Meet Vivian Low, a dynamic mum of two girls, who finds joy both in her family and career. Beyond her nurturing role, Vivian is the co-founder of The Editor’s Market, a local fashion label, where her passion for retail and knack for problem-solving shine. Inspired by her daughters’ evolving style needs, Vivian launched Evryday Studios, a line of apparel that blends minimalist aesthetics with timeless designs. Evryday Studios celebrates the essential moments of childhood, offering comfortable silhouettes for everyday play and elegant accessories for school and beyond. Vivian shares in this edition of Mums We Love, about her family, motherhood journey and life as a business owner.
How would you describe yourself? Both as a mum and entrepreneur?
I’m a fun-loving mummy! Our days are usually packed with activities (fun ones of course!) as I like to be on the move. We love going to parks, beaches, and libraries. When we are home, we play games or bake cookies together.
When I’m not spending time at home, I enjoy my role as the co-founder for local fashion and lifestyle label, The Editor’s Market, running its operations and taking care of Human Resources for the past 13 years. Store visits and chit chats with my retail staff are the favourite parts of my job. As an entrepreneur, I’m full of curiosity and love to explore fresh possibilities!
Tell us a little about your family (husband, kids) and childhood.
I grew up in a family of four, with my loving parents and an elder brother who is six years older and takes great care of me. My dad was a taxi driver and we really look forward to our hawker adventures during the weekends. Life was simple, carefree and full of warmth with my mum preparing all three meals for us everyday. As a child, I didn’t have a lot of toys and was always spending time in the library instead. I feel this affinity with books has definitely helped me throughout school life as I like to read all kinds of books, including school textbooks!
My husband and I were married in the same year I co-founded The Editor’s Market with my partners. In the first few years when we were still building our business, I’m grateful for the supportive environment my hubby provided me with as he had a stable job in the pharmaceutical industry. It was around the company’s tenth year, when the business was ready for overseas expansion that my husband officially joined us to manage all our overseas franchisees. Working together with your spouse can have its ups and downs, but there’s no doubt that your spouse can also be the most trustable colleague you will ever have!
My girls, Ashley and Natalie are age 12 and nine respectively. Ashley is my independent and feisty firstborn who loves gymnastics and drawing. Her doodles, which are displayed all around, fill our home with warmth. Natalie is my sweet little girl, always looking to shower us with her hugs and kisses. She also loves to perform for us her various new moves that she learns from her ballet classes!
Evryday Studios.. how did it all start?
Dressing up my two girls has always been a fun activity for all three of us. However, as they are growing up to big girls now, I find it more and more challenging to find clothes that caters to their age group as they are in this “in-between” stage where they are too old to wear cutesy colourful clothes and too young to dress like teens. Hence, with my girls as my muses, I developed Evryday Studios’ line of apparel with their daily activities and my minimalist dressing approach in mind.
Evryday Studios’ design ethos: Our world is one of natural tones and classic designs that cater to all the essential moments of growing up — from comfortable silhouettes for everyday wear and play, to fun yet elegant accessories for school and beyond.
What were some of the challenges you faced when setting up the business?
Having to juggle my two businesses and family has been a real challenge! I struggle a lot with priorities and mum guilt, as time is never enough. However, I do make it a point to spend after-work hours with my girls, from dinner to bedtime stories. I reserve weekends for family time, but I do try to sneak in some work or me-time whenever they are at enrichment classes.
With Evryday Studios, I’m able to include my girls a lot. I tend to organise my work schedule such that I can work from home for Evryday Studios’ workload, hoping to get work done as well as spend precious time together with them.
What makes Evryday Studios stand out from the rest?
Involving my girls from the conceptualisation of each collection to fabric selection, trying on the clothes and even participating in our campaign shoots, has greatly helped me understand children of their age group. With the consensus that everyone is different, we try to pick out the details that both parents and children can agree on, hoping to put together a range that both can resonate with.
I also find great inspirations in cities such as Stockholm, Copenhagen and Paris, where children apparel stores are often peppered with lifestyle products and accessories. In addition, you will also find that these stores carries a curation of products for mummies as well. This makes so much sense to me since mummies are usually the primary shopper for children products! I enjoyed shopping in these stores so much as the curation of the children’s range is aligned with the aesthetics of the women’s range. With this concept in mind, Evryday Studios aims to curate a delicate balance of products that fits both mummies’ and children’s preferences.
Your top three favourite products from your range? Why?
My favourite has to be our twinning items! They are never exactly the same but you can easily identify the similarities between the children and mummy outfits.
Our bamboo sleep sets! Made from the softest bamboo viscose, they are so comfortable to sleep or lounge in. The hand-illustrated in-house print on the sleep sets is so beautiful as well.
Hard to stop at three, but I will have to say our school backpacks! Before Evryday Studios, I struggled to find nice school backpacks suitable for my girls, they are either too cute or too colourful. We source our backpacks from popular Scandinavian brands and they are both functional and aesthetically pleasing.
What is your typical day like? As a mum and business owner?
I start my day at 6.15am in the morning, preparing my girls for school. I also prepare food to pack in lunchboxes for their recess time, just like how my mum prepares mine in the past. Some days, it will be simple fare like an egg and cheese sandwich. Other days, I do a full bento; it really depends on my mood, haha. I feel happy making sure that my girls are well-nourished. After they leave for school, I will either go for a workout or just a long breakfast before heading to work.
My work week consists of meetings in the headquarters, store visits and work-from-home days. Work ends around 7pm when I will be home for dinner with family. After dinner, it’s either homework with my girls or we will play some board games before bedtime stories at 9pm. I either continue with some work or Netflix before resting for the day.
How would you describe your parenting style? Same or different from the way you were brought up?
I was brought up with gentle parenting and now I subscribe to it. I feel that physical punishment only serves the purpose of instilling fear. A young child will not be able to fully understand what he/she has done wrong to deserve that treatment especially if no explanation is given. It only causes more misunderstanding and resentment in the long run.
That being said, I do use other forms of punishment such as time-out or taking away their screen time to signal to my girls at times when they did misbehaved. This will be followed by a chat about their actions and how they should avoid it next time.
Has being a mum changed your outlook in life and your business?
Yes definitely! I truly understand that something’s got to give. At any one point in time, I need to accept that if I want to achieve perfection in one area, other aspects will be affected. I can only learn to prioritise and focus at one thing at a time. Also, I learnt that asking for help is not a sign of weakness! I am still trying to practise this on a regular basis.
Three things I love doing with my kids are…
- Travelling. Bringing them on little adventures teaches them so much; something that they will not learn in the classroom.
- Baking together. It is always filled of fun and laughter.
- Bedtime stories. They truly warm my heart. I relish every moment that I get to kiss and hug my girls, trying to remember their littleness forever.
Two countries on my bucket list (with or without kids!) are…
I would love to explore the safari in South Africa with my family!
Northern Lights with the hubby.
One must-have in my handbag is…
Handphone. It will be wet wipes if it cannot be a handphone in my bag. Having wet wipes somehow always save the day when kids are around!
Future plans for Evryday Studios?
Evryday Studios is still a work in progress. It has been a great one year of operating online and now, we are moving into a brick and mortar store at Great World! We are super excited to meet our customers in real life, understand everyone more and to build a better curation of products. Come and say hi soon!
One motto you live by?
Every fall is a lesson, learn from it and move on.
