For many homeowners, choosing furniture begins with finding something that looks right. A dining table that suits the space. A TV console that complements the interior. A coffee table that matches the colour palette.
But for Lukas Drasnar, founder of Other Furniture®, good furniture begins long before finishes and fabrics are considered.
Inside Other Furniture®’s longtime Tan Boon Liat showroom, a diverse mix of bespoke pieces showcases the studio’s versatility across materials, styles and craftsmanship.
“I’ve always liked to draw and paint,” he recalls. “When I was 17, I decided to study architecture.”
Originally from the Czech Republic, Lukas pursued architecture across Europe, studying at the University of Liberec before completing his bachelor’s degree at the University of Brighton and earning his Master’s at the University of Edinburgh.
“I graduated in 2010 full of enthusiasm,” he says. “But Europe was still recovering from the financial crisis, so when I received a job offer in Singapore, I thought, ‘Let’s do it for one year and then see how it goes.’”
That one year has since become fifteen.
“Now I think it’s permanent,” he laughs. “I’ve built a life here with my Singaporean wife and our two beautiful children.”
Yet despite building a career in architecture, Lukas eventually found himself searching for something more fulfilling.
“I worked for several architectural firms for about five years, but eventually I burned out.”
A brief stint with an Italian furniture company unexpectedly gave him the push to pursue something of his own. When the company went into liquidation just three months after he joined, Lukas found himself at a crossroads: look for another job, or take a chance on building his own business.
This custom coffee table takes cues from a 1960s design by Italian designer Marco Zanuso, with several prototypes developed to perfect the structure supporting its substantial glass top.
Furniture felt like the natural choice. He had already noticed a growing demand for custom-made pieces in Singapore, while the options available at the time remained relatively limited.
That moment became the beginning of Other Furniture®.
After spending nearly a month travelling through Indonesia to meet designers and furniture makers, Lukas partnered with a fellow designer to establish a small workshop in Java. In 2017, he opened the first showroom at Tan Boon Liat Building.
He is also quick to credit his then-girlfriend, now wife, Alarice, for believing in the business long before there was any certainty of success.
“At the time, I was on a tourist visa and had only a few thousand dollars to my name, but she trusted that I could build the company,” he says. “Her support during those early days meant everything.”
Since then, Other Furniture® has grown into an established bespoke furniture company with a strong base of residential homeowners, interior designers and commercial clients. Its portfolio includes commissions for CIMB Bank, Changi Airport and the Istana, as well as restaurants and other commercial spaces in Singapore.
Behind every Other Furniture® commission is its team of skilled craftspeople in Indonesia, whose expertise turns drawings and ideas into meticulously finished pieces.
Designing Beyond the Surface
While many people judge furniture by its appearance, Lukas believes quality reveals itself in the decisions that are often invisible.
His architectural training continues to influence every project the studio undertakes.
“My background in architecture helps a lot because I always push the team towards design,” he explains. “We don’t just think about making a piece of furniture. We think about how it sits within the architecture of the home.”
Every commission begins with understanding how the furniture will be used before moving into sketches, technical drawings and material selection. From there, his team of experienced craftsmen in Indonesia transforms the concept into a finished piece.
“We have a unique process where we’re involved from the very first sketch to the final product,” he says. “That allows us to create furniture that many others simply don’t dare to make.”
Built to Last
At Other Furniture®, solid teak and oak remain the foundation of many commissions, often paired with marble, sintered stone, metal, fabric and genuine leather.
For Lukas, the choice of material is about more than aesthetics.
“Our work is based on finding the right balance between price and quality,” he says. “Personally, I always look for quality materials because we put so much effort into the design and manufacturing process. We want our furniture to last for years—ideally decades.”
Traditional detailing meets everyday functionality in this bamboo-motif cabinet, designed with a fold-out work surface to accommodate the homeowner’s two sewing machines.
That philosophy has resonated with homeowners looking beyond trend-driven interiors towards pieces that can become permanent fixtures within the home.
While the studio also creates built-in cabinetry, it has become especially known for bespoke loose handmade furniture, much of it made from solid wood—from dining tables and sideboards to consoles and statement pieces tailored to each client’s space and lifestyle.
Importantly, there is no signature aesthetic that clients are expected to conform to.
Rather than working within one particular design style, Lukas and his team adapt each piece to the homeowner and interior. That can mean sleek contemporary furniture incorporating LED lighting and sophisticated hardware for one project, followed by a traditional piece featuring intricate carving and old-school craftsmanship for the next.
“We work with interior designers designing Good Class Bungalows with generous budgets,” Lukas says. “But we’re equally happy helping an auntie living in an HDB who simply wants one beautiful piece of furniture. Anyone looking for good quality at a reasonable price is welcome.”
Every Piece Tells a Story
Over the years, the commissions have become increasingly ambitious.
“In the beginning, it wasn’t easy,” Lukas admits. “People didn’t know us. We had no references and no track record. But slowly we were trusted with more difficult projects and more challenging designs.”
For Lukas, bespoke furniture becomes especially interesting when the architecture itself presents a problem to solve.
A solid teak sideboard designed around an existing structural column, turning an architectural constraint into part of the furniture.
In one heritage HDB apartment, for instance, an existing structural column stood exactly where a sideboard was intended to go. Instead of treating it as an obstruction, the team designed the solid teak sideboard around it, integrating the column seamlessly into the furniture.
“For projects like this, I always visit the site personally and take very precise measurements,” Lukas explains. “We don’t want to overlook any detail. The final piece has to fit perfectly.”
Another homeowner, a mid-century design enthusiast, wanted a modern flat-screen television integrated into a TV stand that still felt true to the period.
Achieving the look required more than getting the proportions right. The team had to conceal the television within the design while ensuring the remote control continued to function and that power and cable connections remained accessible.
It is the kind of challenge that demonstrates how bespoke furniture can solve problems that an off-the-shelf piece simply cannot.
A custom three-metre-long dining table topped with sintered stone presented an unusual logistical challenge, requiring the piece to be carefully transported by staircase to the third floor.
Then there was the challenge of delivering a three-metre-long dining table to the third storey of a Good Class Bungalow without a lift.
“No problem,” Lukas says with a smile. With the help of eight movers, the table eventually made its way upstairs. The bigger challenge, he explains, had actually happened much earlier: engineering dismantlable legs that would allow the oversized piece to be transported while remaining completely stable once assembled.
Perhaps the studio’s proudest commission came in 2024, when Other Furniture® was entrusted with crafting armchairs used during Pope Francis’ visit to Singapore.
“The chairs were used by Pope Francis, the President of Singapore and the Prime Minister,” Lukas says. “Seeing such important people using our furniture made us incredibly proud. It meant the world to us.”
Fourteen bespoke armchairs crafted for the Prime Minister’s Office at the Istana, distinguished by intricately carved timber frames made to precise specifications.
Other notable commissions have included 14 armchairs for the Prime Minister’s Office at the Istana, where artisans had to meet exacting specifications while executing intricate hand-carved details on the timber frames.
Naema showcases another side of Other Furniture®’s capabilities, with custom elements coming together to shape the restaurant’s distinctive atmosphere.
The company’s capabilities have also extended into hospitality and commercial interiors. For Naema on Keong Saik Road, its third project for the same Moroccan client, the team went beyond supplying loose furniture to produce feature walls, bar counters, cabinetry and custom lighting in keeping with the restaurant’s Arabic and Mediterranean concept. Much of the interior fit-out was manufactured at its Indonesian workshop, minimising the need for extensive fabrication on site.
For a Sushi Tei outlet in Punggol, the studio was commissioned to produce the restaurant’s chairs, interpreting its Japanese design direction through solid oak and high-quality synthetic leather.
Today, Other Furniture®’s work extends well beyond Singapore, with bespoke pieces finding their way into homes and commercial spaces in Italy, France, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa and the United States.
Looking Ahead
As Other Furniture® approaches its tenth anniversary, its home at Tan Boon Liat Building remains an important part of the company’s story.
With Tan Boon Liat Building now sold in a collective sale, Lukas sees the eventual move not as an end, but as an opportunity to evolve. Should relocation become necessary, he hopes to create a larger showroom that can showcase a broader variety of furniture and give homeowners more room to explore the company’s bespoke capabilities. Until then, he intends to remain in the same unit it has called home since 2017, continuing to serve clients from the place where its journey first began.
For now, however, there are no plans to leave.
And wherever the showroom eventually calls home, the philosophy behind the business is unlikely to change.
“We’re not interested in making furniture that’s only beautiful on the day it’s delivered,” he says. “We want people to still be enjoying it many years later.”
While trends may come and go, thoughtfully designed furniture—crafted with care, quality materials and an understanding of how people truly live—is something homeowners rarely regret investing in.
Visit Other Furniture® at 315 Outram Road, #14-02A, Tan Boon Liat Building, Singapore 169074.
