Brian Tan a native child of the tiny tropical island of Singapore, went to the United States to pursue a Masters of Interior Architecture from the world-renowned Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence. He then spent two years in New York City as a visual merchandiser for Hennes & Mauritz AB, better known as H&M, where he was instrumental in creating vivid brand experiences in line with H&M's seasonal campaign.Brian made the trans-Atlantic leap from New York to London in 2005, since which time he has been successfully carrying out his current role at Imagination as an Event designer. Imagination Ltd, one of the world's largest and most highly regarded design and communications consultancies, pioneering Brand Experience as a new and powerful approach for connecting brands with consumers and corporations. Imagination Ltd. has come in 1st for 6 conservative years in DesignWeek Top 100 design groups.
In his early formative years back in Singapore, Brian was an assistant choreographer in the annual Singapore National Day Parade (Ministry of Education Contingent) in 1998 and 1999. The mass display was performed live to an audience of 55,000 people at the Singapore National Stadium and was also televised nationwide simultaneously.
Prior to that, Brian graduated with a Diploma in Interior Architecture and Design in 1997 from Temasek Polytechnic (Singapore). In 1996, he was elected President of the Design Studies Club, where he received a Certificate of Merit 1997 for his efforts in the Design Studies Club. He was also Valedictorian at the School of Design ceremony in 1997. His other credits include being a semi-finalist at ASPAT Manila 1996 and a finalist in the SFIC furniture design competition in 1995, where his furniture design creation was featured in ID magazine that year.
Between the years of 1997 – 2000, Brian was very much involved with the local Singaporean fashion industry as a freelance designer. He conceptualised and designed stage sets for fashion runway productions. He was also involved in event production and back stage support of fashion shows like, Fashion Connection Singapore.
David Lee loves photography, dance and all things aesthetically pleasing. He hung up his dancing shoes almost six years ago to pursue his interest in graphic design in London. After graduating from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design with a BA in graphic design, he spent a year and a half exploring future trends as art editor at The Future Laboratory, Europe's leading trend forecasting company, where he worked on projects for clients such as Nokia, Gap, Investec, Lamborghini and MySpace. He was also art editor for Viewpoint magazine. Winner of Singapore’s Young Designers' Award in 1997 and 1998, David also received a DesignSingapore scholarship in 2005. He is recently featured on Channel News Asia’s documentary Beyond the Dot, in which he shared with viewers his passion for design and photography. David currently designs for Cake Theatrical Productions and has recently completed his masters degree in graphic design at the London College of Communication.
Brian Chia gets all delirious when it comes to art and design. A graduate from Middlesex University, London in MA Design for Interactive Media, his works have garnered numerous wins including the 2003 Crowbar Awards and 2007 D&AD Student Global Awards. A comic lover, aspiring illustrator and staunch believer of the existence of mermaids, Brian is setting up to establish a good name in the digital design industry.
Melisa Chan knew she wanted to be a designer at the age of 4 and nothing has been able to stop her since. She arrived on British shores ten years ago to start her formal design training at Kingston University. In 2003 she graduated with first-class honours in interior architecture from the Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication. She began her professional career by designing bars and restaurants for B3 Designers. She has also worked on Imagination’s Aston Martin Retail team. In 2006, a chance encounter with DesignSingapore Council earned her a post-graduate scholarship at the Bartlett School of Architecture. An internship with Space Syntax during her graduate studies opened up a world of urban-scale work and graphic-mapping analysis. Melisa now calls on her strengths in interior architecture, urban planning and the social knowledge of space in her work with Portland Design Associates on urban retail consultancy in Europe and the Middle East. Her work has recently been featured at the London Design Festival and London Fashion Week 2008 in collaboration with graphic designer, David Lee. Apart from her day job and DesignSingapore-led projects, she is currently preparing her post-graduate work for publication submission.