Naiise greets you with bursts of inspiring colours on its homepage. Its pages are filled with carefully curated gift ideas and intoxicating designs from the modern to the quirky. The e-commerce site aims to create an accessible culture of design through their proffered items – from household goods to gadgets and gizmos, art prints to stocking stuffers or Valentine’s gifts for him and her.
We speak to Naiise’s Chief Marketing Director, NUS alumni Amanda Eng, to find out more about the ideas and workings behind the site.
How did the name “Naiise” for the site come about?
We wanted a simple, common-enough word that everyone could relate to. “Naiise” is actually a play on the word “nice”, and we try to achieve that in everything we do – from our products, to our customer service and website. “Naiise” also governs the culture of who we are as a business. We seek to always do the good and correct thing, and be nice to everyone. We want people to go “naiise!” at every touch point they have with us.
You have a vast catalogue of wonderful items – from home and kitchenware, to art and things for him and her. How do you go about scouring for the best designs to feature on your site from a whole plethora of items on the general market?
We search design blogs and web portals a lot, go to flea markets and fairs, look at magazines, etc. Even when we are browsing through Instagram or out shopping on the streets, we are always on the lookout for budding designers or great design products that we can bring online to Naiise to make them accessible to more people! We only have one strict condition for our products on Naiise – all items have to be original designs.
Where do you draw your inspiration for the designs on your site? Who are you inspired by, and whom are you targeting as you sell these products?
Great brands like Apple, Chanel, Ogilvy and Muji have always been the inspiration for our site’s layout, branding and design. We want to offer a simple, clean and user-friendly platform that allows people to discover with ease. A consistent voice and branding throughout all touch points to help people emotionally connect with what we are trying to do. We also offer different products at varying prices across multiple verticals because we believe design is for everybody.
Your ‘Go Local’ page is particularly interesting. How has the reception been for those items, such as the Singlish-patterned shirts (like “uh uh siol” and “Bojio?”)?
They have actually been very well received; in fact, one of our best sellers are the Singlish patterned shirts! We think that Singaporeans actually do have a strong penchant for local, quirky and fun stuff.
From your ‘About’ page, you state “Naiise loves social.” How do you aim to create this community for like-minded people who share your passion for great design?
Naiise loves social because we believe it takes everyone to be involved in making design accessible and loved by all. We think some people tend to be afraid of the word “design” as it usually translates as expensive (think designer bags and cars). We want to this perception by constantly finding great design products at affordable prices. To do this, we work with bloggers and tastemakers to join us as guest curators, adding a layer of relevance to our products for our audiences. We have had guest curators ranging from photographers to fashion students and editors, and we believe that the more we work with the community, the more design can truly be for everyone.
Where do you see the future of Naiise?
We definitely hope that Naiise will be the go-to place for people to buy great design products that will put a smile on their loved ones’ faces, or even to brighten up their daily workspace, or home. We also want it to be a place here people can discover new designers, brands and products that can add value to their lives!