This 19-year-old took a gap year and used her life savings to set up a horror art studio at Outram

Everyone has different ways of dealing with their emotions. 

For Merida Lim, she does it with art.

The 19-year-old is a student at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and also the founder of Scuro, a horror art jam studio that recently opened in October. 

Art inspired her to open the studio, she told AsiaOne in an interview. 

Merida shared that back in secondary school, she struggled with her mental health and would often go for therapy.

"One thing that stayed constant was that I always had art. I was not naturally artistic, but every time I was feeling sad or angry, I would make horror-themed art," she shared. 

Something surprising is that Merida isn't a fan of horror or gore genres.

"I actually don't really like horror movies. It's just that when you feel all that darkness inside, you need a space to let it out," she admitted to us. 

"And by doing it in the form of art, I knew that I would not hurt anyone. It did not incite any thoughts of violence and actually made me feel better because the sadness does not live in my head, it lives on the art piece." 

What was meant to be a hobby and a way of coping with her emotions soon turned into a business idea, especially after Merida noticed that a few of her friends created horror-themed art for the same reason.

"It got me thinking, is there a demand for horror art in Singapore?"

So, after toying with the idea, she decided to try her hand at being an entrepreneur. 

Testing the water

Before committing to a physical space of her own, Merida wanted to be very sure that there was a demand for something so niche.

Taking advice from a friend, she decided to test the market by having pop-ups. 

To do so, she rented a kids art studio in Pasir Ris during weekends for the month of July. 

The process was exhausting. Every weekend, she would have to lug all the decor and art materials down to the kids art studio. 

It also took her half an hour to set up the place and another half an hour to tear it all down after. 

When Merida went into this, she told herself not to worry about making a profit or loss. 

"I cared about whether there was a demand for this," she said.

To her surprise, the horror art jam sessions were a huge hit and she realised that she might be on to something.

"There was quite a shockingly huge amount of people who wanted to go for our horror art jam sessions," she told us, adding that she was booked out every weekend. 

In fact, business was so good that she had contemplated extending the sessions into August. But eventually, she decided against it because she was too "burnt out". 

"It's very tiring to have to keep setting up things. And that's when I decided that I was going to get my own space." 

Pouring her life savings into Scuro 

After looking around, Merida found the perfect place to set up a studio — in a shophouse along Kampong Bahru Road. 

She even took a gap year from school so she could focus on her project. 

To fund the deposit, rental and other miscellaneous things, she took out around $10,000 from her life savings.

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This was money she had earned since she was 14 from doing odd jobs like waitressing and face painting. 

Wanting to support her, her father loaned her another $10,000.

Her mother, a devout Buddhist, was initially against the business idea because it involved horror themes. 

However, she eventually warmed up to it and even helped Merida purchase furniture for the studio from Taobao, which amounted to about $8,000. 

Engaging the help of family and friends, Merida took around three months to renovate the studio and most of this was DIY to save on costs. 

She even hand-painted the entire place, as well as her blackout curtains, so she could save some money.

And finally, in early October, she was ready for business.

Despite her efforts, Merida feels some people doubt that Scuro would do well. 

"They call my studio a nice initiative and a nice little project but I don't think many of them believe that it's a profitable business," she shared. 

However, that won't stop her from trying.

"I am very confident in my ability to market and to ideate because I have been freelancing for years and I think I've honed my skills as a business owner," she said. 

"I'm young. This is the best time to try starting something of my own."

In the event that the business flops, Merida still plans to deal with it in a positive manner. 

"I was thinking that if this doesn't work out, I still built a brand out of nothing and I learnt skills that I can apply to jobs like social media marketing, which is very valuable," she said. 

A safe space

Some first impressions people may have of Scuro are that it's a terrifying Halloween-themed experience that's meant to scare participants. 

But Merida said that's not the case and it's "very different from what you would expect". 

"People come here expecting something cold, horror-themed and scary, with jump scares and everything. But here, you actually get a lot of love," she explained. 

She proudly told us that this is one of the safest spaces she has ever created and she feels very protective of the people who come to her studio. 

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"I feel like we're a huge family," Merida said with a smile.

"I don't ever want there to be harassment or people calling my participants slurs. I will throw out people who do that." 

She also clarified that she does not want to advertise Scuro as art therapy, as it is a "completely different medium". 

However, she encourages participants to paint their feelings if they are comfortable with it. 

"A lot of people who come here, they start painting from their subconscious and then their subconscious traumas come out naturally," she explained. 

If horror isn't your jam, we have good news for you — Merida's studio has other lighter themes like Neon, Wonderland and Candlelight.

"The reason being is that horror may be hard to sustain. I have to be realistic as well," she explained.

I try horror art jamming

I had never done art jamming before, let alone a horror-themed one, so I was eager to try it out for myself. 

My colleague and I were blown away when we first stepped into Scuro because the themed furnishings were on point. 

The whole studio has been painted black and blackout curtains helped add to the spooky vibes. Fairy lights were strung around the room to give the place an eerie glow. 

Art works by previous participants were also hung on the walls, serving as both decor and inspiration. 

For such a small and new studio, I was impressed by the layout, as well as the range of supplies available for participants to use. 

The bulk of the room was neatly lined with tables and chairs. At each seat was an easel, blank canvas and other materials needed to create your art piece.

More art supplies can be found on the shelves against the walls and there were tools like pencils, erasers, markers, paint and brushes, as well as 'conventional' materials like tape, scissors, glue and penknives. 

Additionally, there was a bin with 'non-conventional' materials like sponges, newspaper and pipes. 

I'll admit that at the start, I was stumped on what I should paint. 

If you're like me, fret not as there is a QR code at each seat, which provides some examples of what you can create. 

Also, it isn't a must to do something terrifying or gory — just express yourself however you want! 

I myself wasn't comfortable with doing something spooky, especially since I had planned to display the finished piece in my home. 

So, I decided to paint a picture that depicts the stigma surrounding black cats.

I first started by sketching out the cats before going in with the paint. Later on, I used one of the non-conventional materials — a kitchen sponge — to create a textured background.

I also found some tape that had the word "danger" written all over and I really wanted to incorporate that into my art work. So, I added them at the right corners of my canvas to show that the pair of cats are unwelcome by society. 

At Scuro, you're not just limited to painting and drawing. Merida encourages participants to go all out with their art — even if it involves stabbing the canvas with a sharp object. 

She shared that some participants had done so before so I wanted to try it for myself with a pair of scissors. 

And I must say, it was quite an exhilarating experience. Definitely not something many art studios would encourage you to do. 

Overall, I found the entire art jamming session surprisingly therapeutic. 

I've always loved art but after graduating from school, there have been fewer opportunities for me to just sit down and express myself creatively. 

For those few hours in the Scuro studio, it was just myself and my art, and I really enjoyed taking my time to sketch, paint and fill up the canvas. 

Those keen on having an art jam session at Scuro can make a reservation on their website.

There are soft-guided sessions — where a staff will guide you on brainstorming ideas and art techniques — that are great for beginners. This costs $48 per pax, $88 for two and $80 if the two are students.

More experienced artists can go for the unguided sessions where you're free to create without any guidance. This costs $38, $68 and $60 respectively.

Groups larger than eight can get a discount and both types of sessions are 2.5 hours long.

Address: 79 Kampong Bahru Rd, #02-01, Singapore 169377
Daily: 11am to 10pm 

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melissateo@asiaone.com