We spotlight a few folks in Singapore’s buzzing food and beverage industry with a complementary creative eye—and few flaunt a trained eye for form and function like Laura Phay does
It’s not hard to see how various art forms could collide naturally with one another to rather stunning effect, particularly where the culinary arts and the diverse world of design are concerned. From artful plating to the trendy halls of our favourite restaurants and cafes, not to mention their equally dapper staff, the synergy—though at times subtle—is undeniable. As such, it is not surprising to find proponents from complementary creative fields combining a passion for gastronomy with a keen or trained eye for design and vice versa.
Coffee houses have long been spaces where the creative community feels particularly at home. For architecturally trained Laura Phay, it is where she has been able to balance her passions, while living out the dream of running a couple of speciality coffee hotspots with her husband Vincent Teng. They had spent their entire twenties in Melbourne where Teng had also worked full-time under the mentorship of the Colls family, which is behind establishments such as Federal Coffee Palace and Darling Coffee. Not surprisingly, upon their return to Singapore in 2009, the couple decided to open their first cafe, The Plain, during the recession, and subsequently, Ronin, which ended up amassing quite a following. The two cafes have since shuttered, though their two newest ventures, Punch and Gather, present an apt picture of how far the business has grown.
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