Two SITizens were among 33 designers who were honoured for their impressive entries in various categories at the second Singapore Interior Design Awards (SIDA) 2017 held in conjunction with Design Week 2018, earlier this year.

The biggest winner of the event was 26-year-old SIT-GSA alumnus, Lee Liming, who bagged eight awards in multiple categories including the SIDA Concept 2017 Best of Best Award, given to "the most promising interior designer of the year". Liming graduated in 2015 from the Bachelor of Arts in Interior Design with Honours.

Lounge Design for ​'Nightclub in Hanoi' project by Lee Liming.

"It was a surreal experience to hear the news of winning multiple awards. It came also as a surprise, given the high standards of participants," said Liming who is currently a designer at Orb Associates.

Liming's submissions consisted mostly of his works at Orb Associates – one of which was created out of experimentation that came with its unique set of challenges.

Lee Liming clinched eight awards, including the SIDA Concept 2017 Best of Best Award, at the second Singapore Interior Design Awards 2017.

"Challenges are often opportunities to become better. Project 'Nightclub in Hanoi' required experimentation with radical forms of design. It posed significant challenges to my limited software skills and technical knowledge. However, I was fortunate to have supportive colleagues who guided me with much patience, coupled with my determination to explore and push through the design boundaries," said Liming.

Design for 'MBC Buffet Lunch and Bar' by Lee Liming.

Sharing the spotlight was 25-year-old SIT-GSA alumnus, Teo Tze Hau, who won two awards for his futuristic residential design. Tze Hau graduated in 2017 from the same degree programme as Liming.

"The biggest challenge was to achieve the client's idea of futurism, heavily influenced by sci-fi movies. We were clearly limited by the technology available, so we tried pulling technologies from different aspects of life such as, airplane design technology and sport car-seating, to achieve our desired outcome," said Tze Hau, whose entries came from his works conceived at his former design house, Copper Design Associates.

Teo Tze Hau in Edinburgh at his Overseas Immersion Programme (SIT-GSA) after his first year of study.

Organised by the Society of Interior Designers Singapore (SIDS), the annual SIDA recognises outstanding design achievements within global interior design industry. The ceremony saw 150 awards presented to 92 recipients, attended by luminaries in the design industry.

Our heartiest congratulations to both designers who were first time entrants to SIDA!