Interview with Point One Technology Pte. Ltd.

Point One Technology is based in Singapore and focuses on engineering high-performance ceiling fans and ventilation solutions for tropical living. We design our products in-house, from core mechanical systems to user experience and form.

Design, for us, is an approach to translate engineering intent into usable, meaningful products. It is the process of addressing constraints with thoughtful, practical, and reliable solutions.

We prefer designing functional products that people use every day, especially those where engineering and user experience are tightly connected.

It would be the Storm Smart Corner Fan for us. It allowed us to reimagine effective ventilation solutions in constrained or irregular spaces - a major challenge that homes in Singapore face. The Storm Corner fan has been a hit with our customers, and we have been investing more resources in refining the concept and preparing the next version.

Point One Technology started out as a lighting distribution company in the late 1980s. Our first in-house solution was, interestingly enough, light bulbs. In 2016, we started our ceiling fan division, and every ceiling fan has been designed in-house ever since.

We love experimenting with new material technologies. Ceiling fans are high-usage appliances, and every bit of material engineering improvement can yield significant gains in airflow and energy savings. We have been experimenting with new reinforced glass fibre solutions for fan blades, to improve their load-bearing capacity, for greater longevity and higher power operation.

When testing prototypes and identifying failure points. We regularly perform failure and stress tests on our solutions to understand how ceiling fans can be made stronger and more reliable. Constraints often lead to the best solutions.

Function, reliability, and how the product will be used over many years.

We often find ourselves in a state of curiosity and eagerness when we are designing the next product or solution.

We feel excited but also, again, eager to think about what's next. For us, engineering and design is a continuous journey. We are constantly thinking about what could make our fans better, how are our fans fitting into the lifestyles of tomorrow. In a way, every time we cross the finish line, we are just getting started.

Our true validation comes from our customers but not only in the way which they choose to by our fans, but their feedback on their lived experiences with them. It really warms our hearts when repeat customers, who first bought their fans with us in 2016-2018 are coming to us to get new ceiling fans from us.

We consider who it is for. Identifying the target user is give context to "good/bad".

To design products that last longer, waste less energy, and reduce the need for replacement.

Design is becoming more systems-oriented, focusing on integration, efficiency, and long-term impact rather than surface styling.

Our products are experienced primarily in homes and showrooms. In a way, Singaporean homes are our showcases.

We have a constant pulse on our customers and are guided by their feedback. We also keep a close eye on long-lasting design trends and use them to inspire the exterior designs of our ceiling fans. Ceiling fans are often front and centre in homes, and our fans, while high-performing and reliable, also need to complement the interior design of homes.

Engineering-led, restrained, and functional. Form follows performance.

We are based in Singapore. The climate, space constraints, and energy awareness strongly influence our design decisions.

We design for ourselves, but we are also open to co-designing products, in a way that brings value to our customers.

Be clear about the problem you want solved, and allow more time than you would expect for iteration and testing, and feedback collection.

We start with the problem, develop engineering concepts, build prototypes, test them to failure, refine, and repeat until performance and usability align.

For our chief designer, his favourite items are a plain paper note book from MUJI, a Sarasa 0.5mm Pen, and a simple 2B pencil. According to him, these are simple but highly functional, and are well-designed and allows him to design the next product for the company.

A typical day involves checking in with the company's installation specialists to gather feedback from them and the customers they inteface with. He would also check in with some retail partners and interior designers. Once that is done, he will review the existing action plans for the month, prioritising time between more urgent design improvements and new product development. There will also be regular weekly meetings to discuss the design changes with everyone in the team, gather collective feedback, and decide on what should be implemented.

Be deeply curious about your design in every way. How do the technologies within work? What would your target audience feel about your design?

A big positive for us at Point One is knowing that we are creating ventilation solutions that improve daily life and our customers are giving us positive feedback about it.

A negative is that we need to balance ideal solutions with real-world constraints. We could make, in-our eyes, the "ultimate fan", but it would likely exceed the use case for a majority of our customers and become way too expensive to be a realistic solution.

The simpler the design, the more effective and reliable it will be.

Problem analysis, technical understanding. Resilience is also very important as part of a designer's mindset.

CAD software, alot of 3D printing for prototypes, and (Failure) testing equipment.

We set milestones to better manage designing timelines, especially as we have multiple product series. However, we have to be felixible at times, as manufacturing delays or setbacks are unavoidable in the real world, and we have to accomodate them.

Usually it takes 1-2 years. Storm Corner fan took us 3-4 years due to the complexity of the design.

Chief designer: It is usually about the timeline of the design progress. Our team is always asking, especially our sales and marketing teams, because our customers would start asking once we tease a new product.

Chief designer: When the company was a distributor of lighting equipment, we saw that what was available to Singaporeans heavily depended on what we (lighting distributors in general) could bring into the local market. We started designing our own lighting solutions, even including smart functions back in the early 2010s when the concept of a smart home was pretty nacent. We received great interest for our lights. That period showed us that we could do more for our local market and that we could create something that they wanted.

Our fans can be found in Singaporean homes, we have sold around 60,000 fans till date. We also have commercial clients and education institutions such as Singapore EDITION Hotel, Civil Service Club @ Changi, Temasek Polytechnic, just to name a few.

There's a certain sense of achievement in designing components that are hidden away, such as the motor assembly, gearing components, knowing that they are the reason why the fans feel like they "just work" so well and the real reason why our customers enjoy our fans.

To continue developing ventilation solutions that adapt better to modern living spaces. We have new ceiling fan and corner fan solutions lined up for 2026-2030.

Chief Designer: Our team is very important for me to come up with new/improved designs, even if they are from a different discipline (i.e. sales, marketing, operations).

We are working on the next generation of the Storm Corner Fan, slated for release in the second half of 2026

They can reach us at enquiry@pointonetechnology.com for business and collaboration conversations.