Michelle Au, Creative Director & Founder, TOFU and Nottofu
In Singapore’s creative and cultural corridors, where innovation hums at a breathtaking pace, and brand noise often overpowers brand truth, there’s a quieter, more intentional shift underway. It’s being led by women entrepreneurs with a deliberate, design-led, and deeply human approach. They aren’t simply taking up space in Singapore’s creative economy; they’re reshaping the narrative of what creative leadership can feel like: emotionally intelligent, intuitive, and rooted in lived experiences.
Among this new wave is Michelle Au, a Creative Director and Studio Founder of TOFU and Nottofu. Michelle’s journey never followed the traditional arc of disruption or the pursuit of explosive scale. Instead, hers is a story of quiet conviction; of craft honed over time; of building a business not for noise, but for nuance. With her multidisciplinary studio TOFU and its spin-offs Nottofu and Apartmentofu, Michelle has created a body of work. It’s a corpus that gently but powerfully nudges how we think about food, culture, sustainability, and the very act of creating something meaningful. She designs for both brands and connections. And behind this studio isn’t a grand business playbook or some strategy gone viral, but a philosophy of empathy, curiosity, and courage.
This is a story of stillness in a highly saturated world; of leading without loudness; of resisting virality; and of what happens when creativity becomes not just a career, but a way of being. But to first understand how TOFU came to be, you have to start with a different question. Not “When did Michelle decide to start a business?” but rather “What does it mean to create something that truly reflects who you are?”
When Curiosity Became the Catalyst
“I’ve always been curious about how things come together; stories, people, ideas,” Michelle says. That curiosity first took shape at a local boutique agency, where she spent her early years as a creative, crafting beautiful and meaningful work. She created pieces that did three things: moved people, shaped culture, and sparked conversations.
Still, the idea of building something of her own didn’t strike a chord just yet. It came much later and quieter; more like a murmur that grew into a rhythm. “I wanted to build something that reflected my own values; a space where creativity wasn’t just a product, but a way of working and being,” she states. That bud eventually bloomed into TOFU in 2011, a name as disarming as it is deliberate.
Building a Studio With the Essence of Tofu
“Tofu is my favourite food. It’s a reflection of my personality; soft yet strong, expressive yet quiet. It adapts, but never loses its essence,” Michelle muses, laughing. That brand and name, born out of contradiction, became a metaphor for her studio’s creative spirit: fluid, grounded, and full of possibility.
But TOFU never focused solely on design and aesthetics. Instead, Michelle and her co-founder and close friend from her Bates Advertising days built it with intention at its core. Together, they shaped the studio to reflect emotional intelligence, strategic depth, and cultural sensitivity. Even its manifesto—be brave, stay curious, and always design for connection—presents itself more as a philosophy than a pitch.
A New Creative Direction, Reimagined
As Creative Director, Michelle doesn’t lead TOFU with volume or ego. Instead, she leads with presence: listening, questioning, and inviting. “Creative direction isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about creating space for people to explore, and honouring the process as much as the outcome,” she explains. At TOFU, that approach creates a team culture where people share and value each other’s opinions, infuse energy and empathy into every creative brief, and respect boundaries while letting their imagination roam freely.
From Grief to Grace, and the Courage to Continue
Of course, Michelle’s path hasn’t been all stillness and clarity, though. In late 2019, she lost her co-founder to illness, just months before the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world. “There’s a kind of loneliness that comes with being a single founder. You carry every decision, every consequence, and on some days, it’s heavy,” she reflects.
Yet, through the dense fog and hard trials, she found clarity and certainty. Whether she chose values over volume or prioritized her team’s well-being over rapid growth, Michelle learned to tune into rhythm over the rush to succeed. “It’s not about building a business; it’s about building one that can breathe,” she shares.
Where Food, Climate, and Conscious Living Meet
In recent years, Michelle has become even more intentional with her creative focus. In 2021, she designed and launched Apartmentofu, a physical space for creatives to connect, create, and rest, serving as both her home and TOFU’s office. Then in 2024, she launched Nottofu, a food design unit under TOFU that intersects climate, culture, and conscious living. “Food brings people together like nothing else can. It’s tactile, emotional, and cultural. And it affects all of us,” she remarks. With that belief, Michelle felt ready to turn that connection into her next chapter, one where design becomes a way to nourish not just bodies, but also ideas and communities.
Through Nottofu, she is using design to provoke new conversations around sustainability and food systems. She crafts sensory experiences that are both delightful and thoughtful, aiming to engage with the mind as well as the senses. Whether it be a tactile installation or a storytelling series, her work invites people to rethink how we live, what we consume, and how we care for each other and the world.
As TOFU continues to evolve as a multidisciplinary studio today, so does Michelle’s belief in the role of women-led leadership across Asia’s creative landscape. “We bring a different kind of leadership, one that’s kinder, more empathetic, inclusive, and interconnected with things. That’s the kind of leadership the creative industry and the world need more of,” she emphasizes.
To Women Who Dream Differently
To women navigating their first steps into entrepreneurship, Michelle’s advice is real and straightforward: “Don’t wait for perfect conditions, for they rarely come. Instead, start small and real. Build something you believe in, not just something that looks good. And trust that your voice, especially if it feels different, is exactly what this world needs more of.”
Michelle Au isn’t trying to dominate the design scene in Singapore. Rather, she’s quietly rewriting the rules. Her story isn’t just about a studio or a brand; it’s an ethos: that creativity, when rooted in empathy and shaped by intention, can build more than campaigns. It can build culture, community, and can also leave behind a quiet kind of courage. The kind that doesn’t need to shout or chase trends to make its mark, but the kind that feels the most like Home.