Honest blocks
If it looks like solid oak, it is solid oak. No printed grain, no plastic pretending to be stone. Fewer materials, better ones — the budget goes into substance, not surface.
The studio
Nine people, one shophouse, a lot of graph paper.
Ukiyocraft Studio started in 2020 above a coffee roaster on Neil Road. The name borrows ukiyo — the floating world — and pairs it with the thing we actually do all day: craft, block by block.
Why we build this way
The grid is not a gimmick
Singapore rooms are small, humid and full of structural surprises. A modular grid solves all three: panels are sized for the service lift, joinery repeats so it can be priced accurately, and every awkward beam becomes a deliberate block instead of an apology.
We fell in love with block-game architecture for the same reason — a limited inventory forces clarity. Then we spent six years learning how to make that clarity feel warm rather than clinical, using oak, stone, terracotta and light instead of pixels.
House rules
Three principles we do not trade away
Storage before styling
Every project starts with a litre count of what you own. A calm room is mostly a room where everything has somewhere to go.
Show, then build
You walk the space before we cut anything. Changing your mind inside a preview world is free; changing it on site is not.
Timeline
Six years of placing blocks
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Studio opens on Neil Road
One drafting table, two chairs and a very slow printer. First commission: a 47 sqm flat in Queenstown.
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First F&B build
A shophouse coffee bar in Joo Chiat teaches us more about ventilation than four years of study did.
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The preview pipeline
We start rebuilding every project 1:1 in voxel form. Client approvals get roughly 40% faster, and site changes drop.
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Heritage work & 25th build
Three conserved shophouse facades on our own street, plus the studio's first conservation submission.
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Forty-two builds, nine people
Team of nine, a proper sample library, and our first project across the strait in Penang.
By the numbers
Studio facts
- Founded
- 2020 · SingaporeRegistered as Ukiyocraft Studio Pte. Ltd.
- Team
- NineFour designers, two technologists, two site leads, one very organised studio manager.
- Languages
- English, Mandarin, MalaySite coordination in whichever language the crew prefers.
- Typical project
- S$60k–S$240k constructionDesign fees quoted separately and fixed up front.
- Coverage
- Singapore, Johor, PenangTravel billed at cost for work outside Singapore.
People
Who you actually work with
No account managers. The people who draw your home are the people who answer your messages.
W. Xu
Principal designer
Ten years in hospitality interiors before starting the studio. Draws every first layout by hand on graph paper.
A. Rahim
Project lead
Runs site: contractors, submissions, deliveries, and the Friday photo log nobody else remembers to send.
J. Tan
Voxel technologist
Builds the 1:1 preview worlds and maintains a block library of 2,400 studio-standard details.
M. Lee
Joinery & detailing
Responsible for every carcass, hinge and 8 mm shadow gap. Argues about plywood grades for sport.
Ukiyocraft Studio is an independent interior design practice. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Mojang Studios or Microsoft; Minecraft is a trademark of Mojang Synergies AB. Our voxel previews are produced with our own modelling tools and are used only to communicate design intent.
Come by
Coffee on Neil Road?
The sample library is open to clients on weekday afternoons. Bring your floor plan and pick up nine cubes to take home.