A key distinction in the company’s timeline is that 1974 marks the beginning of the underlying business, while 1988 is the year the Scanteak brand itself was conceived and launched. 1

1974 — The beginning

The origins of Scanteak trace back to Joo Chiat, Singapore, where founder Lim Pok Chin established a furniture-related business called Hawaii Interior Decoration. Operating from an office measuring only about 400 square feet, the venture grew rapidly, expanding to two showrooms within two years.

1979 — Hawaii Furnishing

The entity was incorporated as Hawaii Furnishing Private Limited, focusing on the import, export, and retailing of furniture. According to historical accounts provided by the company, the business achieved an annual turnover of S$10 million within five years.

1988 — Birth of Scanteak

The Scanteak brand was introduced in 1988 to serve consumers seeking higher-quality furniture with stronger design appeal. The name reflects the brand’s fundamental concept: Scandinavian-inspired design + teak. This combination became Scanteak’s defining identity, merging the clean, restrained aesthetic associated with Scandinavian furniture with the warmth and durability of Southeast Asian teak. Singapore’s Intellectual Property Office describes Scanteak as short for “Scandinavian inspired teak furnishing.”

1993 — Expansion into Taiwan

Scanteak expanded into Taiwan, which subsequently became one of its most important overseas markets. 2

1990s–2000s — International expansion

The company progressively expanded outside Singapore into markets such as:

• Taiwan
• Japan
• Brunei
• Canada
• Germany
• United States

By 2004, Scanteak had opened showrooms in Osaka and established a marketing office in Germany. By 2005, there were 35 showrooms in Taiwan, and the company opened its first Taiwanese flagship store.

2010 — 100+ showrooms

Scanteak reported having more than 100 showrooms worldwide by 2010, including locations in Japan. 3 UOB later described the company’s trajectory as growing to around 100 showrooms worldwide by 2010 and more than 180 stores across the wider Scanteak Group and its subsidiaries.

2012 — Scanteak Signature

Scanteak introduced Scanteak Signature, a more concept-driven retail format, with its first Signature store opening in Singapore. The same year, it launched Prologue, its first major designer collaboration with the Singapore-based design studio Outofstock.

2015 — Designer furniture and awards

The Prologue Collection, developed with Outofstock, explored furniture for increasingly dense urban living and smaller spaces. It received significant design recognition, including the Singapore President’s Design Award and Japan’s Good Design Award. The company also launched Holm, another collaboration with Outofstock.

2019 — Nest

Scanteak launched Nest, a designer range created in collaboration with students from Singapore’s Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA). The collection won the Singapore Good Design Award. 4

2024 — 50th anniversary

Scanteak marked 50 years since the founding of its original furniture business in 1974.

The name captures the brand’s entire design proposition:

• “Scan”: Scandinavian design principles
• “Teak”: The primary material historically associated with the brand

Rather than selling traditional teak furniture alone, Scanteak expresses a traditionally Southeast Asian material through a minimal, modern, and Scandinavian-influenced design language. Typical Scanteak furniture emphasizes clean lines, simple silhouettes, natural wood grain, restrained ornamentation, functionality, durability, and warm, natural colours. The company describes its approach as “Simple, Sustainable, Scandinavian.”

Why Teak?

Teak (Tectona) is a tropical hardwood native to Southeast Asia, valued for its durability, natural oils, and resistance to weather and insects. Scanteak highlights how teak naturally develops a deeper, richer golden-brown colour as it ages. This aligns with the brand’s philosophy that furniture should age rather than become visually obsolete. The aesthetic progression moves from new teak to warm natural wood, then to a deeper colour with age, resulting in mature furniture.

Design Philosophy

Scanteak’s design philosophy combines Scandinavian-inspired minimalism with Southeast Asian materiality. The company states that its furniture uses Scandinavian design ideology, where function and form work together, featuring clean and simple lines intended to remain adaptable to changing design trends.

• Scandinavian influence: Emphasizes simplicity, functionality, natural materials, practicality, understated aesthetics, and human comfort.
• Southeast Asian influence: Teak brings warm colour, visible grain, tropical character, durability, and traditional woodworking associations.

Family-Centric Positioning

Contemporary branding has moved beyond furniture as an isolated design object to focus on family and shared experiences at home. The company believes furniture should facilitate conversations, celebrations, relaxation, family gatherings, and the creation of a safe and comfortable environment. Its stated mission is to “Transform houses to homes through quality furnishing and outstanding service.” 5

Scanteak’s traditional strength lies in residential furniture, particularly dining and living-room pieces. The current range includes dining tables, chairs, sofas, armchairs, coffee tables, side tables, TV consoles, cabinets, storage furniture, beds, bedroom furniture, outdoor furniture, and home accessories.

Historically, the furniture was divided into three broad categories:

Lifestyle Collection

It may include combinations of solid teak and plywood, allowing customers to obtain the appearance and character of teak at more accessible price points.

Scanteak Select

Positioned as a more exclusive selection of new arrivals and limited-edition pieces, the company notes that many items in this category are made entirely from solid teak.

Designer Range

This range represents direct experimentation with contemporary design through collaborations. Collaborators have included Outofstock and other designers or design schools. Some collaborations have won significant design awards.

Scanteak has used collaborations to push its products toward contemporary design rather than remaining purely a traditional teak-furniture company.

Outofstock

The Singapore design studio Outofstock produced collections including Prologue and Holm. Prologue was notable for investigating how furniture could respond to the realities of smaller urban homes and changing living patterns.

NAFA

In 2019, Scanteak collaborated with students from Singapore’s Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts on the Nest Collection. This strategy reflects an effort to reinterpret its teak heritage for contemporary living.

Teak remains fundamental to production. Scanteak states that its teak comes from plantations in Java, Indonesia, with harvesting subject to Indonesian regulations. The company claims its factories are certified under the SVLK timber legality assurance system and by the Rainforest Alliance. SVLK is Indonesia’s timber legality assurance system, and Scanteak works with suppliers complying with it to support legally and responsibly harvested timber. The company also aims to maximize the use of each wooden log to minimize waste.

Quality Control

According to the company, each furniture piece undergoes a 32-point quality inspection, covering raw materials, joints, fittings, and finishing. Products failing any inspection point are rejected. Additionally, teak is kiln-dried to approximately 8–10% moisture content as part of its durability and workmanship standards.

Environmental Standards

Scanteak incorporates environmental and health considerations into its positioning. Products undergo formaldehyde testing in Japan and are designed to meet CARB requirements. 6 In 2024, the company announced recognition under the Singapore Furniture Industries Council’s Sustainability Furniture Mark, specifically under its formaldehyde category.

Scanteak has accumulated numerous Singapore and international awards, including:

• Singapore Promising Brand Award — 2003 and 2004/2005
• Superbrands Singapore — including 2004/2005 and 2009
• CitiBusiness-SPBA Regional Brand Award — 2006
• Singapore Prestige Brand Awards — 2013
• Japan Good Design Award
• Singapore President’s Design Award
• Sol Awards Experiential Excellence Award — 2023

The Prologue collection is particularly notable for receiving recognition from both Singapore and Japan.

Scanteak’s international development has been significant for a Singapore-origin furniture company. Historically, it expanded from Singapore to Taiwan, Japan, Brunei, Canada, Germany, and the USA. Today, its main website highlights Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Japan as principal markets. This positions Scanteak not merely as a local retailer but as a Singapore-origin regional furniture brand.

Singapore Heritage

Singapore remains central to Scanteak’s identity. The company originated there, developed its brand locally, and utilizes Singapore’s design ecosystem for collaborations and awards. EnterpriseSG describes it as a local company established in 1974 that transitioned from furniture distribution into producing teak furniture and eventually launched the Scanteak brand in 1988.

Family Business Dimension

Scanteak is a notable family business. Founder Lim Pok Chin’s children became involved in the company, with his daughter Jamie Lim serving as CEO. In interviews, Jamie has described growing up around the family furniture business and eventually taking on leadership roles. 7 This reinforces the brand narrative of “family founded → furniture for families → next generation runs the business.”

Group Portfolio

The broader business associated with the Lim family includes multiple brands beyond Scanteak:

• Scanteak — teak and home furniture
• Scanliving — leather sofas
• Scankomfort — mattresses
• Nova Furnishing — furniture retail

Defining Pillars

Five characteristics define the brand:

1. Teak: The core material.
2. Scandinavian design: A cleaner, simpler aesthetic rather than ornate traditional design.
3. Durability: Emphasis on teak’s strength and construction standards.
4. Singapore heritage: A genuine local origin story dating back to 1974.
5. Family-oriented lifestyle: Framing furniture as a means to create comfortable family spaces.

Competitive Landscape

Scanteak operates in a crowded market against Scandinavian-style furniture companies, mass-market retailers, specialist solid-wood brands, online furniture companies, interior-design studios, and direct-to-consumer brands. Its defense relies on the combination of heritage, teak expertise, Scandinavian design, and established retail infrastructure.

• 1974: Lim Pok Chin starts Hawaii Interior Decoration in Joo Chiat.
• 1976: Business expands to two showrooms.
• 1979: Hawaii Furnishing Private Limited established.
• 1988: Scanteak brand conceived/launched.
• 1993: Expansion into Taiwan.
• 1996: Brunei franchise.
• 2004: Expansion into Japan and Germany.
• 2005: First Taiwan flagship store.
• 2010: More than 100 showrooms worldwide.
• 2012: Scanteak Signature + Prologue designer collection.
• 2015: Holm collection + major design recognition.
• 2019: Nest collection with NAFA students.
• 2023: Experiential Excellence Award.
• 2024: 50th anniversary of the original business.

Scanteak is a Singapore-founded furniture brand established from a family business that began in 1974 and developed the Scanteak brand in 1988. Its defining concept combines Scandinavian-inspired simplicity with Southeast Asian teak, producing furniture that emphasizes clean design, functionality, durability, and natural materials. From its Singapore beginnings, Scanteak expanded into markets including Taiwan and Japan, developing a substantial international showroom network. Over time, it evolved from a teak-furniture specialist into a broader home-furnishing and lifestyle brand, maintaining teak and Scandinavian-inspired design as its core identity. Collaborations with designers such as Outofstock and award-winning collections have helped establish Scanteak as a participant in Singapore’s contemporary design scene.

1. Scanteak
2. 歷史和歷程碑 – 詩肯柚木
3. Scanteak | Intellectual Property Office of Singapore
4. Scanteak Digitalisation – Building Asia with UOB
5. About Us | Scanteak Singapore
6. Frequently Asked Questions | Scanteak Furniture Singapore
7. Scanteak CEO Jamie Lim – CNA Luxury