About Us

ARKADEMIE designs and handcrafts MEANINGFUL, DURABLE and HERITAGE products using environmentally sustainable resources and processes, while practicing inclusive and socially-responsible employment within its business community.
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ARKADEMIE began as a humble pursuit to hand-made design journals and sketchbooks for personal use.  Being a designer and educator for nearly 30 years, James Lee, the founder of the company, has always documented the process of design through drawings, sketches and written texts.  However, most design notebooks and journals are not durable, at least not longer than the creative periods of their users.  Design and artistic contents in journals and sketchbooks become valuable over time, so journals and sketchbooks should last a lifetime too - a testimony of the users' creative journeys and experiences.
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As a design practitioner, James has kept a collection of over forty design journals over nearly three decades of practice, and unfortunately many have depreciated in structure and are disintegrating rapidly.  Lamenting over the state of his journals and out of necessity, James started creating for himself design journals with natural leather covers and premium drawing papers for the purpose of preserving creative design and artistic contents.  These journals and sketchbooks would eventually become heirloom and heritage to be handed down to younger generations of design practitioners.
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Natural full-grained vegetable-tanned leather, being a naturally processed material, is durable, flexible and beautiful to be used as journal covers as well as many implements and accessories.  Over time, James began designing and handcrafting a myriad of leather goods specially for clients and the creative professionals, while maintaining a focus on understated aesthetics, clear functionality and durability.
 
As the collection grew, ARKADEMIE was established and had collaborated with leather-craft and book-binding artisans to bring leather journals, sketchbooks, book covers, implements and accessories for the discerning professionals. 
 

We Preserve Your Creative Legacies

 

Creative ideas should last for generations.

  • At ARKADEMIE, we believe that design journals and sketchbooks - repositories for creative ideas and experiences - should last for generations beyond the creative lives of their users and become valuable heirloom to younger practitioners.
  • We source for genuine leather materials and premium drawing papers for the preserving of creative design and artistic contents. Vegetable-tanned leather, being a naturally processed material, is durable for use as covers, implements and accessories.  Mould-made cotton papers of archival grade from reputable mills ensure that creative contents can last for at least a hundred years.  Each handcrafted item - like its user - is uniquely beautiful. 
  • Timeless aesthetics, clear functionality and durability define our products because we believe that good design is not just being responsible; good design is ethical and right.
 

We Practise Responsible Manufacturing

  • We design every collection in our studio.  This allows us to have full control over the materials used and details in our products that make them unique and valuable.
  • We use eco-friendly and long-lasting materials so that we do not deplete the world’s valuable resources.  Our leather materials can last a lifetime when well-maintained; our papers can technically last for at least a hundred years without deteriorating.  Production is kept in small batches and just-in-time method is practiced so that valuable resources are not wasted.
  • We engage, train and employ artisans from special-needs communities to manufacture our products thereby providing meaningful and sustainable employment .  Every product is handcrafted, manually saddle-stitiched and finished - a time-honoured method embraced by traditional craftsmen.

Our Corporate Clients

We have collaborated with a wide spectrum of distinguished clients across diverse fields to realize meaningful and memorable products:

Autism Resource Centre Singapore
Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore
Barclays Investment Bank
BUGATTI Singapore - HATCH Design Consultants
Design Business Chamber Singapore
EDEN School
ERA Realty Network Singapore
Fei-Yue Family Service Singapore
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
Medinex Limited
Ministry of Social and Family Development
National Heritage Board
National Archives - National Library Board
National Museum Singapore
Overjoyed Art Supplies
Singapore Polytechnic
Singapore Airlines - KrisShop Pte Ltd
Society for the Physically Disabled
Takashimaya SC, Singapore
Temasek Polytechnic

    Stores

    Stores with our selected collections are available at:
     

    Overjoyed Art & Stationery Store

    2 Handy Road, B1-11 The Cathay, Singapore 229233


     
    Urban de.Fine Shop

    6 Raffles Blvd, #02-179 Marina Square, Singapore 039594