From Selling Furniture to Making It in Singapore

Myseat began in Singapore in 2016, retailing standard, finished furniture for local homes.

Like conventional retail, we started by importing pre-made stock from overseas factories. But whenever a homeowner needed a dining table 10cm narrower to clear a walkway or a sideboard built for an awkward alcove, our only answer was a compromise.

That was when we stopped simply bringing overseas furniture designs into Singapore.

In 2018, instead of continuing to ask customers to compromise, Myseat established our own workshop in Singapore. It fundamentally changed the questions we could say “yes” to:

Could the table be a little longer? Could the shelving be rearranged? Could we use another timber? Add storage? Change the finish? Build something that did not already exist in a catalogue?

When design and manufacturing sit closer to the customer, these stop being unusual requests. They become part of the work.

That gave us our foundation: listen first, then make.

Becoming a maker also defined our choice of material: solid timber. Unlike composite boards locked into distant molds, real wood is adaptable right in the workshop.

Real timber doesn’t peel, blister, or expire when it meets humid Singapore air. More importantly, solid wood is fully serviceable on the bench—it can be planed down, re-sanded, and refinished decades into its working life instead of ending up in a dumpster.

Making furniture in Singapore has never been an easy path.

High rental costs, high operating expenses and strong competition from mass-market imported furniture are daily realities.

We have never believed that Singapore should try to compete by becoming the cheapest place to manufacture furniture — that is not our strength, and “local at any cost” is not a reason anyone should buy.

Imported furniture travels thousands of kilometres through heavy packaging and multiple rounds of handling, only to deliver standard compromises for unique homes.

Making furniture locally shortens that physical journey between factory and home — but less distance only matters when it makes the product, the fit and the relationship genuinely better.

“Made in Singapore” shouldn’t be an appeal to patriotic sentiment.

A local stamp only earns its keep when the furniture is physically better: designed specifically for compact floorplans, built from timbers that don't warp in equatorial humidity, and backed by people you can actually call.

Over the past decade, that practical difference has proven why local making still matters.

Our journey started with one simple goal: to make better furniture for people in Singapore. We still think that is the right foundation.

Many of the challenges Singaporeans face — smaller homes, expensive space, the need for smarter storage, demand for durability and greater personalisation — are increasingly shared by people living in major cities around the world.

Designing for Singapore is a masterclass in pragmatism. Dense layouts, humid air and compact rooms force you to strip away the unnecessary. If a piece works here — efficiently, honestly and comfortably — it will work anywhere.

For the next decade, our focus remains straightforward: keep refining this Singapore craft discipline—space-efficient, climate-hardy, and honest on the workshop floor—and see where else these solutions can solve real urban living challenges.

A decade in, our standard hasn’t changed: "Made in Singapore" shouldn’t be a stamp of convenience. It should be a mark of furniture built to outlast its space.