After completing an honours degree in interior architecture, Amy Picanço relocated to Asia from the United Kingdom in 2009. She spent several years working on various design projects across the Asia-Pacific region before finally settling down in Singapore and launching Aym Design in mid-2014.
Amy Picanço fell in love with South East Asia as soon as she arrived here. The diverse mix of cultures and styles fascinate her. There seemed no better place to start. She has always had affection for old buildings, and whilst she may not find the same number of historic sites here as she did in Europe, she has developed a fascination for mixing and juxtaposing the old, traditional Asian styles with the modern, luxury settings of this tiny island.
Her focus over the past few years has been building the team and establishing a reliable reputation for creating highly efficient planning solutions and branded office concepts. She has a deep appreciation of the importance of a business’s brand and strongly believes that this should heavily impact their space. In fact, she considers this is to be their main point of difference at Aym Design. Through Aym Design, she strives to bridge the gap between a business’s marketing efforts and their physical location. In short, she looks to reflect a company’s values into the experience of space
Tell us about your guiding approach to design and in managing clients’ expectations as director at Aym Design.
As a designer, I am constantly striving to create distinctive, attractive spaces, which not only fulfil the wishes of our clients but also enhance both the functionality and quality of life of their occupants. This is also the mantra from which Aym Design was born.
I have a holistic approach to design and believe not only in building strong relationships with our clients, but also in generating a rich understanding of you or your personality and business. I have built Aym Design to be more than just another interior design firm. Through the business, I want to educate and guide our clients in the importance of design and the impact that it can have on the way you live your life. This approach helps us to seamlessly guide our customers through each step of the design process.
Rather than imposing a ‘signature’ style, I spend a lot of time listening and getting to know my clients. I want to understand the way they live or work and design according to their personal brief, brand and budget.
It is through this transparency in our process, and the education I endeavour to give, that greatly assist me in managing client expectations.
In fact, it has helped me not only with our clients, but also in forming strong working relationships with industry partners, and collaborating wherever and whenever necessary to deliver outstanding results.
Could you give an example of a recent and successful interior design project that you have led from inception to completion?
Most projects that I take on through the business are run from concept through to completion—this allows the team to be fully immersed in the design process.
I mentioned earlier how I pride the team at Aym Design in curating unique experiences through design. A great example of this is Don Ho, a new restaurant tucked away under The Working Capitol on Keong Saik Road.
Hospitality design in particular should conjure a feeling or evoke a series of emotions as soon as you enter the space. It is the key to their success. So, inspired largely by the iconic and charismatic Hawaiian Don Ho, the experience is about escaping the city, connecting with friends over artful drinks and seamlessly transitioning into a casual dinner. To immediately transport the user to another place, a rich palette of lush, visual textures, tropical plants adorn the space whilst copper accents add a layer of luxe.
The spatial planning works to enhance the social nature of the venue, a central bar spilling with fresh produce anchors the room and the open kitchen provides guests with an insight into a traditionally ‘behind-the-scenes’ area.
I worked closely with the management team to refine their concept and project the desired ambience into their restaurant. Ultimately, it is the experience that attracts your desired clientele and differentiates your space from the competition.
What do you think is a major strength of Aym Design and how have you personally contributed towards its success?
Our strength lies in the relationships we actively nurture with industry peers, potential, new and existing clientele. Whilst establishing Aym Design, I have made it a personal priority to invest my time in building meaningful relationships.
I understand much of the work we do as designers is collaborative—a two-way street—thus I pride myself on truly listening. I am conscious of the fact that we are building a space for you, our customer, and it is fundamentally important that it reflects who they are at the core.
This understanding allows Aym Design to deliver an excellent level of service. In fact, we are now recognised as Houzz 2017’s ‘Best in Service’. These awards are testament to the quality of our relationships we have built to date.
Investing in such relationships and the personal touch we aim to deliver are also the driving forces in curating my team. It dictates certain traits I have to see when hiring and has allowed me to curate a team that shares these values. Ultimately, this is reflected in our company culture as a whole. At the core of Aym Design, we inspire one another to strive for the best possible outcome because we really care about our clients.
Could you give an example of a creative and practical interior concept that you have conceived and delivered? As mentioned before, most of our projects are overseen by us from the initial concept. I relish in the creative process and enjoy the challenge of creating an outcome synonymous with the brand or person.
GuavaPass is Asia’s first ClassPass platform, providing members access to premier boutique studios and fitness classes in over 10 countries— they are the Uber equivalent for the fitness community. In partnership with OUE Mandarin Gallery, Aym Design was appointed to design GuavaPass’s very first global footprint—GuavaLabs Singapore—a place to work out, fuel up and play.
Like us, GuavaPass is a brand that wholeheartedly values their community. At the outset of the project, they questioned: how can we give back to our members? How can we enrich the lives of those who will use our space?
This sentiment echoed loudly with my dedication to create and share the principles of a well-branded and experiential space. Here, we had a client who understood the positive effects of good design and the impact it can have on the lives of those who interact with it. It would therefore be my job to translate this sentiment into their physical footprint.
The brief called for an urban-meets-zen design concept. It demanded a rebellion against the norms of typical gym and fitness studios, and the creation of a space synonymous with the GuavaPass brand. Our disruptive design concept strayed away from the individual workout and created a rich multifunctional floorplate—a space for the GuavaPass community to bring people together for communal classes, chill out and host social industry events. By utilising monochromes and integrating visually rich textures, fresh pops of colour and street art produced by local graffiti artists, we balanced the brief to create a yin and yang experiential studio space.
This synonymous relationship between the client and designer is not visible in how the design ‘looks’. However, we feel that the client’s awareness and want to give back through design choices is evident in the final experience their customers receive.
What do you think are the major challenges faced in managing the studio and by the interior design industry in Singapore in general?
I founded Aym Design in Singapore because I was inspired by the creativity and potential of design here. However, it has not been without challenges and there was certainly an adjustment period for me to the design scene.
The concept of ‘design and build’ is not something that I was familiar with and I still believe this impacts negatively on the interior design industry as a whole. I strongly advocate that designers should be treated like any other professional and deserve to be paid fairly for the services that they provide. Particularly in the commercial sector, the process of design and build and pitching in a tight and often unrealistic timeframe seems to be the dominant way to do business now. From a designer’s perspective, this is a real shame as the client misses out on the valuable and educational design development stage, and more often than not, awards the contract based on price rather than quality of the design or the designer.
Another significant challenge has been finding the right partners and clients to work with. I mentioned before the relationships that we have built as a studio. These are in large part about educating clients and the public on the value of good design. I am deeply involved in the design community here, and frequently run workshops highlighting the qualities of good design and how investment is undeniably beneficial for a successful project outcome. It is due to these relationships that Aym Design is in the fortunate position where we attract clients who truly value what we offer.
What are the main objectives that you try to meet in every design?
A sense of personal identity or corporate branding. I want every project to reflect the people who own it. I want our clients to enjoy the journey and look back on the project being able to see and understand the value in spending the time and money.
What principles are fundamental to your work ethos and culture?
I believe that right from my very first engagement, it is the start of a long-term relationship which, like all relationships, needs work, good communication and understanding. There is no such thing as a ‘past’ or ‘previous’ client. I want to show our clients how we can help them and provide real added value. We want to be someone they like and trust.
We approach all our work with sincerity. We will be honest and transparent in our process. It will be clear to everyone from start to finish. We will encourage a collaborative way of working and help to guide our clients seamlessly through every project.
We pride ourselves on our innovative proposals. We will create interesting designs that consider not only the present but also the future. We will add value by providing long-term adaptable design solutions.
We will be responsive, focused and meet our clients’ deadlines. We aim to always have what they need before they even know that they need it. We will take on challenges and always strive to solve problems quickly. We will keep up-to-date and in touch with our local industry/market to deliver new ideas and provide the most cutting-edge designs and systems for the ever-changing needs of our clients.
What are some of the major milestones that you have experienced or overcome at Aym Design and how have they motivated you?
Not long after establishing Aym Design, I was fortunate to encounter, what is in reflection, my ‘icebreaker’ project. I was engaged as a key brand and design consultant for DirectAsia.com. This allowed me to design their headquarters here in Singapore and regional offices in Thailand and Hong Kong. A steep learning curve ensued and this opportunity was a springboard for the future of Aym Design. It provided strong portfolio to market, which allowed me to take on further large-scale commercial projects.
In 2016, I was elected as council member for the Interior Design Council Singapore (IDCS). This was both a personal and professional milestone. I hope that through my work at IDCS, I can benefit the community by becoming a voice to support emerging designers and their firms in Singapore. IDCS works closely with industry professionals and government bodies in an effort to pave the way to accreditation for trained design professionals. Singapore Design Week 2017 saw the signing of the very first Code of Professional Conduct for the interior design industry, which was a major milestone for the industry here.
Today, Aym Design is in a pivotal position where we have a strong and diverse portfolio representing our expertise and a network that understands the value of what we have to offer.
What are your upcoming plans for 2017–2018?
During the first half of 2017, we have been putting more focus on overseas projects and working on expanding our service offering to include more residential and hospitality projects. I hope by the close of the year, we will be well on our way to having our second base in Thailand, which will be focused solely on these two service areas.
I love the commercial projects we have completed to date in Singapore. However, the design and build model limits the time we can spend on the design phase and therefore ultimately limits our potential.
Transforming spaces that promote exciting or intriguing atmosphere is really my greatest passion. In particular, I love working with older sites—where you see the biggest transformations happen—to turn something tired into something modern yet sympathetic to its surroundings. This is what started me on this path and that is ultimately what I want to do more of. The most enjoyable projects are the ones that we have the opportunity and time to explore the possibilities and the potential of a space. It gives us the chance to revel in the excitement of the client’s experiences and the final emotion on delivery.
Along with continuing to build Aym Design, I will also continue to work as an IDCS council member and strive for industry accreditation and recognition that designers here in Singapore deserve.
