The Beauty of Failure | Notes from our Atelier

Not every idea works out. In fact, some of our best ideas have come from the ones that didn’t.

When Venetia and I first decided to “just do it,” we thought resin would be our material of choice. It felt full of possibility — glossy, sculptural, dramatic. We envisioned an Entertainers Collection — bold centrepieces, oversized accessories and statement vessels that would transform a table into theatre.

So we flew to Bali, met with an artisan and worked through prototypes that looked incredible. For a moment, it felt like we had found our path.

And then the failure came — not from the material, but from the process. After we paid the deposit, the artisan disappeared. He stopped answering calls and texts. Even my wonderful friend Dewi, who lives in Bali and helps me navigate these projects, tried to reach him. She called, he made excuses, and when she finally dropped by in person… he was gone.

It was frustrating, disappointing and a sharp reminder that not every collaboration will hold. But looking back, it was also the beginning of something bigger. If resin hadn’t failed us, maybe we would never have been bold enough to think about creating our own furniture here in Singapore — to dive into carpentry, stone and metal, to work side by side with local artisans and to discover how deeply enriching that process could be.

At Atelier V&A, we celebrate failure as much as success, because both are part of the story. Behind every piece we create is a trail of experiments, adjustments, and sometimes unexpected endings. And that’s what makes the final object feel alive.

Failure, in the end, is just another form of making.