Our Story
Why Sondira exists
Sondira was started in 2017 by a small group of designers who had spent years working inside larger interior practices in Kuala Lumpur. The work was varied and often satisfying, but joinery — the fitted wardrobes, the kitchen cabinetry, the study shelves — was consistently the part that required the most care and received the least dedicated attention. Decisions about drawer joints and edge profiles were being made quickly, by people with other priorities.
The studio was set up to change that. The idea was straightforward: a practice whose entire scope is joinery — the thinking, the drawing, and the coordination between designer and cabinet maker. Nothing else.
Most of the work happens in the Klang Valley. The clients are homeowners who want built-in furniture that is well-considered and properly documented, whether they are fitting out an apartment for the first time or adding a single piece to a home they have lived in for years. The studio is small on purpose. Keeping the practice at a certain scale makes it possible to be genuinely attentive to each project rather than managing a volume of work from a distance.
The cabinet makers Sondira works with are chosen carefully and over time. Finding a maker whose workmanship is consistently sound and whose communication is clear takes effort; once that relationship is established, it is worth maintaining. Clients are not introduced to strangers — they are introduced to people the studio has worked alongside often enough to trust.
The People
Who you will be working with
Nadia Daud
Lead Designer
Nadia leads all design briefs and documentation. She has fifteen years of experience in residential interiors, with the last eight focused on joinery and fitted furniture across KL.
Razif Ariffin
Technical Drawings
Razif prepares shop drawings and hardware schedules. His background is in architectural drafting; he joined Sondira in 2019 and has since drawn documentation for over 200 individual joinery pieces.
Suraya Lim
Site Coordination
Suraya handles cabinet-maker liaison and site walks. She has a practical background in construction management and brings a useful eye for tolerances, installation sequence, and fit.
Our Standards
How we approach the work
Measured drawings, not approximations
Every documentation set is based on actual site measurements. Dimensions are verified against the space, not estimated from floor plans that may not reflect construction reality.
Hardware schedules included
Drawer runners, hinges, handles, and soft-close mechanisms are specified by name and model number. Cabinet makers receive a complete list; there is no guesswork at the point of ordering.
Known cabinet makers only
Sondira does not source new cabinet makers for each project. The makers we coordinate with are people whose standards and communication we know through direct experience.
Written scope, fixed fee
Each engagement begins with a written scope. Fees are fixed, not time-based. Clients know what is included before committing.
Client data handled with care
Project files, site photographs, and correspondence are stored securely and not shared with third parties beyond the cabinet maker engaged for the work.
Defects noted in writing
For liaison engagements, a written defects note is prepared after the final walk. Items are recorded clearly, with photographs where useful, and a follow-up visit is scheduled if rectification is needed.
Joinery in KL
What good built-in furniture asks of a designer
Custom joinery in Kuala Lumpur sits at an interesting intersection. The pool of capable cabinet makers in the Klang Valley is real and varied — there are skilled workshops in Cheras, Kepong, and Shah Alam that do excellent work when given the right information to work from. The challenge, more often than not, is the documentation: drawings that are incomplete, dimensions that have not been verified on site, hardware that is described in general terms rather than specified precisely.
Sondira's work is essentially about reducing that gap. When a cabinet maker receives drawings that are thorough — correctly dimensioned, with materials called out, hardware listed by name, tolerances noted at tricky junctions — the fabrication process tends to go more smoothly. There are fewer calls asking for clarification. Fewer pieces that arrive slightly wrong and need to be remade.
The same care applies to the design thinking that precedes the drawings. A well-proportioned wardrobe in a bedroom feels different from one that has simply been measured to fill a wall. The relationship between shelf heights, drawer depths, and the way a door opens in a particular room — these are things that repay attention. They are also things that are easy to overlook when joinery is being handled as an afterthought within a larger project.
For homeowners who want fitted furniture that will settle comfortably into their home and remain satisfying over time, working with a practice whose sole focus is joinery tends to produce a different quality of result than working with a generalist who handles cabinetry alongside flooring, lighting, and a dozen other decisions.
A conversation costs nothing
If you have a piece of joinery in mind — or a room you have been thinking about for a while — we are happy to talk through what might be involved before any commitment is made.
Get in Touch