The Vanguard

As technology and social media drive a new generation’s incubator model, young artists reinvent the rules of their professions to inspire the world anew.

- Lynette Kee

Too many times, Liew Yu Hua (@SecretLifeOfTrees) has been told not to get her hands dirty because she is a woman. But never once had she thought about throwing in the chisel. Liew is a professional woodworker who founded Secret Life of Trees in 2019, where she designs and crafts custom-made wooden objects from keepsakes to furniture.

In Singapore, jobs in design, building and construction, especially ones that require physical virility, are still mostly carried out by men. So while “gendered” professions are on the decline, stereotypes still remain. Often times, this reveals itself in the most unexpected yet ordinary ways. “In some of the cabinetry jobs I’ve done in the past, if the apartment is undergoing renovation, [going to the toilet might be problematic] because the doors have not been put in yet,” says Liew. “It feels kind of strange going to the toilet with a room full of men, without a door.”

In 2016, Liew decided to free herself from her desk-bound job. For the next three years, she worked at local furniture restoration shops and carpentry shops before emptying out her savings to fund a course in furniture design, making and restoration at the Chippendale International School of Furniture in Scotland. That was where Liew began building a solid foundation in woodworking. She says, “Technical skill and experimentation was the most important to me then.”

Beyond her practice, Liew also took the time to soak in the natural landscape, encouraging her bond with organic material. “I stayed at the edge of the woods and took daily walks in the surrounding forests,” she reminisces. “Knowing that a healthy forest takes hundreds, even thousands, of years to develop makes you really cherish the material at hand.”