LOCAL fashion designer Frederick Lee needs to be inspired to create.

And when he is in need of inspiration, he turns to the toilet of his bridal boutique in Jalan Klapa, near Arab Street.

Yes, the toilet.

But this is no ordinary cookie-cutter toilet.

Once you squeeze past the narrow doorway, it's an entirely different world.

Almost every inch of space is covered in something - from magazine cut-outs pasted all over the wall, to things like a birdcage and a miniature water feature in the corner.

He even has a name for it.

The New Paper sat down with the affable designer on why he calls his toilet 'his piece of heaven':

We hear you call the bathroom your 'piece of heaven'. Care to explain?

(Laughs) When you are working with imaginative projects, it's very important to get inspired - and one part is in the toilet, where you spend some time each day alone.

And sometimes inspiration comes at the most unpredictable times - which is actually in the toilet.

Usually everybody will just want to go into the toilet, do your thing and get out. But for me, for the time I spend inside, I will get inspired at every corner I go to.

It's a good thing, because that's the only time you spend alone by yourself.

Tell us what's inside your toilet?

Well, there are souvenirs that I bought from places like flea markets in India. Some are magazine cut-outs of couture clothing and even my past collections.

It would be very boring if you go inside and spend the five minutes doing nothing but looking at blank walls.

Is there anything that is particularly significant inside it, then?

The problem is that there are too many things to look at inside the toilet. Even for your short stay inside, you will never be able to completely look at everything.

At every little corner, you'll find something, like some little treasure, a motif or a design.

It's what (British fashion designer) Paul Smith says - you never know, if you can't get inspired, look again.

And what kick-starts that inspiration?

Sometimes when you think of inspiration you just need some little element to kick off everything.

So every time you go into the toilet, there's a different feel to it, and it depends on what you choose to focus on. It can be a particular picture, or a tassel from India, or even a jewel box I bought from Jaipur.

Would you say your toilet shares your personality?

I'm a big fan of colours, so in the toilet, it's more about putting together all the things that you like and surround yourself with, especially with a touch of colour.

So then it makes up the whole toilet, and it becomes something very extraordinary.

It's like a kaleidoscope.

One word to sum up your experience in the toilet?

It's like me and my personality - eccentric!

This article was first published in The New Paper.