Gabriel Tan

Gabriel Tan - A bridge between tradition and modernity

In a world where design often drowns in novelty for novelty's sake, Gabriel Tan embodies another path: that of a return to meaning, materials and gesture. Born in Singapore in 1982, this discreet but determined designer has built a career at the crossroads of cultures, between Asian rigor and European handcrafted sensuality.

Before becoming a designer, Tan spent several years in the Singapore navy - an atypical but formative career path. There, he learned discipline, patience and attention to detail: three qualities that still permeate his objects today. After this period, he studied industrial design at the National University of Singapore, where he discovered his passion for form and function, for the dialogue between drawing and hand.

From Singapore to Porto, a creative bridge

Gabriel Tan began his career with the Outofstock collective, which he co-founded in the late 2000s with three designer friends from Spain and Argentina. Together, they explored the boundaries between cultures, materials and uses - a theme that has stayed with him ever since.

In 2016, he founded Gabriel Tan Studio in Singapore, then Studio Antimatter, dedicated to interior architecture and space design. The same year, he became Creative Director of Ariake, a Japanese brand of contemporary furniture, where he orchestrates a subtle dialogue between Japanese craftsmanship and international design.

It was also during this period that he discovered Portugal, a country whose slowness, light and depth of craftsmanship left a deep impression on him. He settled there with his wife and founded Origin Made, a brand that works with Portuguese craftsmen to reinvent local traditions through a contemporary lens.

The poetry of function

In Gabriel Tan's objects, everything seems simple, but nothing is left to chance. His chairs, lamps and chests of drawers all bear the same signature: elegant restraint, respect for materials and a quest for balance.

His design speaks in hushed tones: a warm, never cold minimalism. Wood, leather, ceramics and metal interact without imposing. "I believe in the beauty of what lasts, of what ages well in the hands of those who use it", he often confides.

At B&B Italia, he designed Quiet Lines, a refined bedroom collection, all softness and just the right proportions. At Herman Miller and Blå Station, he explores collective forms and new uses for furniture. And with Origin Made, he allows himself a more poetic tone - a black jar fashioned using the "barro preto" technique, a chair that bears the visible trace of the hand that polished it.

Between craftsmanship and technology

Tan defines himself as a ferryman: for him, it's not a question of choosing between tradition and modernity, but of weaving continuities. In his workshops, Portuguese craftsmen use digital tools to perfect an ancestral gesture; in Japan, he combines the sensitivity of Japanese wood with the precision of computer-aided design.

It is this subtle alliance that has earned him international recognition: in 2025, he received Singapore's President's Design Award, the highest distinction for a Singaporean designer.

A humanism of design

Beyond form, Gabriel Tan defends a profoundly human vision of design. For him, an object must have a "silent presence": it doesn't seek to dominate space, but to fit in with the lives of those around it.

His work speaks of attention, slowness and respect. He is one of those designers who remind us that design is not just a matter of aesthetics, but of a relationship with the world: with matter, with gestures, with others.

Today, between Porto and Singapore, Gabriel Tan continues to link worlds that seem to oppose each other. His work draws a bridge between East and West, between past and future - a bridge where design once again becomes what it should never have ceased to be: a living conversation between hand and mind.