PROFILE

The Studio

OLIVIA LEE is a multidisciplinary studio grounded by an industrial design approach. The practice pivots from product to spatial design, research insights to ideation with the goal of creating unique experiences. The studio focuses on uncovering new rituals and behaviours, navigating the tension between tradition and the future, and bringing brands into unexplored territories through design and narrative.

OLIVIA LEE studio has produced work for a variety of international partners such as AkzoNobel, The Balvenie, Samsung, Mathmos, Bank of Singapore and the British Council. It has worked on briefs as complex as inter- generational smart homes for public housing; as whimsical as an ice-cream parlour installation for a natural stone company; and as functional as a compact indoor air purifier for the Asian market.

A graduate of Central Saint Martins BA (Hons) Product Design, principal designer Olivia Lee combines her experiences in London with her Singaporean roots to establish a culturally nuanced design practice in the heart of South East Asia.

OLIVIA LEE's work has been presented at the Triennale di Milano, Museum fur Kommunikation Berlin, Maison et Object Observatoire de la Maison, Daikanyama T-Site, Mint Shop and featured in Wallpaper*, Icon, Dezeen, Axis, Intramuros and Disegno. In 2017, Dezeen hailed Olivia as one of the top 8 emerging designers from the international SaloneSatellite fair.

About the Designer

Principle Designer, Founder

Singaporean industrial designer Olivia Lee (b. 1985) graduated from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in 2008 with First Class Honours. As a student, she was handpicked to represent her cohort in a branding workshop in LVMH House. Her graduation project "Limited Edition Designer Dolls" went viral, garnering her a guest illustrator role for ICON Magazine.

In London, Olivia worked as a designer for Sebastian Bergne.  In tandem, her personal projects included a collaboration with a diamond nano-engineering researcher under the NOBELINI Scheme pioneered by the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre (UK). She served as studio coordinator for the ICSID World Design Congress 2009 with the New York ARUP Foresight team and was invited by the British Council (UK) to participate in their Milan Sketchbook project.

In 2011, Olivia transited from industrial design to the intricacies of designing industries at the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). She managed two portfolios, developing the user insights and design sectors in Singapore, with a focus in consumer-facing businesses. During this tenure, she developed a deep appreciation for the socioeconomic and corporate context with which design, creativity and innovation sits. 

Olivia founded her eponymous practice in 2013, fully committed to pushing boundaries in multiple disciplines. 

Passionate about education, Olivia finds time outside her professional practice to lecture at institutions such as the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Division of Industrial Design, Singapore Polytechnic and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. She currently teaches History & Theory of Industrial Design and facilitates a luxury retail design platform at NUS.