#sparkchamber 101821 — Cliff Tan
Today is National Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day — an unofficial holiday founded to encourage everyone to declutter and optimize their digital spaces — but #sparkchamber is taking it to the physical world, welcoming architect and space planner, Cliff Tan. After graduating from the Architectural Association School of Architecture , Cliff worked with the global architecture and design practice Aedas, WOHA Architects in Singapore, and Heatherwick Studio back in the U.K. before setting up his own practice, Dear Modern in 2016.
His style is characterized by an intuitive sense of spatial flow, coupled with the planning and space-optimization logics of feng shui. Feng shui — the way of wind and water — is the ancient Chinese art of shaping an environment to best achieve harmony and balance. His is a “soft” approach — “The most common mistake is to take Feng Shui too seriously! I have all too often seen awkwardly placed furniture and strange “lucky” objects like crystals, or frog statues placed all around a space. This not only does not work, but sometimes actually makes the situation worse or impedes in the flow.” [Early next year, his wit and wisdom will be published for all to see. Feng Shui Modern — a simple and practical guide revealing the tools that will lead to a healthier, happier home for every budget — is available for pre-order now.]
The intention behind Dear Modern was to bring the rigor of sensible, constrained planning to clients in London — where he is based — but pandemic restrictions opened the door to a new direction. He was inspired to use social media to teach simple lessons on feng shui and design, then evolved his practice to bring architecture and design to anyone anywhere through accessible videos, and affordable consultation services. He believes that good design “should be available to everyone, not just those wealthy enough to afford traditional architecture services.”
His videos are fantastic — fast-paced, instructive, and downright fun! Using a tiny-scale hand-drawn floor plan of the space in question, he repositions all-white foam board and polystyrene mini-models to his rapid-fire voiceover narration of what he’s doing and why. At the end, revealing his genuine aspiration to share knowledge, his signature, “So, now you know!” always leaves you with a smile.
1.] Where do ideas come from?
My experiences which I am growing everyday from meeting clients from everywhere
2.] What is the itch you are scratching?
Discovering people and places from around the world.
3.] Early bird or night owl? Tortoise or hare?
Knowing that behind every commission, every video, every like, is a real person, looking for help and wanting insight.
4.] How do you know when you are done?
When people squeal in delight that they love their home again.
