Auve Design was registered in May 2022, a few months before she finished her fashion degree in Bournemouth. The first collection was called A Dune Cascade. Four knit pieces, shipped to Malaysia and Singapore.
Crystal Lai
Building brands in real time.
Kuala Lumpur founder. A knitwear label, a specialty coffee brand in three neighbourhoods, and a boutique cycling and strength club she also coaches at.
The short version
A label, three cafés and a studio floor
Slow Wood opened in Mont Kiara the following March, built around seven merbau trunks brought down from Terengganu. There are three branches now. The newest has a drive-thru.
Chrome Club came in June 2024. She runs it. She also teaches on its floor and choreographs her own rides, which is the part most people miss.
Milan to Kuala Lumpur
The route, 2018 to 2025
2018
Milan
Istituto Marangoni
A foundation year in fashion and apparel design.
2019
Bournemouth
Arts University Bournemouth
Three years to a BA. She kept the student ambassadorship on until 2023, a year after she had already registered a company back home.
2022
Auve Design
Kuala Lumpur
Registered in May, before the degree finished. Owner and creative director, running the collection from sketch through sampling, manufacturing and campaign.
2022
Manmu
Mont Kiara
Thirteen months as director of business development, events and campaigns. The only job on the list she did not own.
2023
Slow Wood Coffee
Mont Kiara
Co-founded the café. It opened on 18 March around seven merbau trunks, and did not stay one shop for long.
2024
Chrome Club
Ara Damansara
Co-founder and chief executive director from June. Also a founding coach, which is a different job.
Presenting Chrome 2.0, from the club's film
2025
The circuit
Kuala Lumpur
Chrome Club hosts the Asian debut of the Nuances Worldwide Series in August. She begins teaching abroad on the Ride the World circuit.
Crystal Lai’s first company, and its first collection
A Dune Cascade
Auve Design
Founder · Creative Director, since 2022
“A rendition of artistic expression”
Her own knitwear label, registered before she graduated and art-directed end to end.
Owner and creative director, running the collection from sketch through sampling, manufacturing and campaign.
What came out of it was knit: cut-outs, turtlenecks, a tie-belt waist, a corset dress with a tulle top. The storefront has since gone offline, so what follows is the collection as she published it.
Her first collection, A Dune Cascade
The Corset Dress
Corset-style knit dress with tulle top
- Maroon
- Black
60% knit, 40% sheer
- Structured yet stretchable
- Stretchable shoulder strap
- Side zipper
Her first collection, A Dune Cascade
The Croix Bodysuit
Turtleneck directional-cut bodysuit
- Maroon
- Snow
60% sheer, 40% knit
- Slim to fit
- Turtleneck styling
- Tie-belt waist
- Front and back cut-out details
- Gusset snap button closure
Her first collection, A Dune Cascade
The Croix Set
Tied bralette top with metal hooked bottom
- Black
- Sky Blue
60% cotton, 40% knit
- Fits true to size
- High waisted bottom
- Stretchable
Her first collection, A Dune Cascade
The Mini Chic Set
Backless cropped polo top with cut-out detail mini skirt
- Snow
- Tan
- Wing collar, cropped, open back
- Back piece knitted with larger holes
- Cut-out waist, mid to low
Her first collection, A Dune Cascade
The Classic Threads
Two-piece knit set
- Beige
- Snow
- Black
60% cotton, 40% knit
- Dropped shoulder
- Sleeves with breathable holes
- Legs partially exposed through larger knit holes
“Discover the art of looking effortlessly stylish & chic while remaining true to yourself”
The company was filed in May 2022. Her degree finished that September.
- Registered
- AUVE DESIGN SDN BHD, May 2022
- Categories
- Set Wear · One Piece
- Shown at
- Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week
- Also
- Measuring service, showroom, Atome
- Sizes
- S, M, L
- Shipped to
- Malaysia and Singapore
The label’s journal posted about Dune: Part Two on 1 March 2024, the day the film opened. The collection carries the name.
The café Crystal Lai co-founded
Slow Wood Coffee
Co-founder, since 2023
“Make coffee another language you speak”
Specialty coffee around seven merbau trunks, now standing in three Klang Valley neighbourhoods.
Mont Kiara opened on 18 March 2023. The seven hardwood pillars came down from Terengganu, and they are the reason people photograph the room before they order.
TTDI followed at Menara KEN. Ara Damansara soft-launched in December 2025 with a drive-thru, a minute from the Chrome Club floor. Two of her companies now share a neighbourhood.
The club Crystal Lai runs, and coaches in
Chrome Club
Co-founder · Chief Executive Director · Founding Coach, since 2024
“It’s where fitness meets purpose”
Rhythmic cycling and functional strength in Ara Damansara. The one company she is physically inside.
She runs it. She also teaches on its floor and choreographs her own rides, which is the part most people miss.
“She’s a true jack of all trades with an entrepreneurial spirit and a serious passion for fitness. After making her mark in fashion and F&B, she’s now venturing into the world of fitness at Chrome Club! Never one to shy away from a challenge, she’s known for choreographing her classes with creative, one-of-a-kind routines that will keep you on your toes and pushing your limits.”
- White is her favourite colour
- She eats yoghurt out of the tub
Five programmes run out of a lower-ground floor at The Bousteador, on a six-letter creed the club spells out for itself: community, honesty, respect, openness, movement, educate.
Rhythmic Ride
Music-driven indoor cycling that develops cadence, aerobic capacity and coordination. Beginner through elite.
Forge
The signature functional strength programme. Sustained muscular strength, practical power, structural resilience.
Drive
Foundational strength and conditioning built on compound movements and purposeful work capacity.
Strength Fundamentals
Foundational strength, muscular endurance and lifting technique, in Endurance and Dynamics formats.
The club
- Floor
- Lot LG-04, The Bousteador, Petaling Jaya
- Hours
- Mon–Thu 7am–10pm · Fri to 9pm · Weekends 9am–4pm
- Community
- 5,000+ riders & members · 100+ five-star reviews
- Also
- HYROX training club
In August 2025 it hosted the Asian debut of the Nuances Worldwide Series. Three hundred and fifty riders came, from six countries.
- Community
- Honesty
- Respect
- Openness
- Movement
- Educate
Where Crystal Lai teaches abroad
The circuit
350+riders
6countries
Global Flow · Ride the World
COO
“The ride that unites us”
The worldwide indoor-cycling community that Chrome Club anchors in Asia.
Global Flow connects riders, coaches and studios across more than thirty countries. Ride the World is its travelling festival: three days, a hacienda outside Mérida, coaches flown in from a dozen countries.
She sits on both sides of the arrangement. Chrome Club hosts the series at home. She flies out to teach it.
- Reach
- 10K riders · 30+ countries · 63 partner studios
- Series
- Nuances Worldwide · Ride the World · The Lock In
- She teaches
- RTW Butterfly Effect, Mexico
- Mark
- BELIEVE IN FLOW ©
Scoop, August 2025
Riders flew in from across Southeast Asia, the United Kingdom and Australia for three days in Kuala Lumpur. It was the first time the series had been held in Asia.
“For years people from the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia have been flying here to join our explosive, expressive classes. I’m proud that Malaysia finally has its time on the international stage.”
Work with me
Partnerships, events, brand collaborations.
The same door her link-in-bio keeps open: for brands, for festivals, for the studios who want the Kuala Lumpur standard in their room.
