No one knows this better than Froson Liew, who combines aesthetics and practicality through his ocean-inspired furniture and accessories.
Liew’s background as a quantity surveyor allowed him access to many interior design projects.
“The design of the places I came across was gorgeous, but I felt that the furniture inside could use some jazzing up, which was how I got the idea of exploring resin art,” the 33-year-old shared with FMT.
Finding himself fixated with the idea of resin craft, Liew spent a considerable amount of time watching YouTube videos and tutorials, studying the many types of resin available and their reactions to different materials.
“At the start of it, I would come back from my job, work on my project, sleep and wake up a few times throughout the night to check on how it has dried, and go to work the next day again,” he recalled.
The experimentation process was no doubt tedious and not without its pitfalls. He said he suffered many cuts on his hands due to the sharp edges of the dried resin but shrugged it off as an occupational hazard.
“The period from when I first delved into the craft to successfully making the first sellable product took about a year,” he said, referring to the small lamp he sold.
Raub-born Liew said his father, who’s also a businessman, was supportive of him exploring a business venture of his own.
“I remember gifting one of my first works, an ocean-themed décor piece, to my mom for her birthday and her words of encouragement was what kept me going at the time,” he said.
He added, rather candidly: “Looking back, that piece was actually quite poorly done, so it might’ve been a well-intentioned lie from her and I am so grateful for that now.”
Liew has since started a successful company called Lasprecious Designs that is incidentally, the first ocean-themed furniture specialist in Malaysia.
His resin-inspired craft range from dining tables, clocks and lamps to wall art, all of which are displayed in the company’s showroom at GMBB.
Recently, the company launched a new line of products that include work tables, TV consoles and cabinets.
“I feel that the time is right for me to branch out to bigger furniture, hence the collaboration with Simply Ant Fixtures.” Simply Ant Fixtures is another local brand which creates minimalistic furniture with customisable services.
“This is just the first step in widening our product line, and we aim to delve into the jungle theme next,” Liew said.
“We realised our ocean themed pieces were our bestsellers so we decided to focus on that, and now we want to go back to the different themes that we set out to do,” he said, adding the ocean, jungle and rock themes were the initial concepts they toyed with.
Liew said his aim was to bring the ocean inside without the need for people to leave their homes to enjoy it.
“I want my customers to feel relaxed looking at my furniture when they come back from work at the end of the day, with the waves washing away their stress and worries.”
Shop for Lasprecious Designs’s products at their website and follow them on Instagram for information about their weekly workshops.
Lasprecious Designs
GM-2-8, GMBB
No 2, Jalan Robertson
Bukit Bintang
50150 Kuala Lumpur
Contact: 017-9042909