Interview: Greg Shand

I actually wanted to be a pilot, but didn’t have the eyesight for it.
I’ve always looked up to people who have an unrelenting drive and stubbornness to be the best.
When I compare myself to the kids growing up these days, especially in Asia, I feel very fortunate to have been given the time and space to be a kid without the overbearing burden of studying and achievement.
My best childhood memory is the smell of freshly baked bread from the bakery tucked under my T-shirt to keep warm while cycling out to a nearby river, where my mates and I would go trout fishing.
Location and views are key ingredients in a dream home; as well as a sense of drama—the feeling of being on the edge.
I’m lucky to have found my passion.
Concrete is the foundation we build our dreams upon.
I wish I’d designed Antonio Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. While I wish I’d designed the building, I’d rather not accept the fate of the architect [Gaudi was run over by a tram].
There’s no secret to hard work.
There is never an excuse for rudeness. The quality of life is largely about small human transactions and politeness makes human existence bearable.
My ideal phone would not take up much room in my pocket. It would be implanted in my brain so I can roll like Jack Bauer, and would have unlimited battery life.
In Singapore, models and people in fashion take themselves way too seriously.
There’s no room for mistakes in the name of experimentation when the result will be permanent.
I’ve definitely got a few epic adventures left in me. A mate and I have often talked about climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya back to back, getting from one mountain to the other with rally cars and dirt bikes.
No matter what they look like I can’t date a crazy girl. You learn the hard way that it’s just not worth it—usually when they’re standing on your driveway at four in the morning spray-painting “I hate you loser” on your next-door neighbor’s car.