Viral TikTok videos from Singaporean architect bring feng shui to a whole new audience
- Cliff Tan’s often hilarious videos that apply the ancient Chinese practice to everyday living spaces have earned him millions of followers
In 2020, when the world was in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic, Cliff Tan entered a quarantine hotel in his native Singapore. At the time, the architect had 50 followers on TikTok.
When he emerged two weeks later he had more than 100,000 followers on the social media platform. Today, it is about 2.9 million, together with almost 800,000 followers on Instagram (@dearmodern) and 1.6 million YouTube subscribers.
“When I came out of that quarantine hotel room I was a different person,” says Tan via Zoom from London, where he has lived since 2010.
It is not just Tan’s advice that is resonating with audiences but his rapid-fire style of delivery in short and snappy videos. Many feature sketches of a home’s layout with tiny pieces of furniture that he shuffles around to show how to create a happy space. Some will have you in fits of giggles.
