Home & Decor – September 2019

people

I

t was in 2000 when Tan

Lay Koon made the brave

but risky decision to leave

her cushy job in the finance

industry at the height of the

dot.com bubble. Paul Hoeve,

her business partner at

accounting and consulting

giant Arthur Andersen, quit as

well, and both thought about

doing something radically

different in their next career

move. At the top of Lay

Koon’s list of possibilities was

establishing a company that

would somehow benefit society,

along with creating minimal

environmental impact.

“We were particularly

concerned that insufficient

attention was being paid to

sustainability,” she explains.

“We felt that most people were

either apathetic or driven by

a single issue (like climate

change, social development

or protecting endangered

species). Few initiatives took

a holistic multifaceted view

of sustainability, balancing

social, environmental

and economic factors.”

That was when they

launched Nature Squared,

a London-based company

specialising in bespoke luxury

surfaces made with sustainable

materials such as bamboo,

mother of pearl, tobacco leaves

and reeds.

Can you tell us how you

Came to foCus on turning

natural materials into

high-end surfaCes?

Given that our focus is the

use of waste or fast-growing

Mothering

nature

Tan Lay Koon, co-founder of Nature Squared,

talks about the challenge working with natural

resources like feathers, and egg and oyster

shells, and finding artisans who are able to

work with such delicate materials.

1. A dark-
   coloured surface
   created out of
   pink scallop
   shells.


2. Blue feathers
   are used in
   the creation of
   the Exploring
   Eden collection
   designed by
   Bethan Gray.


3. The Exploring
   Eden collection
   also includes
   the use of jade
   abalone shells.


4. The various
   surfaces made
   out of abalone
   shells, blue
   pheasant
   feathers, capiz
   and goose
   feathers.


5. Tan Lay Koon
   also happens to
   be an avid diver.

1