“I recommend trusted brands and natural materials to my clients. By the time a project is complete, many of them have become good friends. The reason is simple: they can feel my genuine passion for beautiful things and my joy in sharing them.”
— Serena Tseng, Design Director
S Design
The finest form of salesmanship is sending customers away with a smile. For an interior designer, success means creating a home that makes its owners smile every time they walk through the door. “You’ve worked hard to achieve what you have—you deserve the very best.” This is the philosophy of Serena Tseng, Design Director of S Design. By putting herself in her clients’ shoes, Serena recommends the materials and furniture she genuinely loves and uses herself. Every choice is authentic, personal, and driven by passion.
Serena’s path to becoming an interior designer has been anything but conventional. Before entering the design profession, she spent 12 years as the owner of a boutique hotel, sitting on the client side of the table and working closely with designers on planning and development. Eventually, the roles reversed, and she became the designer herself. Sixteen years have passed since she first entered the world of interior design.
Over the years, Serena has built an extensive network of resources and expertise, spanning furniture selection, hardware and materials, construction, and project coordination. Her command of every detail has made her particularly adept at designing luxury residences. When recommending furniture or materials, she often suggests pieces she personally uses and genuinely loves—and she does so with complete confidence: “If I recommend it to you, it’s because I believe it’s the best. I trust my eye.”
Image / An elegant feature wall in natural luxury stone brings sophistication and understated grandeur to the interior.
Travel as a Source of Inspiration
“Everyone understands the usefulness of what is useful, but few understand the usefulness of what seems useless.”
This idea, attributed to the ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi, comes from a story about a towering oak tree that a carpenter dismissed as useless because its wood was unsuitable for building boats or making furniture. Yet it was precisely this apparent lack of usefulness that spared the tree from being cut down, allowing it to survive for generations and grow into a magnificent canopy.
During her 12 years running a boutique hotel, Serena never imagined that she would one day become an interior designer. Yet those years helped cultivate her discerning eye for objects, materials, and craftsmanship. She has long admired and collected European fashion and luxury pieces from heritage brands with histories spanning more than a century.
But her lifestyle hardly fits the stereotype of leisurely afternoons spent over tea and luxury shopping. Serena is equally passionate about scuba diving, skiing, and climbing Taiwan’s highest peaks. These interests may appear unrelated to interior design, but they have arguably contributed to the decisiveness, stamina, and efficiency that define the way she works.
Asked where she finds inspiration, Serena answers without hesitation: travel.
With family living in New York, she is only a short drive away from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) whenever she visits.
“I stay there for a month or two every year, and I often go to The Met to see its classical collections and contemporary exhibitions.”
She also enjoys travelling throughout Europe, visiting historic landmarks and, on occasion, touring centuries-old furniture workshops at the invitation of suppliers.
“When you travel through Europe, you begin to understand that marble isn’t simply a symbol of luxury or expense. Stone is part of everyday life. It becomes furniture, walls, and architecture. It is exposed to rain and wind, touched and stained by people—and no one feels that it is too precious to live with.”
Image / The television feature wall is clad in large-format Vatican marble slabs, evoking the contemplative atmosphere of a European cathedral. The stone establishes a serene foundation for the interior, transforming the experience of coming home into an everyday retreat.
Serena points to Milan Cathedral (Duomo di Milano), whose construction spanned more than five centuries, as an example. Built largely from white marble, the cathedral was famously described by American writer Mark Twain as a “poem in marble.” The magnificent Gothic landmark witnessed Napoleon’s coronation and still bears traces of the destruction of the Second World War.
Reflecting on what travel has taught her, Serena says, “The more places you visit and the more you see, the more you realise just how extraordinary stone is as a natural material. It can last for generations, it’s incredibly durable, and these natural resources will only become scarcer. Of course they’re worth preserving and passing down.”
Her experience as a former client also shapes the way she approaches design today.
“Because I used to be the client, I understand what clients are looking for. I’m not thinking about how much money I can make from these materials or iconic designer furniture, so there’s no need for me to push anyone into buying them. I only recommend things I genuinely love. Clients can sense that sincerity, and naturally, they become more willing to invest in the finest materials and authentic furniture by the world’s leading designers.”
Image / The BELATRIX stone at the entrance creates an unmistakable sense of refinement and grandeur—a work of natural art that can never be replicated.
Three Residences by AArchi Construction, with Interior Budgets Rivaling the Cost of a Luxury Home
S Design recently completed three residences within a development by Tainan-based AArchi Construction. For homeowners seeking a private retreat in the heart of the city—one that offers everyday convenience while allowing them to leave the outside world behind the moment they step through the door—material selection becomes essential in defining that sense of escape.
Image / Three residences within this elegant luxury development in Tainan’s Anping District feature interiors by S Design and luxury stone from CHENHOW MARBLE.
The glass-clad building housing the three residences benefits from exceptional natural light. Even without artificial lighting during the day, daylight pours generously into the interiors. It is an ideal setting for expansive stone surfaces: large slabs reflect the natural light while reducing the need for overly elaborate decorative treatments. A single stone wall can become an artwork in itself—a quiet expression of nature and time.
Serena recalls an interesting story behind the material selection for these three projects.
“I’ve seen extraordinary stones overseas, but after visiting stone suppliers all across Taiwan, CHENHOW MARBLE was the only place where I found stones of this calibre.”
From the beginning of each project, Serena told her clients that if they were interested in distinctive and rare marble, it would be worth making the trip to CHENHOW MARBLE’s showroom. The homeowners included entrepreneurs and senior executives in the technology industry. Serena had initially offered the visit merely as a suggestion, but all three found time in their demanding schedules to make the journey—and each ultimately selected the defining stone for their residence at CHENHOW MARBLE.
Image / Alpinus, a semi-precious stone from Brazil featuring green tourmaline, glows with a brilliant golden radiance when backlit. Viewed at different times of day and from different angles, the stone reveals an ever-changing character.
From entrance walls to television feature walls, the residences incorporate an exceptional collection of natural stones. Among them is PATAGONIA, a rare Brazilian stone containing semi-precious green crystal, sourced from a quarry that produces fewer than five raw blocks in a year. There is also the diamond-like brilliance of Alpinus, alongside the commanding elegance of BELATRIX.
These monumental slabs are extraordinarily difficult to source, and cutting them into smaller pieces would mean sacrificing much of their natural beauty and visual impact. The finished interiors are undeniably dramatic, but achieving that effect required countless meetings between Serena, the design team, and the construction team. Together, they had to determine how to overcome the limitations of each site—including the considerable challenge of using cranes to hoist entire slabs weighing approximately 300 kilograms to upper floors.
Image / The backlit stone at the entrance is PATAGONIA, sourced from exceptionally rare Brazilian stone blocks, with fewer than five produced in a year. Its subtle blue-green natural glow gives the stone its captivating, dreamlike quality.
“It’s extremely rare for a client to accept that the installation cost of a single slab can equal the price of the stone itself,” Serena says. Yet this level of commitment reflects the scale of the homeowners’ investment in their interiors—budgets substantial enough, in some cases, to purchase another luxury residence.
“It takes foresight to understand the true value of a material like this.”
Serena reveals that the renovation budget for one of the residences was initially estimated at under NT$10 million, but ultimately grew to three or four times that amount.
Beyond selecting one-of-a-kind luxury stones that can never be replicated, Serena strongly encourages her clients to invest in original furniture from iconic contemporary design brands. “Authentic classics are timeless and durable, and their prices are transparent and consistent—everyone pays the same price. I often tell my clients that if I let you buy a cheap imitation today, one day you’ll turn around and blame me for it!”
Image / An Amazzonite luxury-stone dining table creates a sense of occasion whenever the family gathers.
Discovering Luxury Stone
Q: How did your collaboration with CHENHOW MARBLE begin, and what sets its stone selection apart from other suppliers you have worked with?
A: I’ve always loved stone. Whenever I travel abroad, I pay particular attention to the way stone is incorporated into architecture and interiors. Here in Taiwan, I’ve also come to see CHENHOW MARBLE as synonymous with premium stone.
I often say, “The best recognise the best.”
Through CHENHOW MARBLE’s efforts, luxury stone has gained greater visibility in interior design, bringing these extraordinary gifts of nature into the spotlight. Word of mouth among designers and craftspeople has also helped reveal luxury stone in ways people may never have imagined, allowing its natural beauty to unfold across richly layered interiors.
Introducing luxury stone into a space is much like investing in a remarkable work of art. It offers extraordinary depth and visual complexity, creating layers of enjoyment that continue to reveal themselves over time. At the same time, its rarity and material value contribute to a distinctive expression of lifestyle and personal taste.
Image / A closer look at Alpinus, an extraordinary natural treasure worthy of collection.
Q: How does S Design help clients allocate their budgets as effectively as possible?
A: I’ve worked in interior design for more than 16 years, in addition to 12 years of experience in the planning and marketing of boutique hotels. Over that time, I’ve built extensive industry resources and expertise, covering everything from furniture selection and construction coordination to the countless details involved in creating a space.
That accumulated experience allows me to provide crucial guidance throughout a client’s design project. It also helps them avoid the cost and frustration of working with the wrong people, saving both time and unnecessary expense from the outset.
Our construction team brings years of craftsmanship and technical expertise to every project. The goal is to make sure that not a single part of the client’s budget is wasted.
Space planning, furniture selection, hardware, finishes, and materials are all interconnected, and spending in one area inevitably affects what is available elsewhere. An interior designer’s responsibility is not only to ensure that the completed space faithfully reflects the original vision, but also to manage the schedule and maintain control of the budget throughout the process.
Ultimately, every dollar a client invests should have a purpose.
