Perched 57 floors above the city, LAVO Singapore is a stunning blend of skyline spectacle and coastal escape. By day, the skyline stretches uninterrupted across the dining room and terrace. By night, the city becomes a backdrop to something warmer, more intimate, and distinctly Mediterranean in tone.
Set within Marina Bay Sands, the restaurant carries the global DNA of TAO Group Hospitality’s LAVO brand while responding to Singapore’s climate and pace. Global hospitality design agency greymatters led the restaurant’s recent evolution. Founded in Singapore and working internationally across restaurants, hotels and lifestyle venues, the studio approaches each project as an integrated collaboration between interiors, lighting and operations from the outset.
We spoke with greymatters Senior Interior Designer Jaeni Shah and Lighting Design Team Leader Gap Oukrit Thubtong about the thinking behind the design, the role of light in shaping intimacy at scale, and how NEOZ cordless table lighting became part of the restaurant’s operational and atmospheric language.
Jaeni Shah, Senior Interior Designer, and Gap Oukrit Thubtong, Lighting Design Team Leader at greymatters, who led the interior and lighting design of LAVO Singapore. Image courtesy of greymatters.
How did the Marina Bay skyline setting influence your design decisions? With such a constant luminous backdrop, how did you establish the right lighting balance inside?
Jaeni: You can’t ignore the Marina Bay skyline. It’s the backdrop to everything we did. However, our primary mission was reintroducing and evolving LAVO Singapore. We wanted a design that transports diners by bringing Mediterranean warmth to a high-altitude setting.
That came with challenges. Mediterranean plants like olive and lemon trees don’t naturally thrive in Singapore’s humidity and heavy rain, but they’re essential to the concept. There was a lot of contingency planning behind the scenes to keep the space lush and alive long-term.
Gap: The view is undeniably the draw during the day, but the evening is when the room really comes alive. We struck a careful balance between light and shadow, using antiglare techniques to keep the focus on the experience. Regardless of the hour, we’ve equipped the operator with a programmable system that makes managing the transition from daylight to dinner effortless.
LAVO has a strong New York–Italian identity. How did you interpret that for Singapore, in this setting?
Jaeni: Having worked closely with the TAO Group team on this evolution of LAVO Singapore, the direction became less New York–Italian and more sun-drenched, refined rustic Mediterranean. With LAVO’s established DNA in mind, we focused on making it resonate with the Singapore market. We developed recognisable custom prints with our branding team and adapted them across flooring, furnishings and decorative lighting, including NEOZ. That gave LAVO Singapore a distinct identity while still feeling unmistakably part of the wider brand.
LAVO Singapore’s dining room balances Mediterranean warmth with skyline spectacle, where layered lighting and cordless table lamps create intimacy within a grand, open plan. Photography by Adisorn Ruangsiridecha, courtesy of greymatters.
In a venue of this scale, was it a challenge to create moments of intimacy?
Gap: We have a saying at greymatters: bad lighting often kills even the best interior design. No exceptions. From day one, lighting and interiors were developed together to achieve intimacy within the guest experience. We don’t just “add lights.” We layer and position them to create warmth and depth in every zone. When the lighting is right, you feel it. When it’s wrong, you feel it immediately.
LAVO moves from early evening dining to late-night energy. How does the lighting shift across that arc?
Gap: Lighting at LAVO is a choreography. In the early evening, we work with the remaining natural light. As night falls, ambient light fixtures — pendants, wall sconces and table lamps — become more prominent.
Outdoors, it’s interesting: there’s very little architectural lighting along the perimeter. It’s largely the table lamps and subtle plant lighting that create the mood. On the glossy tiled tables, the lamps reflect softly, which enhances intimacy. At night, with less ambient light around, the table lamp becomes the focal point.
Emi Avora’s expressive artworks punctuate the tiled columns of LAVO Singapore, reinforcing the venue’s Mediterranean identity as cordless table lamps define intimate moments at the table.
From a design and operational perspective, what made cordless table lighting the right choice for this project?
Jaeni: It’s a no-brainer. LAVO Singapore has very high traffic and turnover. Tables are constantly being reconfigured, combined, separated, and reshaped. We even designed foldable tables that can form different layouts depending on the booking. That flexibility had to work with the lighting. Because the lamps are cordless, they move effortlessly with the space. There’s no wiring to worry about, no restrictions. It allows the dining room to breathe and evolve. They’re also practical: easy to maintain, easy to reset, easy for the operations team to manage.
Gap: In some areas, we couldn’t introduce new ceiling wiring due to site constraints. The cordless table lamps allowed us to create focused, intimate moments at the table without altering the infrastructure. When ambient lighting is dimmed, the table lamps concentrate the experience onto the dining setting. They become the focal point.
How would you describe the experience you set out to create for guests? Is there a particular moment in the day when you feel it comes alive most clearly?
Jaeni: As hospitality designers, we start every project with a single question: What is the “Return on Experience” (ROE) for the guest? If we can forge a genuine connection between the person, what's on the plate, and the room, we’ve done our job. For me, that feeling really comes alive at night. When the surrounding light falls away, the space becomes more focused and intimate. The lighting takes on more presence, and the atmosphere feels stronger.
Gap: I would say the same about the transition into the evening. There’s a moment at sunset when natural light remains, but decorative lighting begins to emerge. That shift creates a very charming, layered mood. It feels seamless, and that’s when the experience becomes memorable.
