with pavé diamonds
Our annual GRAZIA Game Changers initiative celebrates bold ambition and fearless innovation. These are the people reshaping industries, communities, and culture—one daring move at a time.
Below, meet Christina Rasmussen and Sasha Wijidessa. As co-founders of gastrobar Fura, the duo are challenging the way we eat and think about food, creating experiences that spark conscious choices long after the meal ends.
What inspired you to pursue this path? Was there a defining moment that set you on this journey?
Christina Rasmussen (CR): While Sasha and I come from very different backgrounds—in the way we were raised, our experiences, and our paths within the industry—we were aligned from the start on one thing: whatever we built together had to help shape the kind of future we want to see. That means fostering greater openness in people’s mindsets, more conscious consumption and stronger social awareness.
We often talk about how easy it is for people to forget that individual choices may seem small, but collectively, they shape trends, society, and ultimately supply and demand. At the same time, consumers are so often told that the responsibility lies solely with them to make better decisions. We believe that responsibility also sits firmly with businesses. Companies have the power—and the obligation—to make better choices more accessible. As a business, we can create change at scale through the people who walk through our doors and through experiences that have the potential to influence behaviour long after they leave.
Sasha Wijidessa (SW): One of the biggest inspirations behind Fura—and the reason behind both our name and tagline, Collaborative Survival—is The Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Tsing. In it, Tsing explores what it means to sustain life on a fragile planet, using the matsutake mushroom as a lens to examine ecological degradation, the limits of capitalist progress, and the economic precarity that defines the 21st century. What resonated deeply with us was the matsutake’s resilience: it cannot be domesticated, yet it survives—and even thrives—in disturbed environments. More importantly, the book speaks to the entanglement and interdependence between species, and the idea that survival is never solitary.
Individual choices may seem small, but collectively, they shape trends, society, and ultimately supply and demand.
What experiences helped shape Fura’s philosophy and the framework you operate from today?
SW: There have also been a few defining moments that helped shape the framework we work from today.
First, in November 2022, we attended a food tech expo. There was so much emphasis on making food tech feel exciting, disruptive, and new—but the reality is that food technology has existed for centuries. Canning, for example, was invented in 1809. What struck us was the realisation that so many innovations in the way we eat and drink have historically been immediate solutions to immediate problems, but often with long-term environmental consequences. We’ve created countless systems to feed an overpopulated world, yet many were developed without fully accounting for their downstream impact—especially carbon emissions. Even with global leaders pledging net zero by 2050, we’re still on track for a projected 2.6°C rise in global temperatures. It raised a fundamental question for us: if carbon emissions are the bigger picture, why aren’t we treating them as such in the way we eat and drink?
The second was watching Seaspiracy in 2021. Afterwards, we had a long conversation about how many of the proposed “solutions” still felt insufficient. Christina brought up a friend in Puerto Rico who she described as a sustainable fisherman—someone who only catches what he needs. But that led us to a bigger question: if eight billion people all took only “what they need” every day, would that still be sustainable? The answer, of course, is no. It made us realise that sustainability can’t only be framed at the individual level; it has to be understood at the scale of systems and collective behaviour.
The third came in 2022, when we moved back to Singapore from Denmark. We quickly realised how deeply generational food habits are—especially in Asia. You eat what your mother eats, and she eats what her mother ate. But the truth is, our food systems today look nothing like they did 10, 20, or 50 years ago. Many of the rituals and patterns we’ve inherited were formed for a far less populated world, with very different resources and pressures. Yet we continue to replicate them unchanged, even as the conditions around us have radically shifted. That disconnect is part of what has created the broken food ecosystem we’re now living in.
Your work has reshaped the landscape of sustainability. What motivated you to challenge the status quo?
CR: Personally, social and environmental awareness have been a part of my upbringing. I’ve had the privilege to be exposed to nature, landscapes, farms, food systems and animals my whole life where my choices take all of that into consideration. In the past decade of myself working in this industry, I’ve seen where there’s room to grow and how much exposure and education plays a huge role in everyday choice. So for us to create a concept around building new food experiences where we can share our knowledge, hard work and passion to guests who are intrigued by our ethos, is very rewarding. We hope through our menu and experience people can leave here remembering their choices matter, try new things and we all have a footprint.
SW: We have always said our work is very personal and almost an extension of who we both are. As we talk about having a family one day, it’s the question of “what kind of earth do we want to bring a child into?” So, I think a lot of our motivation comes from wanting to protect our future as a family.
Have you ever faced a moment of self-doubt? How did you push past it?
CR: We definitely have looked at each other and been like “What are we doing? Is this going to work?” But both Sasha and myself are strong willed hard-working creatives that will always find a way. Or very proud of what we’ve created so far and made a name for Fura and what we believe in in such a short time.
What does success mean to you, and has that definition evolved over time?
CR: Fura is very personal to us and we would hate to see that get lost along the way. Staying true to the overall goal of introducing new ingredients, showcasing like-minded farmers and artists and sharing experiences that can reshape how we live towards a better future is imperative. As a small business of course you have to pivot ideas to see what resonates best with your guests and marketing is essential but we all need to pay towards the bigger role.
SW: Success to me has always been tied to impact and reach, as there is strength in numbers. Only then would we see real change. In the context of Fura, it’s creating a brand with values and ethos that resonates beyond our brick and mortar space.
What’s a belief or idea you held at the start of your career that you’ve completely rethought?
CR: I took myself too seriously when I first started and I’ve since learnt not to. Changing this mindset was when I really started to grow.
SW: I used to put myself first, but through Fura, I’ve realised that the mission is bigger than the man. Now, my priority is putting people first.
What’s a system, standard, or stereotype you hope to completely rewrite?
SW: Rewriting what a sustainable business looks like. I think more of us should stop debating whether sustainability pays off. It’s time to stop talking about the business case for sustainability and start focusing on the customer case for sustainability. An economic system that destroys the planet can’t claim to be sustainable and still destroy the planet. The key problem is that the dominant mental model in business still prioritises profit maximisation and short-term growth.
What’s next for you? How do you plan to keep changing the game?
CR: The Singapore F&B landscape seems to always keep us on our toes so nothing gets boring, but we have a couple projects in line and a new menu concept that we’re very excited for.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Photography Joel Low
Creative Direction Kelly Hsu
Styling Marisa Xin
Hair Sveta Klyn/The Suburbs Studio, using Goldwell
Makeup Kat Zhang/ The Suburbs Studio, using Armani Beauty
Producer Cheryl Lai-Lim
Photography assistant Eddie Teo
Fashion assistant Nur Hazwani
READ MORE
