Since then, Chemistry has gone from strength to strength — growing, adapting, and reinventing our multidisciplinary design skills and strategic business models.
For over 20 years, we've accumulated a dynamic spectrum of strategic, creative, and innovative services that span a wide range of industries, products, and service offerings around the globe.
To realise our aspirations of affecting change on a global scale, we made the bold decision to open our first official branches in Europe. Now, with a presence in Amsterdam and London, we amplify our impact, drawing from the creativity and sustainability ethos of these cities. Together, we're driving global change, one circular innovation at a time.
Bassam is Chemistry’s managing director, consulting on product and service design innovation. He has led the team at Chemistry since 2002, evolving the business from a classic product and graphic design studio to the experience design think tank it is today. He’s passionate about applying design as a strategic tool, generating impactful solutions that make a difference in people’s lives.
Bassam holds a first-class honours degree in industrial design from Brunel University, UK. In his spare time, he enjoys painting with acrylics on canvas—enjoying creative freedom away from digital devices and client briefs!
Karin heads the communication and service design projects at Chemistry. As design director, she works with the team to craft engaging user experiences across various industries. Originally from Austria, Karin has worked across the globe for companies like KesselsKramer and IDEO, prior to joining Chemistry. She holds masters degrees in communication and experience design.
Karin strongly believes in the transformative power of human-centred design—whether applied to public service streams or whole city districts. This concern for strong impact with a clear social component can also be seen in passion projects such the for-impact-organisation Aiducation International www.aiducation.org which focuses on giving access to education for bright students in developing countries. In quite moments Karin loves sketching over a good cup of coffee, something that can likely be traced back to her time spent in the coffee houses of her hometown, Vienna.
John is responsible for leading Chemistry’s product and spatial design practice. Born and bred in Singapore, John studied industrial design at the National University of Singapore. In his 14 years of consultancy experience, John has worked with diverse businesses, developing award-winning products in the consumer electronics, lifestyle products and medical and service industries. His work has garnered more than 6 design awards with clients from Dell, Motorola, Phillips, Panasonic and Procter & Gamble.
John is honored to be one of the designers invited by the Singapore Arts Museum to participate in MADE FOR SAM, the creative production of a critical and compelling range of products. His works have been showcased at the Singapore Design Festival 2009, the Singapore Arts Museum, the National Museum of Singapore and Singaplural Design Week 2012 and 2014. His design of the ‘Singlish’ notebook has become an iconic Singaporean souvenir since it was launched in 2010.
With over 20 years of experience in both design and business administration, Bas has been helping clients to connect the challenges their customers are struggling with to successful strategic design solutions. Aiming for a sustainable relationship between brand aspirations and consumer needs, he believes digital transformation can help to create attractive, feasible and viable user experiences.
Previously as a key account manager, he worked with consumer, medical and professional brands like Accell, Alfen ICU, Rituals, SaraLee DouweEgberts, Inbev, Royal Friesland Campina among others.
In his spare time Bas enjoys playing classic guitar, restoring classic cars and renovating classic homes.
Theresa is a passionate believer that good design can empower people. By listening to people's stories, empathising with their experiences, and understanding what drives their behaviours, she is able to create designs that truly meet their needs. Theresa earned her Bachelor of Arts (Architecture) degree from the National University of Singapore and her Master of Architecture degree from the University of Michigan.
Prior to joining Chemistry, Theresa worked as an urban planner in the public sector. There, she drove initiatives to protect heritage sites and masterplan designs at a national level. Her strategic mindset and ability to balance user and organisational needs enabled her to engage complex ecosystems of stakeholders smoothly.
In addition to her professional pursuits, Theresa is a co-founder of Dear Samfu, a fashion label that pays homage to the design sensibilities of her grandmother. This entrepreneurial endeavour underscores her passion for heritage storytelling and has garnered international press coverage from respected outlets such as Insider, CNA, Straits Times, and Lianhe Zaobao.
Kiahsheng believes that design extends beyond the creation of innovative products or applications and that it should not merely focus on producing more to sell more but on questioning the design's purpose and its potential to positively impact our lives through a human-centered lens.
With more than half a decade of experience in Chemistry, he has honed his ability to interpret complex information and has successfully navigated craft and strategy-related aspects of design, from conducting ethnographic research, workshop facilitation, to the delivery of fully integrated solutions. Leveraging advanced knowledge of the Human-Centered Design (Design Thinking) methodology has empowered him to effectively apply his expertise across a wide array of clients, ranging from public services to multinational corporations, tackling diverse industries, including healthcare, tourism and hospitality, retail, finance, and more.
An avid biker himself, Kiahsheng enjoys exploring places on two wheels because nothing compares to the liberating yet simple pleasure of riding a motorcycle.
Eunice is a multidisciplinary designer with a keen interest in theoretical discourse. The basis of her design ethos is understanding and attending to the core needs of people, to create experiences that are enjoyable both for and with them. She has a deep interest in engaging with vulnerable communities, using design as a tool to empower them in creating better futures for themselves.
Having graduated with a Masters in Architecture from the National University of Singapore, her professional experience cuts across a broad spectrum of design - from spatial and experience, to service and strategy; design research to participatory design. She constantly pushes boundaries to explore novel approaches in connecting with people, and translating these findings into solutions.
Prior to joining Chemistry, Eunice has had several past lives - as an educator, designer, and consultant. During her 5 - 9, she runs her own paper art practice, indulging in the process of slow making and craftwork.
Aimee firmly believes that as designers, we have the incredible privilege to not only make the world and society a better place, but also the responsibility to do so. Aimee wants to help change the world for the better by understanding the emergent needs of people and to work with them to create a preferable future, by and through Design. Design, Engineering, Social Sciences, and the Commercial disciplines need to work together, differently, to enable this to happen as part of a collective approach.
Prior to joining Chemistry Team, Aimee graduated with a First-class honours degree from Brunel University London in Product Design BSc, before going on to complete a Postgraduate degree in Innovation Design Engineering MA & MSc from the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London. During her studies she worked in the Innovation Design department at Philips Design in Eindhoven, NL.
In her free time, Aimee finds great joy in designing and making her clothes, often from old, unwanted garments and you can often find her out in nature chasing adrenaline rushes with friends.
Asyraf believes in designing compelling narratives that influence change and create positive impact. He loves to explore unorthodox concepts, integrate speculative design, and challenge discourse to develop innovative solutions that are holistic, accessible, and inclusive. He is fascinated with creative ideas that push the boundaries of the unconventional and blur the lines between design and human experience.
With a background in Applied Theatre and Psychology, he is able to translate research and data into human-centred experiences. His experience as an educator enabled him to utilise a variety of methods to deliver and communicate effectively.
Prior to joining Chemistry, he graduated with first-class honours from The Glasgow School of Art Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Design. His degree equipped him with a breadth of design skills, which honed his creative process and strategic thinking.
Besides his love for design, he is a fan of Harry Potter, enjoys taking polaroids (not Instax!), and drinking coffee while listening to gossip.
Jasmine believes that good design is one that strikes a balance between creativity and functionality. She is driven by the process of uncovering problems through research to create human-centred design solutions, with a keen interest in designing meaningful and intuitive digital experiences.
Prior to joining Chemistry Team, Jasmine graduated with a BA(Hons) in Design Communication with First-Class Honours from LASALLE College of the Arts. With a background in visual communication, she also enjoys exploring a wide range of design areas such as branding, motion graphics, packaging, print and web design.
When she’s not designing, Jasmine enjoys engaging in other creative hobbies such as lettering and watercolour painting while listening to scandi-pop music.
With close to 25 years leadership experience within the field of design, Pernilla Johansson recently joined the Volvo Group, heading up UX within Digital & IT. The Volvo Group is on a transformative journey, both digitally and culturally, towards an ambitious sustainability target.
Prior to joining Volvo, Swedish-born Pernilla co-founded the Centre for Organisational Creativity, a consultancy set up to help organisations improve their creative capacity, drawing from her deep organisational understanding, after having led a global network of 200 multi-disciplinary designers spread across seven locations worldwide at Electrolux.
Before joining Electrolux in 2008 in Asia Pacific, Pernilla spent 13 years with Philips Design. This has set the foundation for her life-centric, iterative, research based approach to designing products, services and interactions that bring a shared design philosophy to life.
Committed to Design Excellence, Pernilla and her team used an insight & foresight driven approach to create user experiences that makes life better. Championing an out-side-in perspective and a collaborative workshop culture that emphasis User Centric Experience Design.
Besides her corporate roles Pernilla has been asked for thought leadership roles with the DBA (Design Business Association), IF Design, Good Design & McKinsey CDO (Chief Design Officer) network.
Pernilla has been based in the Netherlands, France, US and Singapore, where she spent a total of 16 years before moving back to Sweden in 2014. She holds a Master’s Degree in Industrial Design from the Department of Arts and Crafts at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.
Jeffrey is the Strategic Ventures Director at Chemistry. He is tasked to seek out partnerships that enable bluesky activities. He was a lecturer and researcher at UNSW, co-designed the undergraduate degree in Crossmedia and co-developed UNSW’s Coursera course on Transmedia Storytelling, and was a Peer of the Australia Council for the Arts.
An artist, designer and engineer, he designed catwalks for PRADA at OMA. He worked as an advisor in the areas of AI and circular economy. He earned his engineering PhD from NUS and has several peer-reviewed publications. He has patents in the US, Singapore and Japan and edited a book on Cultural Robotics where he is a pioneer in the field.
Murray started his professional career in 1977 with the London design consultancy, Conran Associates. He spent the next thirty years managing programs and projects for Philips Design, eventually serving as Vice President and global Head of Operations for the company.
He landed in Seattle in 2012, where he assumed the post of Vice President at global design consultancy TEAGUE. During his tenure there, he was responsible for guiding the company’s long-standing design relationship with The Boeing Company, a role he held until 2017.
In 2018, Murray joined Monash University’s Health Collab as Adjunct Professor, a design research lab located within the faculty of Art Design & Architecture, that provides innovative solutions to modern Healthcare challenges.
During his career, Murray has been named inventor on 16 United States patents and was the recipient of numerous design awards in the United States, Europe and Asia. Among other things, he co-designed the Roller Radio in 1983, which was heralded as one of 80 design icons in the book ‘Past Tense, Future Sense’.
Originally from Adelaide, where Murray studied Product Design, he has lived the last 40 years in London, the Netherlands, Singapore, Hong Kong and Seattle, before returning home to Australia.
Costas is a product innovation veteran and entrepreneur, contrarian thinker, impact investor and author of a handful of books on these topics. He has a particular knack for squeezing new products out of old factories.
- Co-founder of Una Terra, a Venture Capital Fund focused on Climate Change Mitigation and Biodiversity Restoration. Costas' is particularly keen on bringing commercial truths from his past in FMCG to scaling sustainable ideas the world cannot have enough of.
- Claim to fame: as Co-Founder of global creative agency Happen®, which created over $5Bn incremental revenue for its clients, now part of Accenture.
- Before immersing into the worlds of impact investing or FMCG Innovation consulting, he worked across the globe in many areas of innovation. From strategy to design, from commercialization to manufacturing. He has continuously pursued the balance between technology, customer need and business relevance, driving for the innovative leap to achieve all three.
He earned his Master of Science in Industrial Design Engineering degree with a perfect score at the University of Delft, the Netherlands. For a decade before co-founding Happen Group, Costas worked as consumer product designer and engineering manager, picking up several pan-European design and engineering awards on the way (iF, GIO, EEA).
Edo is an experienced brand designer and multiple award-winning creative director. He helps business owners to unlock their brand potential, focusing on guiding progressive, visionary entrepreneurs in making their brand more attractive and successful.Trained as an industrial designer at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, Edo has more than 3 decades of branding and design experience helping organisations navigate change. He has worked with large governmental and corporate clients and with startups and SME’s in Europe and Asia. He can also be found as speaker, jury member, or guest lecturer on various national and international stages.
In her role, Annerieke is responsible for driving impact for The Circulate Initiative, its programs and our other strategic partnerships.
Annerieke ensures TCI and its partners focus on addressing the system gaps to prevent plastic leakage and advance an inclusive, circular economy.
Annerieke has more than 15 years of experience working with businesses and governments. Previously, Annerieke led waste management projects in Indonesia, she served on the board of directors of Circle Economy. While at Circle Economy, she was responsible for incubating and managing several programs, scaling its impact and directing its fundraising efforts. Key programmes she led were the Thriving Cities Programme Doughnut Cities work in collaboration with Kate Raworth (nominated for the Earth Shot Prize) and Circle Lab for Cities programme with global partners.
Takeaways
A good idea has mileage. For me it’s great to see how something I co-founded in 2000 has evolved into what Chemistry is today, a spirited team with inspiring leadership.
Fondest Memory
Most definitely the time when we extended Chemistry with Artistry; the awesome art cafe, a venue where magic happened between 2012 and 2018.
Up to now, big plans...
I divide my time between Hong Kong and Amsterdam, have made a shift from design to photography, started Licht Ltd Publishing and am about to publish my 5th photo book and 2nd music album, and have signed with Thames & Hudson for 2 photo books to be released globally in 2021
Takeaways
A great adventure with friends that started in year 2000, as one of the founding partners. Enjoyed great learning and expanding my design horizon by stepping into new areas through collaboration and individual projects, including interior design, sound design and music production over the spectrum of brand related design projects.
Fondest Memory
The time is filled with great memories; The freedom to balance work & play; balancing working hours with relaxation and parties; Involvement with the organisation of alter ego parties and playing there; Moving into our own design space; The various experiences through design business that allowed team members and myself to travel and explore new parts of the world; The natural trusting connection between all team members.
Up to now, big plans...
Since 2012 I have taken distance from Chemistry as partner. Currently focusing on growing my activity with Soul Oasis, where I am working with sound therapy and various energy-based work to support people on a mental, emotional and physical level in individual and/or group sessions:
Nurturing your Inner Rhythm.
www.soundcloud.com/soul-oasis
I continue part time lecturing at NAFA, teaching BA degree Visual Communication and diploma Digital Sound & Music, and am involved with ongoing design and music projects.
Simon rock and rolled with the original Chemistry partners close to 2 decades ago as a partner and owner. During that time the team garnered various awards, including the Singapore Design Award for Peranakan Museum's branding as well as the LA Design Award for website design. He led the team's first end to end Design Thinking + Detail Design delivery for Eastman's regional brand franchises of V-Kool and Huper-Optik. Rethinking, rebranding and managing the roll out for both chains across Asia.
Great memories include hosting parties downstairs at Artistry Cafe, and getting involved with the music even programming as MC.
Up to now, big plans...
Simon's design work goes on alongside the Co-Founding of social enterprise SingaporeSidecars in 2018. The company provides the world's first vintage vespa sidecar tours. Sidecars bagged a position in the top 4 finalists for the SingaporeTourism Awards in 2019, with notable guests including Avengers Director Joe Russo and entourage, and F1 Legends Damon Hilland Jonny Herbert.
SingaporeSidecars has since become a flagship tour brand, with a presence on the front page of STB's Annual Report site, and the front page of the Uniqlo site. SingaporeSidecars played an active role during the covid lockdowns to lend a hand to good causes, which included CCF, National Cancer Centre, various old folks homes and sidecar food deliveries to medical staff working on the frontlines. The brand continues to grow, so hope to see you on a Sidecar tour soon!