From Herman Miller to Flos: Inside a Singapore collector’s HDB home filled with vintage furniture

Nestled in the residential heartland of Boon Keng, the home of a longtime design collector seems oddly out of place amid units where residents dry their laundry along the common corridor.

But step inside the collector’s home – a three-room HDB flat – and you’re instantly transported to another world, a world of vintage Herman Miller sofa, Flos lamps and Zanotta bedframe, all curated to within an inch of their lives. It could pass for the lobby of a fashionable boutique hotel, except it’s not.

It’s a world where designers like Marc Newson and Michele De Lucchi are celebrated with the fervour of new parents, and where the design-addicted homeowner keeps a Philippe Starck fly swatter on hand for pesky intruders.

Here, homeowner Erricson Wong presides. The 46-year-old, who co-founded furniture retailer Made & Make with business partner Agnetha Chan in 2013, has lived here for the past seven years.

His collecting journey, however, began more than 20 years ago, when he was still in school. “I was exposed to the design world from a young age,” he shared. “Back then there were magazines like Abitare, an Italian design and architecture magazine, which I used to browse at (bookstore) Page One in Marina Square.”

As your eye scans the room – Wong had his interior designer remove the walls separating the living and dining areas from the kitchen – you begin to appreciate the effort that went into assembling his collection, from furniture and lighting to the smaller odds and ends.

Far from being a random hodgepodge of designer pieces, Wong’s space is a carefully constructed universe decades in the making. Each item tells a story – a souvenir from his travels, a lucky find online, a piece that has acquired a unique patina over the years. Each piece isn’t just acquired – it’s rescued, recontextualised, cherished.

You can almost imagine Wong scouring showrooms, flea markets and online catalogues like a bounty hunter, ever in search of the quiet elegance of clean lines and intentional curves. To collectors like him, a chair is never just a chair – it’s an homage to timber, an ambitious experiment in extruded polymers, a whisper of a world that believes beauty can also be useful.

A LIFELONG PASSION

Indeed. “I’ve always loved design,” Wong chimed. “I mean, I see an item, an object, a piece of furniture or lighting not for its original purpose, but for the idea behind it.”   

Take, for instance, the vintage Herman Miller Wilkes Modular Sofa Group in his living room, lovingly referred to as the “Chiclet” sofa by fans. Introduced in 1976, its rounded, square padded elements resembled Chiclet chewing gum pellets. Wong picked up the modular two-seater sofa, upholstered in beige, from a seller “similar to Hock Siong”, referring to the highly regarded second-hand furniture dealer. His appreciation of the piece stems from the fact that the designer, Ray Wilkes, co-opted the beam seating system – typically found in commercial, high-traffic spaces such as airports and hospitals – and repurposed it for domestic use.

“This was designed as an upholstered sofa, and you can create any configuration you want,” he explained. “You can add arm and leg units and even a side table anywhere along the run. It makes the piece very versatile.”

The other major seating element in Wong’s living room is the vintage Ganging Elysee by Steelcase, upholstered in black leather – a series of modular lounge chairs by a manufacturer better known for office furniture. Individual units can be connected via hidden brackets, allowing users to join them in a run or use them as standalone pieces.

“This was designed for an office environment or a public space. But what I like about it is that you can join it not only side-to-side [to form a sofa], but also back-to-back and front-to-side,” he enthused. “From time to time, I do move it around, turning it into a ‘Cleopatra daybed’, for example.”

WHEN LIFE AND WORK INTERTWINE – OR NOT

After toiling in the marketing and communications department of a major furniture retailer for several years, Wong branched out to start his own retail business. Originally peddling children’s furniture, the two co-founders eventually expanded their portfolio, offering modern furniture and lighting from international brands such as Artemide, Driade, HC28, Oluce and Wendelbo.

Curiously, Wong doesn’t necessarily collect the designs he sells. “There’s very little overlap,” he said. Part of the reason is space constraints – there is only so much room in his 72 sqm (755 sq ft) home. Every new addition has to be intentional and carefully considered. “There are so many pieces I would love to bring home, but because they are in the shop, I don’t have to!”

In this sense, Made & Make functions as an extension of his home. How, then, do his collecting instincts and merchandising decisions influence each other?

“There are some similarities in terms of the designs we select. We typically go for minimal styles,” he replied. “We like pure lines, which make the pieces timeless.”

Where vocation and passion converge is in pieces like the iconic Oluce Atollo Table Lamp, which retails for between S$1,140 (US$899) and S$3,800 at Made & Make, depending on size and finish. A medium version in black lacquered aluminium sits proudly on a side table in Wong’s living room.

To him, the lamp is the purest expression of basic geometry, comprising a semispherical lampshade that rests on a base made of a cylinder and cone. Designed by Vico Magistretti in 1977, the award-winning, instantly recognisable Atollo is a permanent fixture in design museums worldwide, including MoMA New York.

Wong has a penchant for designs from the 1970s to the 1990s, “because the perspective of modernism during that era is still very relevant now”. An exception is his PK22 Lounge Chair, another design icon that dates to 1956. The low-slung leather chair, with its steel frame, was designed by Poul Kjaerholm.

WHERE MEMORIES ARE MADE

Wong’s living space segues seamlessly into the dining area and pantry/kitchen beyond, thanks to the removal of partition walls during the renovation. One wall in the dining area was deliberately left unfinished for textural interest – and it never fails to elicit puzzled looks from first-time visitors. “When will your renovation be complete?” they ask, hesitant.

Frequent visitors ask the same question, albeit as an in-joke. Wong typically hosts only during festive seasons, his guests gathering around his 2m-long Driade Frate Table, designed by Enzo Mari. “We normally spend time around the dinner table, where, with additional chairs, we can sit around 10,” he explained.

With its tempered glass surface, skinny steel legs and supporting beam of solid beechwood, the table lends a sculptural presence to the space. At the same time, the glass top provides visual lightness, balancing the bank of black cabinets in the pantry/kitchen and the assortment of dining chairs – all in black.

This is a deliberate move – it enables him to grow his collection. “I get to collect [more chairs], but how do you then put it all together? One of the easiest ways is to keep a certain synergy in terms of colours.” In this case, black unites the disparate assembly, which includes design classics such as the Eames “Eiffel” Side Chair, as well as modern pieces like the Artek 10-unit system.

A lone Kartell La Marie Chair in crystal polycarbonate stands apart from the rest, its ghostly presence a testament to a milestone in design history. Introduced in 1999, it became the world’s first completely transparent chair, made of a single piece of moulded plastic. Wong enjoys these “iykyk” moments – they lend a certain gravitas to his collection.

He also values versatility, letting his pieces perform double duty wherever possible. Chairs and stools double up as side tables (and vice versa), while lamps swivel and rotate to provide task or ambient illumination, depending on the mood.

Wong’s morning ritual includes stretching – here, he takes advantage of the dining room’s Artek chair and its “excellent stability” for mini-workouts. In the evenings, his Vitra Potence pivoting wall lamp, designed by Jean Prouve and positioned between the living and dining areas, swings across both spaces to deliver a warm, inviting glow as needed.

In his sparsely furnished bedroom, an E15 ST04 Backenzahn solid oak stool – designed to look like a wooden peg – functions as a bedside table, a dependable sidekick to the Zanotta Milano bed’s main-character energy. On it rests an iconic Artemide Tolomeo lamp – incidentally, an autographed piece. Wong had it signed when designer Michele De Lucchi visited Singapore during Design Week 2024.

In total, Wong estimates that he has spent around S$40,000 to S$50,000 on his collection over the years. For homeowners feathering their nests, he advises following their instincts. “I think that people should just buy what they want. I don’t think [designing a home] should be about matching styles or matching your furniture to your interiors. The home ultimately represents the homeowner.”