Hassell principals Matthew Shang (left) and Paul Semple in the Tea Lounge at the Regent Singapore, one of the latest projects they have completed. ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE

Push past the polished black doors of the Manhattan bar at the Regent Singapore and glamorous New York circa the 1920s greets you.

With darkened interiors, plush leather Chesterfield sofas, brassy accents and marble tabletops, the cocktail bar exudes sophistication.

Head down one floor to the Tea Lounge and the vibe switches to a chic colonial-meets-the-tropics mood. The space is fitted with lots of wood furnishings and awash in lush foliage.

Both stylish spots have distinctly different looks, but they have one thing in common: The deft touch of veteran interior designers Matthew Shang and Paul Semple, principals at multidisciplinary international design practice Hassell.

In the last 14 years that the duo have been in Singapore, Mr Shang and Mr Semple, both 42, have garnered a reputation as the go-to guys for stunning interiors for spaces ranging from restaurants to luxury hotels.

Besides Regent Singapore’s Manhattan bar and Tea Lounge – where they speak to The Straits Times – they are also behind the speakeasy cocktail joint 28 Hong Kong Street and the Atlas Grand Lobby & Bar at Parkview Square.

 

The latter, which pays homage to the elegance of the Art Deco era with its gilded interiors and posh finishings, is arguably one of the most photographed watering holes since it opened early this year.

Its jaw-dropping centrepiece is a three-storey-high, brass-clad chiller filled with hundreds of gin bottles.

Between them, they have also created relaxing interiors for homes and decked out first-class airline cabins. Their past clients include well-regarded brands such as Singapore Airlines, Aman Resorts and Alila Hotel and Resorts.

But even as they produce hit after hit, the duo say they do not see themselves as trailblazers with a set style.

“We never want to have a style that is signature, but we want to have a signature way of doing things,” says the Australian-born Mr Shang.

“We find a unique solution to each project. As designers, we are always drawn to certain details and materials, but we don’t prescribe the outcome.”

Before they became industry stalwarts, Mr Shang and Mr Semple honed their skills working for some of the biggest names in the architecture and design fraternity.

Growing up in Innisfail, a town in Queensland, Australia, Mr Shang always knew he was going to work in the design field.

His father’s work as a joiner – he built windows and doors and did cabinetry work – had a strong influence on him. Mr Shang’s mother was a nurse, but became a housewife to look after her three children.

He studied interior design at the Queensland University of Technology and dabbled in interior design work after graduating. In 1997, he moved to Singapore for the first time and got a job at JPA Design, a studio that specialises in aircraft, rail and hospitality design.

Mr Shang, who has two older sisters, says: “I was young, single and had friends who had worked in Singapore. I thought, ‘Why not move to Asia?’, there were opportunities here.”

He spent about two years here before returning Down Under to attend the Australian Film, Television and Radio School and then build sets for telemovies.

That “two-year diversion” , while fun, made him realise his true calling was interior design. But the film industry experience gave him some tips to remember.

Mr Shang says: “The script is your bible. It dictates everything you make for the film. When it comes to interiors, I had to create my own script. So when we storyboard ideas, we look at how they make an entrance into the space and how they move in it.”

Like Mr Shang, Mr Semple also grew up knowing he was going to do design. He was born in Sydney, Australia, and moved to Auckand, New Zealand, in his teens.

As a child, he tinkered around his father’s garage, making mailboxes and bookshelves, and loved woodworking class at school.

He wanted to be an architect, but when a teacher introduced him to the interior design field and arranged for him to meet a designer, he knew it was what he wanted to do.

His father was a banker, while his mother was a bookkeeper. In the 1990s, they bought a newsagent’s shop which sold items such as newspapers, magazines and cigarettes. His parents were not quite on board with his interior designer dreams.

His father wanted him to get a finance degree.

“If I had done that, I would have a different life with more money for sure,” says Mr Semple with a laugh. He has a brother who works in commercial real estate in Sydney

“The notion of what I do… it’s not in my parents’ lexicon of things. It’s just a different world.”

He is glad he stayed the course. The University of Technology Sydney graduate says: “Some of our best professional relationships and personal friendships have come out from this world of design.”

Moving in the same circles was how Mr Shang and Mr Semple met. They were introduced by a mutual friend, another interior designer, in 2000.

While Mr Matthew Shang (far left) dreams up the ideas, Mr Paul Semple steers the concepts to fruition.PHOTO: COURTESY OF MATTHEW SHANG AND PAUL SEMPLE

A few years later, Mr Shang raised the idea of moving to Singapore to work and he came back here in 2003. Nine months later, Mr Semple quit his job as retail design manager at Westfield, a big Australian shopping centre company, and followed.

Mr Shang took on the position of senior interior designer at Woha, a home-grown multidisciplinary studio that was making waves. Mr Semple snagged a job at Kerry Hill Architects, an award-winning practice that had carved out a niche in the luxury residence and hotel segment.

It was a good time for the industry, says Mr Semple. “I was lucky to arrive when the economy was on fire. Everything I worked on was built.”

While they were doing well at the two companies, the pair sometimes toyed with the idea of going independent. The turning point came when Mr Shang’s father died in 2007.

Mr Shang says: “I took that time to do a reassessment and take stock of what I was doing and where we were going. Starting our own company had been on the cards for a while, so I thought, ‘Let’s just do it’.”

And so Distillery was born and started out of a spare room in their condominium apartment in One Tree Hill. The name came to them while they were looking at a gin bottle. Mr Shang says: “We loved the idea of many ingredients coming together and eventually you get a really pure element. That was how we wanted to run our studio.”

Adapted from The Straits Times. Written by Natasha Ann Zachariah.