Nick has lived in Singapore for most of his life.  He has flawless taste and runs his thriving event company Fabulation from a beautiful, old, grey and white peranakan shophouse on Blair Road. He was one of the very first people I  met when when I moved here and we’ve been friends ever since.

Over to you Nick.

I founded Fabulation back in 2008 and love my job for the diversity and creativity it offers; no day is ever quite the same. Six years on, Fabulation specialises in event management, event design and bespoke floral arrangements.

7.00am I start my day by journaling for about 20 minutes. It is a practice I’ve been doing for over 10 years now and it helps clear my head and focuses me for the day. After journaling I get ready and dress, always taking into account what meetings I have. I have clients from the social world to the corporate world so knowing how to blend into each environment makes a difference.

8.00am My office space occupies the second floor of my house (the first floor is our studio and workspace; the third floor is my private living area) so I am thankful for an easy commute! I tend to have breakfast at my desk and have a light breakfast of apple or scrambled eggs with chamomile tea. I like to be in the office before my staff, checking emails and getting my ‘to do list’ for the day sorted.

When we are not running and producing events, we are planning and conceptualizing them.  We have anywhere between 10 to 20 events, parties or weddings in the planning stages at any one time, so being organised and prioritising is key.

9.00am My staff come in and the day gets going. It’s usually pretty hectic as we have to work out what is needed that day. I work with a close knit group of suppliers who provide us with everything from lighting to invitations. We need to engage services and brief each of our partners in detail so our events go as planned.  I see them as our extended team.

We also have to consider sourcing items.  Demands from week to week vary; we might be looking for anything, from fabric on Arab Street to specialty flowers for a party or wedding that’s coming up.  We might have a wedding two weeks away but need to ensure table linen is made in time. Timing is everything.

10.00am The morning is my most creative time of day so this is when I try to spend a couple of hours working on new projects.  The key to our success is being able to produce bespoke and fabulous parties and settings.  I love imagining stunning occasions and beautiful weddings so it is important I spend time each day getting my ideas down on paper.  With each idea comes a need to present it and price it accordingly.  It takes time to develop a proposal as each one is special.

12.00pm Before lunch, I usually head downstairs and discuss creative projects and pricing with my floral team. Flowers are such an organic product so making sure the correct colour is being delivered in the correct quantities is a daily concern.

1.00pm I’m very habitual with my eating so I usually eat the same lunch.  I love a chicken and avocado salad with simple virgin olive oil and balsamic dressing.  I’ve been working on cutting gluten out of my diet so I’m enjoy finding food that is healthy and tastes great. I get a lot of inspiration from what’s going on in the social world so I tend to catch up on magazines and plug into the world over lunch.  My number one weekly read is Hello from the UK.  I love looking at the latest parties and weddings, what people are doing and who is marrying who. I relish a royal wedding and love looking at what decisions they are making with flowers and colors. Anything visual works for me though. My other favorite is World of Interiors. 

2.00pm Afternoon time is normally when I start to head out to source items and have meetings.  Some friends call it professional shopping but while it’s fun, the goal is to try and spend the least amount of time yet manage to get to a few different places for inspiration.  I’ve grown a list of places to head to over the years and top of it are Arab Street and Plaza Singapura for Daiso.

4.00pm Late afternoon seems to be a good time to head off to a venue and do a site visit.  Today it’s Tamarind Hill for a wedding in a few weeks.  We are meeting the bride’s mother to go through the details, look at the floor plan, confirm the table alignments and ensure the decoration is going to work for each and every seat. We look the entire experience of the guest and consider all angles of the party so that the entire setting is magical.

5.00pm This is a good time to wind down and wrap up the day’s work. I usually spend time just getting back to people by email, responding to questions from suppliers and answering emails from our customers about specific details. We also do a lot of work for corporate clients who need graphics for backdrops, invitations and branding.  I usually check each visual from our graphic designer around this time and work on getting approval which is often time consuming with a lot of toing and froing.  We try to always get this sort of work done in good time, for this reason.

6.00pm If I haven’t done my morning training session with my trainer, I head off to do some sort of exercise.  I get bored quickly so I switch it around from swimming, running and yoga.  My favorite run is around Mount Faber to catch the sunset.

8.00pm I usually end the day having dinner with friends and family.  I’m lucky enough to have my sister, dad and close family friends (that I grew up with in Singapore) all near by, so I like nothing more than to catch up with everyone and find out what’s going on.  My stepmother does the best steamboat which my sister and I are huge fans of.  Having your own business can be very challenging and the support of good friends and family are very important to me.

For more information on Fabulation, please click here.