The branding studio is searching for new ways to harness the power of design, co-founder Arthur Chin tells us.

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“Design can cut across geographical barriers and language, and figuring out how to harness this power is fascinating.” - Arthur Chin.

It’s not even a year old, but the National Gallery Singapore’s museum store Gallery & Co is already a hotspot for local creatives, who can often be found tapping away on their laptops or taking meetings in this airy 8,800sqft retail and dining space.

“Maybe that’s a side effect of the design. We set out to create a space that would not be intimidating or austere,” says Arthur Chin, who co-founded branding studio Foreign Policy Design Group with his wife Yu Yah-Leng. The couple is part of & Co, a collective (also comprising entrepreneur Loh Lik Peng and Luxasia managing director Alwyn Chong) that conceived and manages Gallery & Co.

As part of their research process, Arthur and Yah-Leng took a study trip to Paris and London, where they checked out the stores at iconic institutions such the Louvre Museum and the Tate Modern. In the end, however, it was New York’s Central Park that provided a spark of inspiration.

(Related: National Gallery Singapore Launches Retail-Dining Space, Gallery & Co.)

“In Central Park, you can see tourists taking photos and going on carriage rides, but you also see New Yorkers sunbathing and playing Frisbee,” Arthur explains. “I think that’s important. We want to continuously impress upon the public that they can come to the National Gallery, whether it’s to view art or just have a nice cup of coffee—and own that space. It belongs to the residents of Singapore. That resonated quite deeply with me.”

In keeping with that vision, the studio chose a fresh and tropical aesthetic reflective of contemporary Singapore. The curation of the retail mix is also key to Gallery & Co’s success, which has so far received plaudits from the likes of Wallpaper and The Guardian. The store’s merchandising team aims to showcase up-and-coming creative talents, and The Artist Project, an initiative launched in July, underlines that mission—artists and designers are invited to respond to a theme, and their works are then produced as merchandise and sold in the store.

“We want to shorten that distance between the museum and the visitors,” Arthur says. “When an artwork is distilled onto a tote bag for example, it can simplify that consumption of culture.”

(Related: Gallery & Co. Opening Party)

In his previous life as a New York-based Citigroup executive, Arthur specialised in forging strategic alliances between different businesses, and he still thinks of himself as a business person who thinks creatively. “YahLeng is clearly the creative force, and I will always defer to her when it comes to those decisions,” he says. “My strength is in envisioning possibilities for the client.”

Up next for Foreign Policy are some new hotel and resort concepts, some projects related to food, retail and property development, as well as the New York, London and Bangkok editions of the studio’s acclaimed Brand Guide series, a documentation of progressive brands in different cities. The couple is also planning a three-month sabbatical to think about a cause they can adopt next year, when their studio marks its 10th anniversary.

“Design can cut across geographical barriers and language, and figuring out how to harness this power is fascinating,” says Arthur. “Sometimes when I go to Angkor Wat in Cambodia or wherever and I see the kids who are hungry and toughened, I ask myself—what’s the difference between us? The only difference is that we were given different opportunities that resulted in this disparity. Can we level that disparity somehow through design? Next year, we start the hunt.”

Photography: Max Chan/101teamwork; Grooming: Vinna Er.

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