PROFILE

The Studio

OLIVIA LEE Studio is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning multidisciplinary studio rooted in an industrial design approach. The studio defies boundaries, straddling speculative design, product innovation, spatial design, scenography, and high-touch immersive experiences—deftly applying a systems-thinking approach to world-building and expanding product universes.

With a signature design philosophy steeped in wonder and reverence, OLIVIA LEE Studio specialises in uncovering new rituals and behaviours, navigating the tension between tradition and the future, and bringing brands into exciting new territories through design and narrative.

With over a decade of experience, Olivia has honed her nuanced and narrative-driven approach into something agile and distinct, attracting sophisticated commissions from global clients such as Hermès, Cartier, Vacheron Constantin, Samsung, Hendricks, The Balvenie, and Wallpaper* Handmade across sectors as diverse as luxury, technology, and craftsmanship.

The studio has worked on briefs as complex and conceptual as: making tangible the passage of time, celebrating the provenance of historical métiers through interactive sculptures, inventing new drinking experiences, provoking fresh thinking around low-tech solar solutions, and redefining spatial interactions for an augmented reality future.

In 2024, Olivia was one of one hundred global creatives commissioned by Cartier to create work for their Trinity100 centennial celebration. In 2022, The Financial Times recognised Olivia as one of “Eight female design names to know,” highlighting her role in disrupting the design industry. When the studio made its international debut at SaloneSatellite in 2017, Dezeen named Olivia one of the top eight emerging designers to watch.

Building on this momentum, OLIVIA LEE Studio continues to push boundaries, shaping the potential of design with intelligence, poetry, and an unwavering commitment to innovation.

About the Designer

Principal Designer & Founder

Singaporean industrial designer Olivia Lee (b. 1985) graduated from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in 2008 with First Class Honours. As a student, she was handpicked to represent her cohort in a branding workshop at LVMH House. Her graduation thesis project, "Limited Edition Designer Dolls," went viral, earning both controversy and humourous encounters with the design industry and securing her a guest illustrator role for the legendary ICON Magazine as a ‘political cartoonist’ for design.

In London, Olivia worked briefly for Sebastian Conran before securing a full-time design position with esteemed British industrial designer Sebastian Bergne, working across homeware, furniture, and consumer electronics. From these two greats, she learned the value of wit and restraint in design.

In 2011, Olivia transitioned from industrial design to shaping industries at the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). She managed two portfolios: developing the user insights and design sectors in Singapore, with a focus on consumer-facing businesses. During this tenure, she gained a deep appreciation for the socioeconomic and corporate contexts in which design, creativity, and innovation operate.

Olivia founded her eponymous practice in 2013, fully committed to pushing boundaries across multiple disciplines. She has since been recognised in numerous Singaporean and international titles: The Financial Times, Wallpaper* Design Directory, Her World’s Young Woman Achiever of the Year Award 2018, Prestige’s Women of Power List, the Tatler Gen.T List, Surface Magazine, and Dezeen. Her work has been showcased internationally at prestigious platforms: the Triennale di Milano, Museum für Kommunikation Berlin, Maison et Objet Observatoire de la Maison, and Daikanyama T-Site.

Passionate about design education and thought leadership, Olivia serves on design award panels: the INDE.Awards and the Singapore Good Design Awards. She has also been an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore, specialising in design theory, luxury design, and speculative design. She has also served as a mentor for many young students and has a soft-spot for nurturing the next generation of female design powerhouses.

Her speaking engagements include renowned institutions: Central Saint Martins, the School of Visual Arts (New York), Fondation d’entreprise Hermès, and The New York Times’ T Magazine panel. Through these platforms, Olivia continues to champion design as a force for insight, transformation, and wonder.