Interior designing is not a static profession, styles evolve, technologies advance and the challenges propel. Beating the challenges of the industry, Mr Shopper Studio is emerging in the race. Established in 2014, Mr Shopper Studio practices a couturier service and has completed interior makeovers for over a hundred homes till date. Steered by Ken Lee and Kate Deng, the exceptional duo has a decade of experience in soft furnishings and interior styling.
Initially, Mr. Shopper was started in 2014, as an e-commerce platform, sourcing and procuring furniture based on the client’s request. It had customized several bespoke furniture but later the duo realized that most of the clients do not really have an understanding of combining furnishing to the interior. To fill this gap, they started an extended service to include design & build services to complete the dream home journey.
Mr Shopper Studio’s Co-founders Passionately Beautifying Homes
Kate Deng is the CEO and Co-founder of Mr Shopper Studio, before starting his own firm was lured into this profession due to his interest in the furnishing portion. She loved interior designing but could not deal with the connections with contractors so she began to trade furniture. For some years, she traded furniture to restaurants, cafes, offices like CBTL (Coffee Beans and Tea Leaf, Burger King Asia’s Franchise, restaurants from Minor Group, etc.
Kate is a strong Arts and Design professional who graduated from LASALLE College of Arts. It was during her time at Mr Shopper that she realized the firm could be further extended. Ken Lee (Co-founder) and Kate’s vision sparked, and until today the dynamic duo has collaborated on several projects, obsessively finding a better methodology to improvise services they could offer for the Interior Industry and the clients. Kate further asserts, “We were passionately beautifying homes, offering the best experience we could to the homeowners.”
Innovative Interior Designing Solutions
The company provides personalized end-to-end renovation service using the latest technology so that the clients are able to have a 360 VR Tour before deciding if the color, furniture, and accessories fit the theme that they want. This approach makes the decision-making process easy and more manageable. Mr Shopper Studio has an Interior Personality Analysis, which helps to simplify the process prior to the VR Tour. The procedure starts once the design is approved. Kate says, “Once the design is confirmed, we will then start the renovation, source for the furnishings, procure and style up the entire home for them so that all they need to do is to pull in their luggage and stay in their dream home.”
Going an Extra Mile for the Customers
Mr Shopper Studio is completely client-centric, its success ratio only depends on the happy customers. Delivering the best luxury experience to the clients, the team also makes sure that the customers walk out happy. Sharing one of the client stories, Kate narrated, “There’s a couple that we all had the most vivid memories, we went the extra mile for them, and they were so happy. The young couple wanted to get married in their newly renovated home so we suggested making a short video so they could share their joy during their wedding dinner’s video montage. In the end, we came up with an interesting script, making the short video into a music video where they get to keep and share even to their next generation to come.”
Dream Team to Create Dream Homes
Considering the client’s expectations, delivering the best is not an easy task. The happy customers are the result of the hard work of the Mr Shopper Studio team, which has helped them to offer the best service. Kate believes that its team may not be the most talented or skilled but they have been taught the importance of teamwork and emphasize growing the right culture first. The team is well trained to leverage each other’s strengths, which benefits them. They are passionate about helping each other to create and achieve the same goal together with the best teamwork efforts. Kate describes the team as the dream team, quoting, “We created our own dream team to create dream homes.” Most of the team and almost 10 of them have been part of the journey from the start and striving to make the company one of the best in the market.
Accomplishments throughout the Journey
The company was incepted in 2014 as an online e-commerce furnishing shop and yet won Best SME Video Contest in 2015 and has $100k marketing dollar. Time favored the company as it won the competition right in time of expansion of its services to include installations, renovations, and home styling. In 2016, the company changed its name to Mr Shoppers Studio and has since won several Interior Design Awards by Asia & International Interior Platforms alike like Houzz, Qanvast, etc.
Challenges Constructing For a Better Future
The Mr Shoppers Studio team grew from 10 to almost double number last year. This resulted in a shortage of office space for the workers, most of them needed to take turns and share seating due to no decent space to work in. The company had to shift its showroom during the peak period, which is year-end where most renovation work takes place from this event. In this challenging period, the team could tell who are the loyal and supportive staff, and the loyal suppliers who did not abandon in this period.
Working for the better future, the company’s goal is to continue to build a community where competitions could turn to collaborations, benefiting not only themselves but also the end user who engage the services of Mr Shopper Studio.
