“For as long as I can remember, I was always telling stories.”
Bernice | Visual Storyteller & Archivist
For over 15 years, Bernice’s work has centered on a single truth: everybody has a story worth telling.
Before founding The Exclave, Bernice worked as a fashion designer and commercial illustrator, translating complex concepts and histories into fabric and form. Yet, searching for a deeper mastery of craft, she moved to Tokyo to pursue a Master’s degree specialising in Japanese culture and design. It was there, immersed in a culture where true mastery is defined by quiet care, subtle details and zero shortcuts, that her perspective shifted completely.
She realised that design shouldn't be reserved for mass-market products on store shelves or confined to elite creative circles and that great work, at its core, is a result of profound respect for the human story.
Most people look for shortcuts. They prioritise speed over soul, settling for mass production and immediate gratification. But as Steve Jobs famously observed, true excellence is never achieved by those seeking the easy route:
"Great work is done by people who care deeply about details that no one notices... that level of taste, that insistence on beauty even where it's invisible—that's where excellence begins."
This exact philosophy drives every piece that she creates. Every detail designed to go into the piece adds to the story and although some may be overlooked or be entirely hidden to the outside world, what truly matters is that they are known and felt by the story bearer.
Returning to Singapore, Bernice spent four years as an adjunct lecturer at Lasalle College of the Arts, teaching the next generation of designers how to map and materialise their ideas and stories in their head. Simultaneously, she opened The Exclave, a private studio that was primarily a tattoo space for 8 years. There, she has guided over 1,000 clients to uncover the rich symbolism hidden within their own lives.
Today, The Exclave has expanded beyond skin into original illustrations on paper and customised objects, because personal stories are far too vast to live on a single canvas.
Bernice operates on three beliefs for every client who steps into the studio:
Your Story is Enough: You never need pre-made templates or flash sheets. Your life is already layered and rich enough to draw from — our job is simply to give it form.
Your Voice is Creative: Great ideas come from collaboration. You bring the memory and story and we translate that together through in-person conversation.
Intention Over Noise: In a world that moves too fast, we co-create bespoke pieces designed to stay with you forever.
