BY
Glenda Chong

Lim Jing Jie

Hype Issue #60

Published on

November 29,

2024

Merida Lim, 19, founder of art jamming studio SCURO. Photo by Cherlisa Lee.

It’s not every day you see a 19-year-old running own business. Most 19-year-olds we know are occupied chasing degrees and diplomas. Merida Lim, however, has done what few would do; abandon the safety net of education and passionately dive head-first into her business venture: SCURO.

What is SCURO, you might ask? According to Merida, it is “Singapore’s most immersive and unique art jamming studio”. Born out of Merida’s burning passion for art, the studio is a place where you can engage in art jamming in the dark, with the different themes SCURO provides to immerse yourself in: Candlelight, Neon, Horror, and more in the future.

Merida’s choice to pursue art as her first entrepreneurial venture can be traced back to her roots in the art scene. “When I was in secondary school, I [had] some mental health issues, and I think when I created art, it gave me a safe space to express my emotions. So that’s how I slowly got into art.”

Merida posing with her paintings. Photo by Cherlisa Lee.

Clearly, Merida realized she wanted to share that feeling of safety and security with others, and the idea for starting the studio came soon after. “I’ve always wanted to start my own business, and when I had the idea for an art studio, I decided to just go for it with a bit of naivety and… unearned confidence.” However, she believed that like any entrepreneur, she had to have that little sense of ego that her idea would succeed and thus attempt to make it a reality. 

Merida also shares the doubts people had because of her age. “When you’re 19, people don’t take you that seriously, or they think you’re crazy, and that you should continue with your education.” 

Currently, Merida is taking a gap year from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts to focus on SCURO. While she understands the importance of education, even stating that if SCURO doesn’t work out she will return to school, she remains steadfast in making SCURO happen. “It’s important to take risks and [not] let other people’s fear of achieving their own dreams stop yours.” She says.

Additionally, as she puts it, “If not now, then when?!” 

“When will the circumstances ever be perfectly right for me to start? I will always be scared,” Merida says. At the end of the day, Merida decided that she would rather feel scared but pursue her dreams than freeze up before she even tried.

Unsurprisingly, starting a business definitely comes with its fair share of challenges. Before she started SCURO, Merida needed to know if there was demand for her art jamming services. “You have to see if there is a demand for what you’re selling in the first place.” Merida shares.

Thus, SCURO first started as a small pop-up kids art studio in Pasir Ris that Merida rented for $70 an hour. After establishing the demand for her services, Merida, with help from her father, invested most of her savings into opening an art studio for SCURO – a dark and cozy “shoes-off studio that feels like home”, at the second level of a shophouse located in Kampong Bahru.

SCURO provides an intimate environment with its hand-painted walls and dark interior gently lit by fairy lights. Photo by Cherlisa Lee.

Now, with her own art studio, Merida has shifted her efforts to marketing and promoting her brand to the public. She admits that her “social media game sucks”, but as the sole founder, the duty falls on her to improve SCURO’s social media presence and content. Thus, in an attempt to improve her social media game, Merida looks to Singaporean content creator Gabe Chia for guidance on her videos and content.

Recently, Merida has also started a new video series on SCURO’s TikTok page, where she challenges herself to earn $6000 in 50 days. This is so she can continue providing people with a safe space to express themselves through creating art pieces. Being largely a one-man operation, she has to explore different storytelling techniques for her videos on TikTok. 

“When it comes to making your studio viral and making people care, you have to have stakes and you have to tell a compelling story,” Merida said. She likened her videos to “bringing people into a sitcom like the Kardashians”, as her TikToks consist of her farcical situations in hopes of landing a viral video. One of her more recent videos was to promote her new Candlelight art jamming session, an idea that was born after realising that she wanted to cater to larger groups who are not as keen on horror art. 

SCURO provides every art material imaginable for art jammers to unleash their full creativity. Photo by Cherlisa Lee.

“At the very start, it was just straight-up horror,” Merida said. However, while there is demand for horror art, she noticed that the wider demographics have other interests. When she realised the absence of a neon art jamming scene in Singapore, she took the initiative to introduce it to SCURO. After starting to offer a neon art jamming theme at SCURO, Merida has found it to be a vibrant option younger art jammers have taken a liking to.

Seeing how her entrepreneurial journey has been filled with many challenges, it is expected that such challenges have led to some regrets. However, Merida has come to accept being “okay” with having regrets. You can see this throughout her art jamming sessions, where mistakes are encouraged and art knows no boundaries. 

Merida guiding one of HYPE’s team members on the right painting technique to use on her artwork. Photo by Lim Jing Jie.

As Merida shares, “We [SCURO] want you to make mistakes, and people need to hear that they can make mistakes.” She believes that through those missteps, you unlock the freedom to “just be weird” and, in doing so, uncover your true self. It’s a reminder that the path to growth is never perfect, but it’s yours to embrace.

So, if you’re looking for something to do during the holidays, you might want to consider booking an art jamming session now at www.scuro.sg.