We’re back with Xue Ting from Star Living, an international furniture retailer with 18 stores in Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan! In this interview, she describes how Star Living started out, the discovery of sincere service as their brand’s strength and the biennial D’STAR Design Competition they organise to support design talents in pursuing their passion.
Featuring Weavve Home Display at Star Living (Tampines)
Hi Xue Ting, we’re glad to have you on board as a partner! Please tell us more about Star Living.
Star International was founded in 1981, and today we are an integrated furniture designer, manufacturer, retailer & exporter. We are the operator of Star Living (a retail concept brand) as well as the 6 furniture brands (Star, Mondi Lifestyle, LUCANO, JotterGoods, Aartical, BEDz Store) under its umbrella.
Featuring Weavve Home TENCEL™ Lyocell Sheets in Mist Grey and Cloud White with Star Living Aartical Collection
How was Star Living founded?
We were founded in 1981 by our now Executive Chairman Mr Richard Koh. We started off as a small cottage setup. Our founder has always been interested in woodworking, and he started very humbly by making loose furniture pieces with his bare hands, to be sold to small furniture shops in the HDB area.
Featuring Star Living JotterGoods Collection
What got you interested in a partnership between your brand and Weavve?
We are a local company, we are always keen to support & bring together good local brands. We regularly collaborate with other local Designers under our JotterGoods brand too. Weavve has good products and they are a good fit to our brand, and it's perfect that their products can complement ours.
Featuring Weavve Home TENCEL™ Lyocell Sheets in Mist Grey with Star Living Aartical Collection
How do you see Star Living’s positioning in the furniture market?
Star Living’s 5 USPs
Share an interesting anecdote from when you first started in Star Living.
We did not realise that “sincere service” was 1 of our strengths, until we kept seeing it on forums and social media when people commented about us. Many said that it was relaxing and enjoyable to shop at Star Living as our sales staff are friendly and non-pushy; we understand that furniture is a big ticket item and customers need time & space to make their decisions hence we are perfectly happy to send them off with a big smile even if they walk away empty handed.
What's something about Star Living or your journey in Star Living that would surprise people?
Previously, we have organised 3 runs of our biennial D’STAR design competition to uncover design talents out there. We organise a public design award, screen through applicant’s designs, invite the semi-finalists to our JB factory for a tour, and work with the finalists to prototype their designs. The prototypes are then showcased at our stores for public voting, and finally we flew the winner to Milan i-Saloni furniture fair with our Design team for a once in a lifetime experience. We also work with some of the designers to commercialise good designs.
Featuring Weavve Home TENCEL™ Lyocell Sheets in Taupe with Star Living Aartical Collection
This is like a very tedious CCA for us, each D’STAR event runs for 9 months long. We are not in this to make money, but more to uncover design talents out there and to offer them a taste of what it's like to be a furniture designer. Happy to say that our last winner was actually a trained engineer who has always been keen in design, and after winning our D’STAR award, she made a career switch and went to pursue design 😊
What are some of your personal favourites from your current collections?
Personally, I love JotterGoods, then Aartical. Both are our inhouse designer collections and I was part of the development team behind these brands. My house is mostly done up in JotterGoods and I'm glad my hubby loves them too.
What's next for Star Living?
At the end of the day, we always want to design and produce good products that are accessible to people, and which can help furnish and improve their lives. If there are initiatives that can help us achieve that, we will be open to explore.
Featuring Weavve Home Cotton Sheets in Sandshell and Weighted Blanket with Star Living Aartical Collection
Summarise your brand in four words.
Furnishing Homes & Lives
Thank you for joining us Xue Ting!If you’re in the Tampines area do check them out!
Star Living
Website: https://www.starliving.com.sg/
Address: Space @ Tampines | 18 Tampines Industrial Crescent, #01-07 & #01-08, Singapore 528605 (Nearest MRT: Pasir Ris MRT, Click here to view on Google Maps)
Tel: +65 6275 8832
Email: customercare@sg.starintlgroup.com
Operating Hours:
Weekdays: 12.00pm – 9.00pm
Weekends & PHs: 11.00am – 9.30pm
Weavve Products On Display:
✓ Bedsheets ✓ Weighted Blankets ✓ Towels
Cash and Carry Available In-Store
Check out the rest of our showrooms here!
