Interview with Jervis Chua

My studio is called Build Republic. I felt that a long term investment in cultivating a good design culture within SME's and start ups was lacking. So I founded this studio with a name that encourages companies to invest long term in building excellent products, building cult brands and building a strong design culture within their companies.

innovation, beauty and delight

Working so many years in the industry made me realize that it's really the quality of the team, collaborators and client that makes design most enjoyable to me. The type of product does not matter too much, but rather working with a high degree of confidence that the design will be successful is what's important.

When there is a high degree of conviction with the design brief.

Apart from usefulness and usability, I focus a lot on ensuring that a product has an identity that is in-line with the brand aesthetics and philosophy. It is how brands engage and build relationship with customers.

A design is successful when it pushes innovation and society forward or brings profit to the company.

I always look for clever ways of utilizing manufacturing capabilities and materials.

My design style is whatever is right for the brand and its customers.

Select a designer with a high degree of interest towards your industry. This is how you can trust that the designer will do the work to learn and design something that is right for your customers and not for the designer.

Design work for brands with small but talented team is most enjoyable because it's very efficient and often most effective in ensuring innovation.

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