KERNEL+— a line of minimal meets made-for-real-living furniture—takes a realistic approach to furnishing in the now according to founder Jason Song.: flexibility and function.
In 2021, the brunt of owning property turned bullish simply because of what economists termed the supply and demand factor. On the supply side, it meant that Singapore saw labour shortages and on the demand side, low interest rates meant a cheaper price of borrowing which will in turn, lead to more inflation.In Reddit speak, it meant that “HDB prices in Singapore are like stonks in US. It only goes up.” Most importantly, what does one make of shrinking HDB sizes: a paltry 110 square metres as opposed to 120 in the nineties and 123in the eighties.
The three men behind KERNEL+—a sub-line of KERNEL helmed by Jason, T Y Zheng of ACRE design consultancy and Melvin Keng, principal architect of Kaizen Architecture—however believes that there is stillroom for good design in smaller ones: “design that is problem-solving, thoughtful, detailed and most importantly, possess high aesthetic qualities.”
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KERNEL+ strikingly stands out against the sometimes tepid waters of the sea of furniture. It looks closely at the lifestyles of the local community (“When Covid hit, this made our resolve stronger to create a collection that helps transform any home into an office and back again” says Jason). It addresses that a piece of furniture should not just exist as a piece of bric-and-brac that exists in one’s home (“Furniture stops being human centric when it becomes entirely about form-making; when the end-user is not part of the thought-process.”).
Most importantly however, it addresses the scale and size of the abodes we have to abide by now(“For Kernel+, it was important the components within the flat pack configuration were slender, conveying as lim and elegant aesthetic; whilst still maintaining reasonable structural integrity.).“The brief of designing for small spaces in 2019 didn’t start with the intent to make it flat-packed. We noticed that every year, new homes are built smaller, in some cases, lower (ceiling heights). Hence, we saw a real need to create furniture that was meant for Singaporeans. Versatile, affordable and suited for the dimensions of our homes. We are thankful to have a fellow architect, Melvin Keng from Kaizen as our local sounding board. This added a lot of synergy as we melded both Japanese and Singaporean knowledge to design for small spaces.”“All the parts come together in the flat-packed box packaging and with an instruction manual. And for some, such as the trolley which does not require any and screwing but rather just piecing the various parts together. It could be as easy as IKEA style, but a more premium version-a flat-packed, designer furniture.We also have an e-guide on how to assemble that can be easily accessed by scanning the QR code on the packaging.”
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Circling back to good design, the concept has been coined by German industrial designer Dieter Ram in the late seventies. It should be as innovative as it is understandable ,as aesthetically pleasing as it is unobtrusive, and honest as it is aesthetically pleasing. It also, should involve as little design as possible.While one might then think that any of the pieces from KERNEL+ started from a simple sketch (Jason would tell him or her otherwise, “The stool from KERNEL+ could be used asa bedside table. We saw this when we launched the Tripodal stool for Ishinomaki in Singapore. People were using it for so many iterations in the home besides being just a stool because they loved the form. Good design is versatile, because we want to use more of it in our homes.), the magic is in its make.
Three types of materials—steel with a powder-coated paint finish that allows its final form to be as slim as possible, solid rich plywood that contrasts against the former and a solid coloured laminate to keep things neutral—are specifically chosen along with the sizes they are fashioned into, angular pieces to fit into the building blocks of our lives.“For me (Jason), my favourite piece would have to be the study desk. Keiji started us on a journey on the first presentation of creating one leg geometry for the entire collection. So the current geometry you see now was part of that intent. However in the prototyping process we worked on another design that was a different leg geometry. After four rounds of prototyping, sending two separate sets to Tokyo and Singapore. We arrived at this elegant and functional study desk. We envisioned this would be perfect for co-working spaces or home offices (due to work-from-home arrangements) that didn’t need such large tables. Saving space while being enough for their workers.”
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“My (Melvin) favourite piece is the multi-functional trolley. In terms of an offering, we noticed that the localSingapore market had very little trolleys that looked sleek, yet affordable. Good looking ones were either too expensive or over-embellished; while the more affordable ones were generally clumsy looking. In designing our trolley, it was paramount that we utilise the innately good qualities of steel to create a slender base structure. This slenderness that makes the entire trolley light both physically and metaphysically. The height of the trolley was also purposefully lower than the ones in the market. This lowered height makes the trolley super flexible; as it can be stowed away under the standard dining table or work desk.”
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The act of purchasing KERNEL+ however, demands one to be present in the flesh. Not only because the mere sight of it tickles the pleasure centre of the brain (the scientists call it a dopamine reward) but because each piece demands an audience.“We have so many stories to share about each detail which might be a bit overwhelming. Our best shop front these days exist via the screen, but certain details and the story behind the design, like the leg geometry might go missing. It’s elegant and matt finished legs (steel with powdered coated paint) gives a bit of that old Scandinavian school vibe we were hoping to allude to. Also, the use of EDL laminates for the top finishes was because it cleans easily and is more scratch resistant. The edges were lightly chamfered for greater comfort when your elbows were resting on the edge or when you’re seated on the stool or bench.”
“We do have more designs at the back burner but would like to see how this first collection goes with the audience first. Specifically we hope to build more partnerships overseas as this collection is extremely eco-friendly to ship and store.” says Jason and the proof is in the pudding. More specifically, a visit to 87 Jalan Kelabu Asap.
Once you’re done with this story about KERNEL+, click here to catch up with our February 2022 issue!
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