Rooms Shaped Around What Already Matters
Kelena is a design studio based in Damansara Jaya, Petaling Jaya. We work with homeowners who have collections, histories, and rooms they want to get right.
Back to HomeHow Kelena Came to Be
Kelena was set up in Petaling Jaya with a straightforward observation: many people already own things they find meaningful — a pair of lamps bought on holiday, a sideboard inherited from family, a rug chosen over the course of a long afternoon in a market. What they need is not a designer who will replace these things, but one who will work around them.
The studio name comes from an old Malay word for a type of layered fabric work — a fitting reference for a practice built around the idea that rooms, like cloth, are made better by the accumulation of considered decisions over time.
Over the years, Kelena has worked with a range of homes across Damansara Jaya, Bangsar, Subang Jaya, and other parts of the Klang Valley. The clients are different, but the rooms they bring tend to share a similar quality: they are inhabited spaces that want to be more of what they already are.
Direction, Not Replacement
The studio's position is simple. A room full of objects a person has gathered over a lifetime is a more interesting room than one dressed from a single catalogue. The work of a designer in that context is to find the underlying logic, build on it, and add carefully where needed.
Kelena's services are designed to be used at different points in this process — a concept brief when you need a direction, full documentation when you want to commit, and sourcing when you are ready to add without disrupting what you already have.
"We do not begin by clearing things out. We begin by understanding what is already in the room and what role each piece plays."
— Kelena Design PrinciplesWho Works on Your Project
Nadia Sulaiman
Principal DesignerLeads all concept and documentation work. Thirteen years of residential design experience across Malaysia and Singapore, with a particular interest in how rooms accommodate change over time.
Azri Johari
Technical DocumentationHandles layout plans, joinery coordination, and 3D views. Works closely with contractors to ensure the documentation is readable and practical on site.
Lin Wei
Sourcing & CurationManages the Sourcing and Curated Adds service. Has an extensive knowledge of local suppliers, secondhand sources, and regional makers across Malaysia and the wider Southeast Asian market.
Standards We Hold Ourselves To
Reasoned Decisions
Every significant choice in the documentation comes with a short explanatory note. You will understand why something is proposed, not just what it is.
Revision Process
Full Documentation includes two rounds of revisions. Changes are tracked clearly and communicated before anything is finalised.
Client Confidentiality
Project details and photographs are never shared publicly without written consent. Homes remain private unless clients choose otherwise.
Clear Scope of Work
Fees and deliverables are set out in writing before any engagement begins. There are no additions or adjustments to scope without discussion first.
On-Site Accountability
The Sourcing service includes a placement visit. Decisions made on paper rarely translate perfectly — presence on the day matters.
Transparent Pricing
Design fees are fixed and published. Sourcing costs are shown separately, with no undisclosed markups on supplier prices.
Interior Design for Homes With History
Most interior design practices are set up to create rooms from nothing. Kelena works differently. The studio was built around a specific kind of client: someone who has accumulated a room — often over years, sometimes over decades — and wants it to work better as a whole without losing what gives it character.
Eclectic interiors are more demanding than they look. A room with objects from many different periods and origins needs a careful logic to hold together. Proportions matter. Sight lines matter. The weight of a dark piece in a corner can either anchor a room or make it feel lopsided. These are spatial and compositional problems, and they require a considered response rather than a decorative one.
The studio works across Petaling Jaya, Damansara, Bangsar, Subang Jaya, and other Klang Valley locations. Engagements range from a single direction-setting brief for one room, through to full documentation and sourcing for an entire floor. The scale of the work adapts to where you are in the process.
Kelena's approach values the history a room already carries. New pieces are sourced as continuations, not statements. The aim is always a room that feels as though it has been assembled over time by someone with a good eye — because it has.
A Conversation Is a Good Place to Begin
Tell us about the room and the collection. We will suggest which service fits best and how the process would work for your situation.
Get in Touch