A Space to Gather

The team behind Singapore favourites Punch and Ronin have recently opened Gather, a cafe and boutique serving up perfectly crafted crêpes, coffee and a curated selection of lifestyle products from established and emerging Japanese brands. We speak to Vincent Teng, Laura Phay and Hui Shan Pang to find out more about their inspiration and vision for Gather

Design Anthology: Can you tell us about your backgrounds and how you came to work in the hospitality industry?

Laura Phay (LP): Vincent and I studied civil engineering and architecture respectively, and we lived in Melbourne for a long time before to moving back to Singapore over a decade ago. Here we found the landscape bereft of the cafe culture that we had become so accustomed to in Melbourne — simple, high in quality and full of soul. We took a punt in 2010 and founded our first cafe, The Plain, on a quiet road on the fringes of the CBD. Over the years, we’ve built a loyal fanbase for our all-day breakfast and under-the-radar style, and we opened Ronin in 2013 (which we’ve since closed down), PUNCH in 2016 and now in 2020, Gather. They’re all different in character but unified by the fundamental mantra of ‘making it as if for your beloved’, as taught to us by our mentor Faye Colls. Vincent had the good fortune of working with the Colls family (behind Postal Hall, Federal Coffee Palace and Coffee Darling) during our time in Melbourne, learning how to run cafes from the ground up. I was able to design and supervise the build of all of our cafe spaces here in Singapore. Our roles are well defined to suit our specific strengths, with Vincent driving business operations while I take care of creative direction.

Hui Shan Pang (HSP): My background is in digital marketing for lifestyle tech start-ups. I got acquainted with Vincent and Laura when I took up a part-time job at Ronin. I then worked in digital communications for another two years before Vincent invited me to take up a management role at PUNCH. That marked my pivot into a full-time hospitality career. It opened my eyes to the immediacy of thoughtful, everyday communications that result in more personable and deeper connections between myself and the diverse community our cafe serves. This sense of fulfilment was lacking in my previous screen-bound career, where success was evaluated by performance and efficacy.

What was the original idea for Gather and when did you start to put the plan into action?

HSP: The earliest iteration of the idea was a modern mom-and-pop shop selling an array of everyday goods. The naivety! After contemplating its viability, I decided to collaborate with Vincent to bolster the retail dream with a boutique cafe experience. Our aim was to create a meeting place for like-minded people to gather and share ideas.

It took about two or three years for the idea to evolve from casual banter to materialisation. The first year involved a more abstract process, an irregular back-and-forth exchange of ideas that gradually took on a more definitive tone when we started to look for prospective sites. The third year saw all three of us working really hard to make the space come together.

Can you tell us about some of the brands that you’ve ‘gathered’ in the retail space and how you found them?

HSP: It’s important for me to understand the brands and the personalities behind them.

Most of the brands currently on rotation at Gather come from Japan. There are some more established brands, but a couple are undiscovered gems. 3rd Ceramics, for example, is a humble three-man studio in Tajimi that explores the gap between mass makers and independent ceramic artists. For apparel, we carry artist Yukinori Maeda’s label COSMIC WONDER, which offers clothing made from natural materials using traditional Japanese techniques. Besides showcasing Frama's St. Paul's Apothecary collection, we also stock Apotheke Fragrance, a collection of home fragrances and accessories by Keita Sugasawa. 

Some of the Japanese brands were discovered during unexpected conversations with shopkeepers while travelling in Japan. Others were shared by friends, or Laura and Vincent, as they know I’m always on the lookout for unique brands that celebrate their craft.

There’s a commonality among the brands we work with: they’re all driven by people who are dedicated to honouring traditions, while also looking ahead and rethinking their work in the context of people's everyday lives, as well the broader environments we live in. This is synonymous with the Gather ethos we try to instil in our teams.

And why a crêperie?

Vincent Teng (VT): Our annual pilgrimage to Tokyo always included repeat visits to Au Temps Jadis, helmed by Taku Hatakeyama. His crêpes combine traditional French recipes with Japanese execution, illustrating how the trifecta of quality ingredients, refined simplicity and consistency of technique can elevate galettes and crêpes into a meal to remember.

We have a long-held admiration for Japanese craftspeople, who dedicate their lives to a single specialisation, be it making soba noodles, sushi or knives. This is the mantra we want to adopt in our pursuit of the perfect crêpe batter and technique at Gather.

Singapore has great coffee, but there are only a few notable crêpe joints and not many that also have a reputable coffee offering. We believe we can fill that niche.

Can you tell us about the design of the space and how you brought the dining and retail elements together?

LP: In my practice, I draw from site-specific references and work within the parameters to best adapt our spatial workflow. Gather is housed within Raffles Arcade, so from the onset, our mood board was a montage of material snippets from Raffles Hotel’s timeless architectural finishes, but distilled to suit our pragmatic and bare-bones approach to space. 

The arcade’s terracotta external walkway continues beyond our threshold in the form of fired quarry tiles, which are hardy and easy to clean. We worked with the unique shape of the floor plan to demarcate dining and retail zones, connected by a continuous 9-metre-long coffee and kitchen counter, tiled in the same terracotta-hued tile. 

The custom metal work in the retail display area is powder-coated in a shade of buttermilk ivory, a few shades lighter than the painted woodwork of the arched heritage windows. Pendant lamps from 3rd Ceramics hang over the dining space, while the dining chairs are classic bentwood and rattan, and contrast with the warm grey table tops. 

Our customers really relate to our aesthetic choices; we’re always asked about where we source our tableware, materials and fittings. This is why Gather is designed as a shoppable space with a rotation of curated merchandise, where customers can choose to take home a piece of their experience with us.

Images / Sarah Kee