The spelling of “Dezign” was a deliberate choice to reflect the company’s ability to think out of the box. Creatives need to think differently from others, and their thought process should not be linear, Nen Sing explained to The Edge Singapore in an interview on July 10. The letters “z” and “s” are close to being mirror images, signifying “reflection” — a key rhetoric of the design process.
As a child, Chong Nen Sing’s passion for art was evident to everyone, especially his family. He would pick up wooden blocks and carve drawings on them, and ask his siblings to model for portraits. He graduated from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) in 1977. Nen Sing is the founder and controlling shareholder of Dezign Format, which is seeking to list on the Singapore Exchange’s (SGX) Catalist board. The company lodged its preliminary offer document on June 30.
Dezign Format was established in 1988 when Nen Sing, who had been working in an advertising firm for 10 years at the time, helped out with a friend’s Christmas decorations. After much encouragement from his friends, Nen Sing, together with his brother Mike, founded the business.
