INSPIRATION FROM THE RENAISSANCE

“I picked the name Palladio because Andrea Palladio was a modern architect during the Italian Renaissance. His architecture was unadorned, ‘clean’ and elegant. Simple well-proportioned forms crafted out of good materials were the basis of his work,” Kam said.

“Though times have moved on and we have access to a wider variety of materials and building techniques the lessons of Andrea Palladio still resonate and instruct us in the design of beautiful spaces,” he continued.

In the 1990s, the interior market in Malaysia was dominated by decorators focused on putting up soft furnishings without any thought on managing the utilization of space. The architects, meanwhile, saw the building’s interior as either an after-thought or a responsibility to be passed on the owner.

It was a vacuum that Dennis Kam saw an opportunity to fill. Recognizing the need for proper Interior Design services that covered both furnishing and space planning, Kam started up Palladio Interiors in 1993.

PORTFOLIO

RESIDENTIAL

The Type C2 Acruz Show Unit by Exsim Group located at Wisma Bentley, Kuala Lumpur. The main idea of this design is to have a compact and stylish home for a young artistic couple.

FOOD & BEVERAGE

The Burnin’ Pit by Global Food Initiatives located at Desa Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur. The corner shop is to give a Southern American feel with the menu serving BBQ flavours with local Malaysian cuisine as well. The entire setting embodies a traditional American design inside out.

RETAIL

Now, everyone is familiar with Starling Mall located in the middle of Damansara Uptown, Petaling Jaya. With the theme being “the mall in a park,” the objective is to allow visitors to relax in a familiar environment. 365 individually crafted birds to represent each day of the year.

Palladio Interiors is a 28 year old award-winning design consultancy which caters to all types of interior architecture design industry from residential to retail all the way to corporate.

“He refocused our strategy by working with a small number of clients who had larger projects. This pivot proved to be extremely successful and we still work with most of these clients today. Thanks to them and others, we are now a multi-disciplinary firm offering both consultancy and design and build services,” Kam concluded.

With clients like See Hoy Chan, Mah Sing, Triterra, and Gamuda Land now in its portfolio, Palladio Interiors is now back in robust health. The company currently boasts a multicultural team of twenty staff under its employment and is primed to tackle even bigger challenges in the years to come.

In its early years, Palladio rode on a booming economy and accumulated a healthy body of work for a new firm. They were commissioned to design and fit-out the Law College in Wisma Tun Sambathan, a hotel in Chinatown, and numerous apartments and houses.

“There were plenty of new condominiums and we were ready to work with them. Initially it was a struggle to find good builders and trying to ensure quality was high was a constant problem. This in part was due to the early 1990s booming economy, for example my upholsterer left his job to play the stock market!” Kam recalls.

The 1997 Asian financial crisis was a testing time for Palladio, with the firm having to reduce its size two years later just to stay afloat. Kam decided to hand the reins over to Dion Vercoe, freeing himself to pursue other opportunities.