04.10.24

Wake me up when September ends! Here’s a throwback to June - our first 3Ps social media interview series with some of our favourite interior designers. We are shining our spotlight on Zoey Mao Yue (Ms), an independent interior designer with an architecture background from Moonoarch, Genevieve Bargas (Ms), a senior interior designer from Conexus Studio, along with Siva Ganesan (Mr), a lead interior designer from the same interior design studio too. 

Read more below to learn about the RICE tile collections they’ve chosen that best describe their design aesthetics & approach to their works!

3 RICE Tile Collections that best depict these Interior Designers’ Design Aesthetics 

Designer: Zoey Mao Yue (Ms)

ID Firm: Moonoarch @moonoarch_

Collection Feature: 41zero42 - Biscuit collection

Designer Zoey Mao Yue is an Independent Interior Designer, currently practising in Interior Design, with a background in Architecture, from Moonoarch studio.

 Sitting up close with Zoey, we learnt that her favourite architect is the globally renowned Japanese architect, Tadao Ando (Mr). He was known to be one of the key figures in Architecture, being self-taught in this field, and had won the 1995 Pritzker Prize.

His go-to signature architectural style comprised redefined modern architecture with his minimalist masterpieces, drawing inspiration from his cultural heritage i.e. the concept of Zen and the use of concrete. He intends to convey a sense of cleanliness & lightweight while also evoking beauty & simplicity, by creating emptiness & spaces in living spaces. 

He mainly takes inspiration from nature & sunlight, mutating everyday spaces into unique and sacred experiences. Touching into organic elements of light, rain, wind, and water, these have helped shape & bring his dramatic yet delicate structures to life. 

His philosophy - “Architecture can have a profound impact on society, and strives to create designs that are both complex and visually simple.” has helped to bring to life many projects over the years eg. “Row House in Sumiyoshi” & “Rokko Housing complex” outside Kobe, structures proved to be resilient during the Great Hanshin earthquake of 1995.

She also candidly shared with us that her favourite collection is 41zero42 - Biscuit, this three-dimensional design tile collection also best reflects and suits her design aesthetic overall as it consists of 6 versatility pattern options - Plain, Dune, Waves, Strips, Studs, and Peak. It also comes with 6 colour choices such as Bianco (White), Salvia (Sage), Notte (Night aka Dark Grey), Bordeaux (Burgundy), Terra (Earth) & Powder (Beige). She also told us her impression & the significance of implementing tiles for her design projects, quoting “I think tiles are very versaTILE, and it’s the backbone of all my projects.” 

Getting in-depth into the conversation, we found out that she loves to find creativity & inspiration for design outside of work from anything & everything artistic and creative, such as museums, music, musical notes, and paintings. 

Fun fact: In her spare time, she loves to dance, especially popping & whacking, and she has an interest in nature too!

41zero42 - Biscuit is a vibrant & distinctive collection that enables us to create our special recipe using these ingredients - Tiles! As the name suggests, they’re shaped with a biscuit outline, comprising a matte finish & thickness of 8 mm. They can be brought to life by light and shadow, with a dimension of 5x20 cm. It’s a simple yet astounding collection, which adds colours to any space with its elements, and as their tagline predicts, “We ate all your biscuits but we still want more”! 

Don’t miss it, find out more & get your Biscuit collection here!

Designer: Genevieve Bargas (Ms)

ID Firm: Conexus Studio @conexusstudio

Collection Feature: Del Conca - Boutique Marble collection

Designer Genevieve Bargas is a Senior Interior Designer from Conexus Studio. Contrary to popular belief, she describes herself as reserved and quiet on normal days but her design & fashion styles speak and scream bold, vibrant & loud instead! For instance, Gen candidly shared with us that her favourite go-to accessory or item that she can’t go without is her statement accessories, such as the one she wore in the video. 

 Sitting up close with Gen, we learnt that her go-to motto which has always helped to guide her in her design approach is “Less is More”. She prefers to do more functional types of design in her works. 

As explained by her, she tends to focus less on the proportions themselves, while looking at her work in a bigger picture, she believes that small amounts or small changes are often more effective than a large amount of big changes overall. She takes on a more minimalist approach to any artistic or aesthetic matters as she deems it to be more effective. 

She also candidly shared with us that her favourite collection is Del Conca - Boutique, this marbled effect tile collection also best reflects and suits her design aesthetic overall as it evokes timelessness with its sophistication and elegance elements being interpreted on its tile range. She shared that this collection represents her creativity in her design projects. 

Boutique are large porcelain stoneware slabs. Their oversized sizings enable designers to curate seamless surfaces from floor to ceiling, with thrilling results that overcome the limits of traditional ceramics. It is available in 6 sizes (30x60 cm, 60x60 cm, 60x120 cm, 120x120 cm, 120x260 cm & 120x278 cm) and with 8 variants (Calacatta, Calacatta Oro, Invisible Grey, Amani, Sliver, Onice Fantastico, Noisette, Bloom), all inspired by choice types of marble, with various effects & looks to blend & suit different spaces.  

Getting in-depth into the conversation, we discovered that she loves to find creativity & inspiration for design outside of work from travelling. She believes that travelling would help expose oneself to a lot of design elements, such as visiting museums and hotels as they carry lots of heritage & cultural visual elements to them.   

This highly resonated with us too such as when we had the opportunity to travel to Italy to visit the Cersaie Event in person last year & previous years to learn more about up-and-coming tile designs & collections that were going to be the next “It” item or potential trends for the new year.  

Fun fact: In her spare time, she loves to do DIYs (Do-It-Yourself), especially arts and crafts/handicrafts, and this is reflected in her design works too! 

Don’t forget to find out more about the Boutique collection here!

Designer: Siva Ganesan (Mr)

ID Firm: Conexus Studio @conexusstudio

Collection Feature: Mutina - Punto collection

Designer Siva Ganesan is a Lead Interior Designer from Conexus Studio. We learnt that Siva has been passionate about interior design since he was young. Though he might seem like a person of few words, he shared with us that he loves to find creativity & inspiration for design outside of work from everything and everywhere. 

For instance, he constantly likes to look at the design, the ratio of things and more such as when boarding the train. He’d observed the interiors and exteriors of the train cabins and learned how different elements come into play to create and build the design of various trains. 

He also candidly shared with us that his favourite collection is Mutina - Punto, this contemporary yet uniquely designed tile collection also best reflects and suits his design aesthetic overall as it is three-dimensional, with a creative take on the tiles’ layout & format as a whole! 

It’s an atypical collection especially recommended for implementing on-wall applications such as feature walls, backsplashes and more due to the key highlights of its up-and-down design elements (known as the elevated & sunken dots design), and with its colours, dimensions, & sizings, it will complement as a backdrop art piece in any place!

Mutina Punto by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec was further developed & curated from the concept that inspired Mutina Pico. It’s a 3D decorative design collection that is also highly suitable for other form of applications. It comprises patterns of big sunken dots (Down) & elevated dots (Up) options and can be greatly expressed visually when it’s applied across large surfaces. 

Based on how lighting hits these decorative elements, it could form an unexpected chiaroscuro effect that livens interiors. Both options are available in 1 size - 4 x 31,5 cm (in meshes of up to 5 pieces). They consist of 2 finishes & 5 colours - Glossy (Blanc, Gris, Rose, Vert & Brun) and Matt (White, Grey, Red, Green & Blue).

Fun fact:  Mutina Punto tiles capture the gentle spirit of Peach fuzz - the Pantone colour for 2024 with its Rose shade! Read more here.

Learn more about this well-liked & popular Punto collection here!

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Explore these exceptional SGLS and SGBC-certified tile collections on our website via our Materials page by filtering to the Singapore Green Labels category.

Schedule a visit to riceLAB to explore these collections firsthand! To streamline your experience, we recommend making tile selections online at www.rice-fields.com  beforehand. Book your appointment via email at ricecare@rice-fields.com or by calling +65 6692 1199. Click here to send in your queries if any. 

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