Colin Chen

Founder and Creative Director, The General Company, The Refinery

Singapore

Colin Chen is the founder and creative director of The General Company as well as The Refinery, the first being Singapore’s pioneer collective driving local craft movement and the latter, a 3 storey multi-concept space housing a restaurant, a speakeasy bar and a creative workspace all within an industrial building located in Jalan Besar, the hardware district of Singapore.

Besides being a serial entrepreneur, Colin is also a trained leather artisan. Beyond that, Colin’s diverse background includes brand design, manufacturing, retail, business development and marketing as well as delving in F&B in recent years. Under The General Company, Colin currently oversees the growth of the craft community bringing together young independent artisans and designers, providing them with support to grow and scale

up their businesses at the same time creating a better platform for them to connect with other like minded individuals and potential customers. At the same time, The Refinery was introduced as a community driven space to bring creatives from various disciplines together to foster a more inclusive design environment.

In his free time, he enjoys travelling, shooting portrait and landscape photography and meeting other inspiring personalities.