Alumni in green action: Daphne Ong's Wild Space and Brambe by Bernie Ang and Amanda Tay
From recycled design to grassroots conservation, three NUS alumni are showing that while sustainability can take many forms, they share the same starting point: a personal commitment to making a difference.
For Ms Daphne Ong, that journey began in childhood. Weekends spent outdoors, family trips to waterfalls in Malaysia and a fascination with animals gave her an early connection to nature. After graduating from NUS in 2006 with a degree in environmental engineering, she spent nearly 20 years in the construction industry. But even while building a career far removed from conservation, she kept returning to environmental causes through volunteer work with NGOs and overseas projects.
That passion eventually became the foundation for Wild Space, a social enterprise she launched during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ms Ong wanted to make conservation feel less distant and more accessible to everyday people. Through guided nature walks, talks, overseas trips and the Earth in Focus Singapore Nature Film Festival, Wild Space brings environmental issues to life for a wider audience.
For Ms Ong, storytelling is just as important as science. Photography and film, she believes, can make complex issues immediate and emotionally powerful — whether it is overfishing, habitat loss or the pressures facing biodiversity-rich communities. “If they love it, they will protect what they love,” she said.
Wild Space’s work extends beyond Singapore too. In Central Java, it partners with the Javan Wildlife Institute to support conservation while helping local communities earn alternative livelihoods. In Bintan, a grassroots effort studying langurs has grown into an ecotourism programme that now supports local partners and boosts income for residents. For Ms Ong, that connection between people and environment is key: when communities benefit, conservation becomes more sustainable.
That same belief in turning values into action can be seen in the story of Bernie Ang and Amanda Tay, the husband-and-wife team behind Brambe. Founded during their final year at NUS, Brambe began as a small idea and grew into a Singapore-based design studio that transforms waste materials into customised interior objects and design pieces.
Mr Ang, who studied architecture, and Ms Tay, who came from environmental studies, bring different strengths to the business. He focuses on the big picture and business development, while being more detail-oriented, she oversees marketing, business operations and finance. Together, they built Brambe around a simple question: how can discarded materials be given a second life?
The answer lies in hands-on craft. Using recycled glass, plastic and metal, the studio creates customised homeware and design pieces that are meant to be both useful and meaningful. What started as a home-based experiment, often carried out after work and on weekends, gradually evolved into a full-time business.
Their journey was shaped by trial and error, late-night making sessions and a willingness to learn from imperfect materials. Over time, Brambe expanded beyond its early workshop beginnings to work with clients, collaborators and brands, while staying rooted in sustainability.
For both Ms Ong and the Brambe founders, the message is similar: green action is not abstract. It can mean restoring ecosystems, telling stories that move people, or reimagining waste as something worth keeping. In different ways, these alumni are proving that sustainability is not just a cause — it is a way of creating, connecting and leading.
This write-up has been adapted from the AlumNUS' features on Ms Daphne Ong, Mr Bernie Ang and Ms Amanda Tay. Read the original stories here and here.