Here's What To Look Out For At Singapore Design Week 2023
The industry's tentpole event returns with a theme of improving the way we live through thoughtful design.
By Keng Yang Shuen,
Design lovers have much to look forward to over the next 11 days - Singapore Design Week (SDW), the year's biggest showcase of Singapore’s brand of creativity, is back from September 21 to October 1, with over 80 events and exhibitions on the line-up. The tentpole event is organised by DesignSingapore Council (Dsg), which turns 20 this year.
To mark this milestone, Dsg’s motto of "Better by Design” has been adopted as the festival theme for this special edition. “Singapore design embodies a universal attitude – the desire to always seek to make lives
better using design," says Madeleine Ho, Festival Director of SDW 2023. "The motto ‘Better by Design’ reflects DesignSingapore Council’s commitment to champion design and creativity that helps us to meet complex challenges and shape a better future."
Like last year, SDW is anchored by the three main pillars of Design Futures (on forward-thinking design), Design Marketplace (spotlighting global lifestyle trends), and Design Impact (which looks at the power of design to solve real-world problems and make a positive impact on society.).
Look out for three specific venues - Bras Basah.Bugis, Marina Bay, and Orchard Road - with each district to contain unique programming that reflect the unique characteristics of its respective community.
Here, a breakdown of some key highlights to look out for:
This is the place to be if you want to discover the most exciting industrial designers in Singapore and across the region. EMERGE @ FIND is a fair curated by design expert Suzy Annetta and it sees over 50 designers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam presenting new works. Some returning names from last year's well-received inaugural edition include the innovative Singapore textile artist Tiffany Loy, but there are also many talents working across a wide variety of mediums and techniques debuting at the fair.
Sept 21 - 23, 10am - 6pm, at Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre, Level 1, Hall A, 10 Bayfront Avenue
This exhibition curated by acclaimed designer Jackson Tan of BLACK studio makes the point that design isn't always just about aesthetics. It brings together 12 design projects from Singapore tackling some of the most pressing challenges we face today with some pretty out there solutions. For example, expect to experience how the building facades of tomorrow can naturally cool like the skin of an elephant - so crucial (given the world's increasing temperatures), or how about a mini public housing town that's designed to be dementia-friendly?
Sept 21 - Jan 1, 2024, 9am – 9pm, at National Design Centre, Atrium, Level 1, 111 Middle Road
Curated by one of Singapore's most respected and play-loving designers - Pann Lim of Kinetic Singapore - the School Of Tomorrow exhibit will take over three levels of Selegie Arts Centre. Through the premise of a classroom setting, visitors will get to learn how to incorporate various forms of sustainability into their daily routines to design for a better future. For example - the "math" class here will teach you how to calculate your own carbon footprint and discover how to reduce it in realistic ways, while over in "biology", newer plastic alternatives such as bioplastics made from corn and milk will be spotlighted. Fun!
Sept 21 - Oct 1, 12pm - 8pm, at Selegie Arts Centre, 30 Selegie Road
Earlier this April, six of Singapore's most forward-thinking designers were selected to share new works at an exhibition titled Future Impact during Milan Design Week. The six Singapore studios that took part in the original exhibition shown at Milan - Forest & Whale, Viewport Studio, Gabriel Tan, Nathan Yong, Studio Juju, and Tiffany Loy (pictured) - will now see their works returning to local shores as part of Singapore Design Week this year. Curated by design tastemakers Tony Chambers and Maria Cristina Didero, this exhibition showcases how the six names combine cutting-edge techniques and poetic storytelling to demonstrate how we can create a more stable future through design-led innovation.
Sept 21 - Oct 1, 9am - 9pm, at National Design Centre, Design Gallery 3, Level 1, 111 Middle Road
On a traditional sports field, most games are bound by rigid rules and the odds are ever in the favour of able-bodied people - in other words, they're exclusionary. Designers Ong Ker-Shing and Joshua Comaroff of Lekker Architects want to challenge that way of thinking and to do so, they've created an interactive exhibition titled FI&LD that offers a new philosophy in inclusive design, based on play and improvisation.
The duo will also unveil a new game that encapsulates this concept of inclusive design. The game's rules will constantly be evolving to adapt to a diversity of players - with the goal of the game to end with only winners, and to quite simply have fun. Collaborators for this exhibition include students from Lasalle College of the Arts, the National University of Singapore’s Department of Architecture, and Yale-NUS College.
Sept 21 - Oct 1, 9am – 9pm, at Lasalle College of the Arts, 1 McNally Street
For the first time ever, Singapore Design Week will be having extended hours into the night. Most of the events and activities for Friday Late are centred around the Bras Brasah Bugis district. Headlining Friday Late are the three specially commissioned exhibitions (all mentioned above): Playground of Possibilities, FI&LD and School of Tomorrow.
Playground of Possibilities at National Design Centre will feature a curation of retail and F&B stalls with the theme of ‘innovation’ to match the exhibition, and there will also be live 3D printing demonstrations, while at Lasalle College of the Arts, FI&LD will be putting its own unique take on the traditional Sports Day (remember those from your schooling years?).
You can find more details on the many Friday Late activities here.
Sept 22, 7pm - 11pm, at various locations throughout the Bras Brasah Bugis district