Your Interview Ng Suan Lin

Introduce yourself (name, company, position, country) and tell us how you got into lighting design (including education/qualifications).

My name is Suan Lin & I live in kuala lumpur, malaysia. I currently own a lighting design consultancy studio, which is called Swang Space.

It’s a long story – I started my career as a mechanical & electrical engineering consultant, I worked in NDY (Norman Disney & Young) Malaysia back in 2012. If you know the company they do have NDYLight, which is their lighting division. I started to wonder who does all the lights in the developments. So, one day there was a project that required lighting & it was a JV with an Australian designer. I asked my boss & he offered me an additional role coz he saw that I seemed interested in it. That’s how I took up the role & started exploring lighting. I began to grew on lighting & find myself having a passion in it. Later, I started to reflect on my childhood, I was really fascinated to see lights on buildings when my parents took me out at night, in the car going around the city. I guess, you could say it’s a calling.

Most of it from 2012 till today, I learned it from the passionate & experts in the field. To be honest, I’d like to connect to more people in the industry as well. I love learning & exploring different ways to play with lights. And I want to reflect this in my work.

Tell us about your work – is there a specific type of project you like to work on or an area you specialise in and why?

I specialise in the built environment doing interior, landscape & façade lighting design. We mostly do commercial, residences, hospitality buildings/towers.

I like to work on creating the right ambient in spaces so, in that very place that people goes to, they feel relaxed and comfortable.

What project are you most proud of and why?

TSLAW Tower:  It’s the first project that Swang Ppace have & fully worked on it. The results is amazing!

W Hotel, Kuala Lumpur: It was my first hotel project, so prestigious. That’s where I learned the most. I really love all the vibrancy & colors that we put in.

What is the biggest challenge that you have overcome in your career?

There was a point of time in life that I wanted to give up on lighting & I wanted to change industry, I thought I couldn’t do it. That time in KL, I think lighting was not really in demand & I’m thinking where are we going with this. It is so niche here.

Later on, when I wanted to try something new, somehow some people who knew that I’m doing lighting, they called up & got me to work on some design work. Those were the freelance days. Slowly, more & more people started looking for me. That’s how I continued in lighting.

Really grateful for the people around me!

How does light inspire you?

I’m always fascinated by lights, how it works, how its effects come about & how it could affect our mood/emotions/energy levels.

For that, I want to do my best and create spaces so comfortable that when people are there, they feel homey and relax.

It has also inspired me to share my knowledge to people.

What is your message for other Women In Lighting?

Trust your intuition, follow your heart and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it.

Prove it to them.

We can definitely do it when we put our mind to it