With a name like Industry+, you might be forgiven for thinking it’s yet another multi-label store flogging, well, industrial-chic merchandise. But the brand’s co-founder, P.C. Ee, 44, quickly sets the record straight – it works with independent designers and studios to create goods exclusively for the company, which specialises in production.
The designers who have collaborated with Industry+ are all of Asian origin – as is the production. Ee explains: “Asian manufacturing presents a wealth of possibilities – advanced techniques, traditional craftsmanship and a wide range of interesting materials. (But) it is also a virtue of who we are, our identity as Asian diaspora – most of us today have been educated and live in different parts of the world. Of course, communication and logistics are also simpler when done in Asia.”
Established in 2014, Ee and his co-founding partner, Yoichi Nakamuta, 59, decided to expand into a 1,800 sq ft physical space at Tyrwhitt Road last August in order to showcase their ever-increasing number of collaborations. Nakamuta’s interest in art meant that the store could also serve as a gallery.
At press time, Jovian Lim’s abstract prints, entitled Just Above The Winds Of Present Reality, are on display. More works that are being shown at Art Stage are slated to arrive after the art fair concludes.
The products they make are novel hybrids of art meets design. Ordinarian, by Thai designer Anon Pairot, is a military jerrycan elevated into an objet d’art. Cast in unexpected materials such as aluminium and brass, its proportions are widened so that it also serves as a chair. Ee hopes to have a new set of collaborations out every April – just in time for Milan Design Week.
Photography Zaphs Zhang, assisted by Sherman See-Tho Hair & Grooming Christian Maranion/27A
This story first appeared in Female‘s January 2017 issue.
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