ‘needed a Siren’.
“For the first few months that I was here working, I felt that the strategic and the kind of upfront planning in terms of getting to know the client – that kind of briefing process – was a little bit lost in Singapore. It was ‘Quick, let’s design something that looks cool’ rather than going in there and meeting with the clients and getting to know them, which is what Siren is all about,” says Sloane.
White Agency
“I think the one thing that Siren is really famous for really is that our clients do come back to us and that’s what I want to have out here in Singapore as well. And I do think that our clients from Sydney will follow us here.”
Already the Singapore office is busy working on their first big project, which for now, has to be kept under wraps! But one can be quite certain that the vision will be a brave one.
“’Being brave’ is something we live by. Opening the Singapore office was a brave move, but already we have won some fantastic clients. And our design work is brave as we don’t repeat details, we reinvent them,” says Feasey.
Marque Lawyers
The Marque Lawyers office is one project that springs to mind. “It is a law firm with NO offices,” says Sloane. “This is virtually unheard of when it comes to law firms; and a challenge to adjust working habits.”
Siren presented a concept of a log fireplace living room, but with all the practicalities that lawyers require such as ample storage and private spaces.
“Marque trusted us to push the boundaries with our design and question how lawyers work day to day. The outcome is an efficient, beautiful and real-world space which is a joy to be in,” says Sloane.
Awkward Bar
And having already fostered long and trusting relationships with clients in Australia, Feasey and Sloane say they are more than ready to head to anywhere else in Asia where their clients do business – from their base in Singapore.
That’s the Siren game plan.
Top image: (From left) Mia Feasey and Penny Sloane
Siren Design
sirendesign.com.au
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