Beyond Valentine’s: How These Creative Couples Make It Work
Creative collaboration is rarely a straight line. We sat down with five multi-hyphenate couples to discuss the 24/7 reality of professional and personal partnership.
They say you should never work with the person you love, but for these creatives, their work has evolved (directly or indirectly) thanks to their partners. Here, they share what’s worked for them (or not):
SEE KAYE & NABEEL GUNN-SINGO
The people responsible for creating and running the popular Harajuku-inspired J-fashion festival Konbini SG: See Kaye (right) and Nabeel Gunn‑Singco
Meet the duo behind Konbini SG, the Harajuku-inspired festival and marketplace injecting maximalist J-fashion energy into the local scene. Kaye (on right), a philosophy student nd the festival’s founder, is the execution specialist who traded “clean girl” aesthetics for bold, oversaturated design. Beside her is Nabeel, a HR student who handles the festival’s Comms and PR. After matching on OKCupid over a shared knowledge of gyaru style, the two made things official. Today, they balance student life with large-scale events, proving that radical kindness and open communication are the ultimate business tools.
A snapshot of a recent fashion show that was part of a Konbini SG event last year.
How have you influenced each other creatively?
See Kaye (SK): “He’s the first person to ever validate my love for bold and oversaturated colours and maximalist detail in fashion and design! I remember fussing over Konbini-related social media posts back before we were even dating and he’d praise my editing, which made me grow a lot more confident in my creative style, which sticks out in a world of clean and minimalist small business Instagram feeds.
As a person, I think I’ve gotten way more confident too in interacting with people, and he’s taught me to value myself more, especially in social settings. It’s a huge step up for a girl who used to be so socially anxious!”
Nabeel Gunn‑Singco (NGS): “We grew individually as well as a team. As a person, I’ve become more patient and understanding as I got to work with my girlfriend. Creatively, I think I became more open-minded and flexible, especially when it comes to brainstorming and coming up with different business ideas for Konbini. We also complement each other perfectly; Kaye is shy and on-the-ball, while I am more social and laid-back. We balance each other out and cover for each other where the other is lacking.”
What’s a project where you both worked together on, and how did that turn out?
SK: “We worked more closely on Konbini 4.0 than any other event, with him taking over various jobs like making calls to sponsors, communicating with vendors and hiring security, while I focused on things new to me like editing our first community magazine! While I was super worried about things that were hard to predict like the turnout rate and sales, he was always reassuring me that my efforts would pay off and everything would go great. Thankfully he was right! We also emceed together for Konbini’s very first J-fashion runway event, and I remember the moments before the show were the most stress I’d seen him endure – once it kicked off though, it went super well! He’s a great emcee with a great voice.”
NGS: “I’ve been with Kaye for every instalment of Konbini since Konbini 3.0. So far, every edition has been successful, thankfully.”
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to couples thinking about working together?
SK: “Be kind to one another! Always be willing to hear each other out and acknowledge the good in each other’s ideas, even if you disagree with them.”
NGS: “Never stop communicating. Ever. Even if it seems so mundane and minuscule, something left unsaid has the potential to create misunderstandings and disagreements in the future.”
AMIRUL NAZREE & ZOE CHEN
Designer couple Zoe Chen (left) and Amirul Nazree
Both designers, Amirul is a spatial designer who has done spatial, exhibition and branding design for the likes of Esplanade, *SCAPE, and Magazine for Young Girls, while Zoe specialises in work place interior design, though she’s also a practicing ikebana artist in her free time. The two have always travelled in similar circles and attended the same events, before fate in the form of mutual friends finally introduced them to each other.
What’s a project where you both worked together on, and how did that turn out?
Zoe Chen (ZC): “We recently collaborated on a project where Amirul designed and built a metal object that acted as a vessel, and I responded through ikebana. It turned out really well — he made a vessel that doesn’t hold water, so I had to figure out how to work with that limitation. That challenge made the collaboration feel alive, and you can really see both of our personalities in the final piece: his structure setting the stage, and the flowers bringing softness and movement into it.”
Best (or worst) part about collaborating with your partner:
ZC: “The best part is seeing how our differences complement each other. Amirul is confident and concept-driven, and I bring a practical, intuitive perspective — together it creates something neither of us could do alone.”
Amirul Nazree (AN): “The challenging part? Sometimes our structured approaches clash, and it takes patience to work through it. But even that tension usually makes the final result stronger.”
What is one aspect of your partner’s creativity you wish you could possess, and why?I
ZC: “I admire Amirul’s ability to see the big picture and set a clear direction from the start. His confidence and conceptual clarity make decision-making so much faster, saving a lot of second-guessing!”
AN: “When I do my design thinking, I tend not to know when to stop. With Zoe, she is always conscious about timelines, etc., so that framework helps me move on to the next thing without overthinking.”
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to couples thinking about working together?
ZC: “Don’t aim to work the same way — aim to work well together. It’s cliched, but communication is key. Be clear about roles, respect each other’s strengths, and let the differences show in the work. That’s usually where the most interesting things happen. And enjoy the process!”
COLLETTE MILES & SHERYL PHUA
Collette Miles (right) and Sheryl Phua, chefs and founders of inapickle supper club.
You’ll have seen their popular year-old private dining series inapickle on social media, which initially started as a Hotate Kueh Pie Tee delivery service, before being expanded into a supper club known for its cosy vibes and unpretentious communal dishes. Now meet the women who run it: life and business partners Collette Miles and Sheryl Phua. By day, Miles does marketing at a design studio, while Phua handles business operations in a tech company, and on the weekends, they co-run inapickle together. Theirs is a modern-day love story; having followed each other on Instagram since 2017, a mutual friend introduced them IRL in 2023, and it was pretty much a case of right place and time from there.
What’s a project where you both worked together on, and how did that turn out?
CM: “The first time we prepped for our Kueh Pie Tee delivery in December 2024, I told Sheryl she was being micromanage-y hahaha. Because she had a vision of what she intended for the packaging to look like but I was not privy to that vision. Fast forward to today, after about 100 dinner services and a couple of events, I can quite confidently say that we work like a well-oiled machine with little friction and a lot of communication.”
SP: “It wasn’t a big project but planning Collette’s birthday when we first got together gave us a glimpse of how well we work as a team. She wanted to host a home-based cafe-style celebration and I was overseas at that time. We divided and conquered – I handled the menu planning, she took care of the execution. Bam bam bam, some discussion, a lot of fun, and everything came together really smoothly. We are very different people and that works for us beautifully.”
The duo’s kueh pie tee.
How have you influenced each other creatively?
Collette Miles (CM): “I’ve always been a more left-brained, artsy person growing up but I’ve always stuck to what I was taught and what I knew. Being with someone who never came from a formal creative childhood opened my eyes to so many other ways creativity shows up — in cooking, in problem-solving, in finding inspiration in unexpected places. To be honest, Sheryl is far more creative than I am! As a person, I’ve learnt to lean into chaos, and to let go when things don’t quite fall into my gridlines (I’m a very square, type A person).”
Sheryl Phua (SP): “Collette is definitely more structured than I am, and being with her has helped me see that creativity doesn’t have to be chaotic to be meaningful. I’ve learnt to slow down, think more intentionally, and care about the small details – not just the big picture. As a person, I think I’ve become softer and more patient. I’m more aware of how I show up, not just in what I do, but in how I do it.”
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to couples thinking about working together?
CM: “Communicate about things outside of work, and protect your quality time. Working together is a privilege, but it can easily blur boundaries, and it doesn’t replace time spent just being partners.”
SP: “Have a lot of fun, don’t sweat the small stuff, don’t argue just to win, always end the day as partners first — and hugs and kisses before bed.”
HAFIZAH JAINAL & SEAN SUNDARAN
Musician Sean Sundaran (left) and artist and illustrator Hafizah Jainal
Hafizah (popularly known as Hafi) is a Singaporean illustrator and visual artist whose work focuses on the intersection of identity, heritage, and personal history, while Sundaran is a major figure in the music scene, being a music curator, runnning Blacklised Productions (a promotion and booking agency), as well as playing in several bands, including Losing End, Mystique, Wreckonize and Agni.
How has being together changed how you see yourself as a creative?
Sean Sundaran (SS): “Being together with Hafi feels like I don’t have to hide the things that I am passionate about because we are equally as passionate about our craft and our work. It doesn’t feel like I have to dumb down the things that I am explaining and I don’t have to downplay my achievements for her to understand what they mean to me.”
Hafizah Jainal (HJ): “Sean gives me a lot of encouragement when I have imposter syndrome and he always believes in me even on days when I don’t believe in myself. I learnt to be kinder to myself and acknowledge that my craft is necessary and important.”
What’s a project where you both worked together on, and how did that turn out?
HJ: “We did work together for (tattoo festival) Super Tattoo Funtimes and Sean helped me out when I participated at Singapore Art Book Fair 2023. We have very different working styles. I am very much a planner and I have a system when I work. I do get overwhelmed and stressed easily — Sean, on the other hand, works great under pressure. He may not be as systematic as me but he is very resourceful and he always gets the job done. I think we complement each other a lot this way.”
Sean helping out Hafizah when she was an exhibitor at Singapore Art Book Fair 2023.
What is one aspect of your partner’s creativity you wish you could possess, and why?
SS: “I wish I was as visually creative as Hafi. If I had her skill, I would be able to do way more to complement my own art form.”
HJ: “I would like to possess Sean’s performing skills and stage presence. If I were as confident as him, I think I would be capable of doing anything.”
GIAN JONATHAN & ASTRI NURSALIM
Creative directors Gian Jonathan (in background) and Astri Nursalim.
They are the brains behind one of Singapore’s cutest retail spaces - Heartware Store & Gallery, which opened last April in the Joo Chiat enclave and has since put on a series of shows by an impressive roster of local and international artists and illustrators. The story gets even sweeter - Gian and Astri met in high school, and have long been colleagues (they’re creative directors) by day at the feted local design agency Kinetic Singapore.
Tucked away on the third floor of a shophouse in Joo Chiat, Heartware Store & Gallery is a cosy haven for art lovers and curious browsers alike, offering a playful mix of merch and artworks by Singapore and international artists, alongside vintage toys, homeware and quirky finds from Japan.
How has being together changed how you see yourself as a creative — and as a person?
Astri Nursalim (AN): “In our case, we were together first before we became creatives. We feel that being open to the creative process, being honest about what we like, and respecting each other’s feedback helps a lot for us to grow both as creatives and as a couple.”
What’s a project where you both worked together on, and how did that turn out?
AN: “We have worked together in our creative agency for the past 13 years, so there are too many to mention!”
Among the many projects the couple has worked on includes The (Not-So) Convenience Store. An inaugural exhibition for Temasek Shophouse that subverted the familiar convenience store format by stocking it with ‘inconvenient’ sustainable alternatives, cheekily exposing the true environmental cost of everyday convenience culture.
What are some creative differences you might have?
AN: “I think Gian is more spontaneous, while I tend to think a lot.”
Gian Jonathan (GJ): “She can plan better than me.”
And how do you guys resolve those differences?
AN: “By talking it out. Gian will tell me his take and address my concerns, and at the same time he understands my feelings or concerns, if any, and takes them into our creative process.”
GJ: “More often than not, our creative judgement is actually very in sync. Seldom do we have different choices, and even if we do, we just talk it out and are very objective about which one works and which one doesn’t.”
Best (or worst!) part about collaborating with your partner:
AN: “Staying late (in the office) together.”