Many members of the music world tell stories through their music and lyrics and entertain us while on stage, but there are also others who work away from the spotlight to keep the gears of their industry turning.
One such individual is Ian Lim, a self-taught and multidisciplinary local creative who has, bar making music professionally, traversed almost every corner of the music sphere one can think of — including photographing superstar acts and concerts, producing and editing a documentary, providing hospitality and management services to big-name artists, and even marketing shows.
Aside from assembling an impressive portfolio for himself, Lim has also built a network that extends beyond Singapore and uncovered sides of musicians that are not commonly seen, the latter of which can be observed in his work with his new media platform and agency SAVOIR-FAIRE!.
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Founded by Lim alongside filmmaker, colorist, editor, and live-stream producer Achille, the company is described as one that gives fans "an intimate, all-access pass to [their] favourite artists".
To date, SAVOIR-FAIRE!'s projects include collaborations with Australian singer-songwriter Grentperez and Thai artist Phum Viphurit and DR. HARRY AND MR. BAD, a 2024 documentary on Korean-American rapper pH-1.
While he may not be a musician himself, Lim sees the "notion and shared values of being artists" as things that connect him with those he works with.
In an interview with Hear65, Lim spoke about venturing into the music industry as a non-musician, having a multi-faceted career, founding SAVOIR-FAIRE!, and telling stories with "genuineness".
How did you get your start as a professional in the music industry? As a non-musician, what made you decide to venture into it?
I grew up listening to a lot of different artists — Pharrell, No Doubt, Black Eyed Peas, Kanye West, Bread, Carlos Santana, etc. were always getting played at home thanks to my family. When I was 14, I started learning how to play drums and electric bass, and my cousins introduced me to Chick Corea, Dave Weckl, Lee Ritenour, and Miles Davis — which sparked my interest in the beautiful world of jazz and sample culture, particularly in 90s hip-hop.
I’m shortening the story above severely because otherwise I’d blabber for hours, but all of those experiences added up and led me to become severely obsessed and critical with, and about music. I daydreamed about being a professional jazz bassist as a teen, but I abhorred sitting still to practice seriously, so I willingly gave up on that path.
Music was, and will forever be one of my greatest passions and loves, so I knew that down the line I’d eventually find a way to properly tie it in with my career.
And finally, here we are with SAVOIR-FAIRE! — shoutout to my co-founder Achille.
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"Music was, and will forever be one of my greatest passions and loves, so I knew that down the line I’d eventually find a way to properly tie it in with my career."
In your career, you have photographed musicians, provided hospitality and management services for high-profile artists, produced and edited a Lupe Fiasco documentary series, and even promoted live concerts. Did moving between these different parts of the music industry come naturally to you, or were there challenges that you encountered along the way?
I’m glad to say that they all came rather naturally to me, though it was one baptism of fire after another. All of those tasks had a ton of unique challenges that required a lot of improvisation and mental fortitude. Looking back through my career, it took many years of grinding before accessing the photo pit for Red Hot Chili Peppers, getting authorized to personally inspect Jaden Smith’s hotel suite, being trusted with knowledge and documentation of Lupe Fiasco’s secret Singapore trip (shoutout to my brother Le Messie), and marketing hundreds of concerts including ASAP Ferg’s. These are just a few examples, but it’s been a wild ride.
Having genuine passion and love for what I’m doing has probably been the most important thing — it’s fueled and pushed me to build my career from scratch, and I’m certain was one of the reasons why I was entrusted with so much responsibility and faith along the way. I’m thankful for everyone that has trusted me, and proud of everything I’ve been able to accomplish, especially with Achille at SAVOIR-FAIRE!
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What would you say is the biggest advantage of being a multidisciplinary creative?
I’d say the biggest advantage would be the ability to quickly tap into different compartments of my mind to draw, and actually work on solutions for solving problems across the board. Being an all-rounded creative is really important to me, and I’m obsessed with autodidacts and polymaths, so I’m always learning and finding ways to upgrade.
"I’m obsessed with autodidacts and polymaths, so I’m always learning and finding ways to upgrade."
Tell us a bit more about the work you do over at SAVOIR-FAIRE! and how it fits into the music ecosystem.
Most people know Achille and I for our camerawork, and while that’ll remain an integral part of what we do at SAVOIR-FAIRE! — we’re not too keen on categorizing the company. A general label would be a media platform and agency. We’re proud to have been able to serve the ecosystem in a few ways we haven’t publicly spoken about yet.
For example, when we toured with pH-1, he and his record label H1GHR MUSIC (shout out to the homie Jae) wanted to show love and add some local flavour in the form of bringing on surprise artists. They asked if we could leverage our connections to help with securing suitable, native special guests in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Bangkok. We ran through our network and strategically thought about who would bring genuine starpower and surprise to each city - long story short, we managed and finalized the booking of ShiGGa Shay, SonaOne, and AUTTA respectively within days.
We also invited Def Jam SEA Managing Director and legendary Malaysian artist Joe Flizzow to the KL show, and he very generously hosted everyone that day.
Similarly, we’ve toured with UK musician Kamaal Williams, and received a request to produce a show for him to make his long-awaited DJ debut under his alias Henry Wu in Singapore, which is where we’re based. He wanted to spin right after his live show with his band on the same night, so to complete the line up, we booked Dean Chew from Darker Than Wax to open for him. That Henry Wu show became our debut event–we made the show happen from request to showtime in less than 20 hours. Shoutout and thanks to Andrew & Represent for getting us involved on the tour in the first place, Clement & Thugshop who was our venue partner and provided logistical support, plus Zaran and Collective Minds who brought in the Kamaal Williams live show.
We’re glad to have been entrusted with making some other really cool things happen behind-the-scenes, but those are stories for another time!
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"We absolutely love what we do, but the scene is often over-glamorized. We’ll always maintain an element of rawness in our creations just to strike that balance and take things off the edge a little."
When telling the story of a musician, be it through photographs or a film, what is most important to you?
Genuineness. We absolutely love what we do, but the scene is often over-glamorized. We’ll always maintain an element of rawness in our creations just to strike that balance and take things off the edge a little. You’ll often see rarely-portrayed, different sides of these artists in our work — whether in how they’re captured, how they behave, or just the settings they’re in.
With that being said, “comfort” is very important too. The different sides of these artists that we get to capture takes a lot of experience to coax. Most of them have been extensively media-trained and taught what to say or act for media outlets, but because of our personal experience with managing artists, celebrities, and reading the room, they often find themselves letting their guards down around us, as if we were friends (which has also lead to a lot of genuine friendships) — allowing connection on a deeper level. Sometimes we have to push artists out of their comfort zone, but it’s always about striking that balance and… savoir-faire — which is one of the reasons and meanings of the actual phrase we named the company after.
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There’s a couple of experiences early on that led, and greatly encouraged me on this path. I’ll just talk about one instance today which sums up the two values mentioned above. This was with bass legend Pino Palladino. He’s played with everyone from D’Angelo and Erykah Badu, to Ed Sheeran and Adele. He was in town with John Mayer, so I personally hosted and showed him around. We ate, drank, shopped plenty, and I photographed everything. Before I sent him back to his hotel, I thanked him for allowing me to document him, and his response was something along the lines of: “Yeah.. You know, I don’t do this s**t often. I’m usually very private. But today was very nice, and it felt right. Thank you for everything. I’ll tell my kids to hit you up when they’re in town — I want them to experience what I did!”
He then very generously gifted me a pair of VIP tickets to the sold-out John Mayer show (we were seated behind David Foster), and arranged for security to escort us backstage to hang out.
As a documenter of culture, those are some of the best compliments you will ever receive.
What are your plans for SAVOIR-FAIRE! going forward? Beyond documentaries and artist photography, are there any other kinds of content that you would like to explore?
I can’t share too much at this time, but authenticity and purpose is always going to be the core of everything we do. It’s about to get really exciting.
