We looked at each other and thought, ah, maybe not. We were literally on our way out when they very kindly said, “You know what, stay. You know the owner.”

Thank goodness we did. Pillars is an amazing space inside the historic Guang’er Warehouse, an old industrial building along the river. The gallery only opened in 2025, and its name comes partly from the extraordinary columns running through the building. It is one of those spaces where the architecture is almost as interesting as the art.

And then we discovered Li Chuangli. Born in Wuhan in 1991, Li Chuangli studied oil painting at Hubei Normal University and graduated in 2014. His work takes images and references from contemporary life, popular culture, advertising, commercial products and social media and turns them into these wonderfully strange oil paintings. There is something familiar about them, but also slightly unsettling. I absolutely loved them.

There was one enormous yellow painting that I completely fell for. It was 50,000 yuan, about RM30,000. Not that I could have afforded it, but it’s always good to dream. And anyway, it was already sold, so clearly it was not meant to be.

They always say with art that it isn’t really about what something costs. It’s about what it is worth to you, what you would pay if you could. And this one was just absolutely beautiful.

And then, of course, there is the Pillars Gallery Shop, which is dangerous in an entirely different way. I bought the most beautiful pair of 3D printed earrings with tiny drops of natural amber hanging underneath. They also had these extraordinary mirrors and a wonderful selection of objects and pieces that felt genuinely different. Not your usual gallery shop.

So what began with us almost walking out because we didn’t want to spend 50 yuan ended with discovering a young Chinese artist whose work I now love, buying a pair of earrings and adding another place to my Shanghai must-visit list.

Pillars Gallery is an absolute must.

Pillars Gallery
Guang’er Warehouse
195 Guangfu Road, Jing’an District, Shanghai

I received the most beautiful book for my birthday from Soraya, the wife of the Dutch ambassador: The Hidden Histories of Flowers by Maddie and Alice Bailey. Besides being a beautiful book to look at, it is filled with exactly the kind of stories I love.

It explores flowers through their origins, Latin names, fairy tales, mythology, symbolism and the relationships different countries and cultures have with them. There are quotes, wonderful illustrations and fascinating little pieces of history throughout. It is the kind of book you can open anywhere and immediately discover something you didn’t know.

And then, of course, I found the dandelion.

The dandelion has been Nala’s logo for the past five or six years. It came to us after a trip I made to Bangkok, and since then this little flower has become very much part of our identity. According to the book, dandelions have been around for some 30 million years, which means, technically, our logo is 30 million years old.

Dandelions have appeared in ancient Egyptian, Roman, Arabic and Anglo-Saxon texts, and have a long history as a medicinal plant, used by cultures across the world to treat all sorts of ailments. But there is even more to this little flower. Its stems and leaves contain a milky latex, and it has also been used to create natural dyes, with yellow coming from the flowers and purple tones from the leaves.

And then there is the question of what a dandelion actually is. Is it an invasive weed, an unwanted intruder that appears where it wasn’t invited? Or is it a beautiful wildflower that simply has an extraordinary ability to grow almost anywhere?

Perhaps that is exactly why I love it so much. The more you discover about the dandelion, the more remarkable it becomes. Resilient, useful, beautiful, ancient and almost impossible to contain. Its seeds travel with the wind, find somewhere new to land and start all over again.

The Hidden Histories of Flowers is beautifully illustrated, full of wonderful stories and a fantastic source of inspiration. I absolutely love it and can highly recommend it, both as a book to keep and as a beautiful gift.

Not forever. We have simply decided to focus all our Singapore energy on one shop, one team and one location. But before we leave, I wanted to say a proper thank you, because our time at TANGS has been such a happy one.

Our relationship started at Boutique Fairs, and from the beginning I absolutely adored the team. We laughed a lot, learned a lot and had such a good time together. TANGS is an incredible location, an inspiring department store and, most importantly, full of wonderful people.

But one of the things that made me love being there was the story of C.K. Tang himself.

He arrived in Singapore in 1923 and started by selling lace and linen door to door. Years later, he made a bold move and opened on Orchard Road, at a time when the area was nowhere near the shopping destination it is today. People thought the location was a terrible idea.

He bet on Orchard Road anyway. And he was right.

But what I love most is that his success was not built on cleverness alone. It was built on honesty. His philosophy was simple: tell the customer the truth, give them value, treat them properly and they will come back.

We can make the prettiest shop in the world, create beautiful patterns and dream up wonderful products, but none of that means very much if the person walking through the door does not feel looked after.

Retail is about people. So for now, we are putting all our focus into Great World. But we leave TANGS with a lot of love, very happy memories and huge affection for the people we met there.

This is not goodbye.

It is simply: see you again soon, TANGS.

The Thursday Show returns next week, and this season we’re trying something completely new. Instead of fitting one big story into five minutes, we’re telling it over four episodes. It gives us the time to slow down, explore in greater depth and discover the details that would otherwise be left on the cutting room floor.

We absolutely loved filming this new format. It’s more immersive, more thoughtful and gives us the freedom to follow our curiosity. Sometimes that means taking an unexpected turn, listening to a local recommendation or wandering down a street we would otherwise have missed. Those moments often lead to the most memorable discoveries.

Our first series is filmed in Singapore, where we uncovered some wonderful hidden gems that we’d never experienced before. That’s all we’re going to tell you for now.

We can’t wait to share this new chapter of The Thursday Show with you.

See you next Thursday.

Wednesday has become one of my favourite days of the week. It sits quietly in the middle, almost unnoticed. Monday arrives full of ambition and good intentions, Tuesday flies by, and before you know it, you’re already halfway through the week. At that point, you have a choice. You can simply coast towards Friday, or you can stop, reset and begin again.

That is why I believe Wednesday is the new Monday. It is a second chance without having to wait for another week. It is the perfect moment to look at what you promised yourself on Monday, notice what has fallen away and decide that the week is not finished yet. Because if I don’t treat Wednesday like Monday, it will already be Friday.

Interestingly, the name itself has a rather remarkable history. Wednesday comes from the Old English word Wōdnesdæg, meaning “Woden’s Day.” Woden, the Anglo-Saxon counterpart of Odin, was associated with wisdom, knowledge and discovery. I rather like the idea that the middle of the week has, for centuries, been connected with curiosity and the pursuit of something greater.

Wonderful Wednesday also began for deeply personal reasons. A long time ago, the universe gave me something on a Wednesday. Whether it was coincidence, fate or simply perfect timing, I still don’t know. I only know that ever since, Wednesdays have become my weekly reminder to stay open to whatever life has planned next.

 I don’t believe every person enters our lives by accident. Some arrive to stay, while others leave us with a different way of looking at the world. Some memories deserve a quiet little place in our lives without needing to become the entire story. They remind us to stay open, to stay curious and to trust that life has a habit of placing exactly the right people, moments and lessons in our path when we least expect them.

 That is why I never think of Wednesday as the middle of the week. I think of it as a weekly reboot. A chance to breathe, take responsibility for where I am and start again. You don’t need a new year, a new month or even a new week to change direction. Sometimes all you need is a Wednesday.

 So here’s to Wonderful Wednesday. May it remind you that there is still time. Time to begin again, to change your mind, to reconnect with your purpose and to stay open to the beautiful surprises the universe has not shown you yet.

My dear friend E-lene recently handed me a copy of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini, and I have to admit, I wondered how I’d managed to miss it for so many years. It’s considered one of the most influential books ever written on consumer psychology and marketing, with more than five million copies sold and a place on the bookshelf of countless entrepreneurs, marketers and business leaders.

Robert Cialdini isn’t a marketer trying to sell a theory. He’s a psychologist who spent years researching why people say “yes.” Rather than relying on opinions, he studied the science behind decision-making and identified seven universal principles that influence how we choose, trust and buy: reciprocity, commitment and consistency, social proof, authority, liking, scarcity and, in this expanded edition, unity. His work has fundamentally changed the way businesses think about communication, branding and customer relationships.

For me, the timing couldn’t have been better.

Singapore has become our testing ground. It’s where we’ve had some wonderful successes, but also where we’ve made mistakes, challenged assumptions and discovered that what works in one market doesn’t necessarily work in another. Retail today feels more volatile than ever, and understanding products is no longer enough. We need to understand people.

That’s exactly why I’m reading this book.

Not because I want to persuade people to buy things they don’t need, but because I want to better understand how people make decisions, what builds trust, and how we can communicate what Nala truly stands for in a way that resonates.

I’ve always believed that beautiful design is only half the story. The other half is understanding people. If we can create something meaningful and communicate it honestly, then perhaps that’s where real influence begins.

Perhaps that’s why this book found me now, and not twenty years ago.

I’ll let you know what I learn.