Diverse offerings at SDW 2019 to include the return of Brainstorm Design, SingaPlural, ground-up district activations, and the first-ever UNESCO Creative Cities of Design Public Forum
Singapore, 21 December 2018 – The Singapore Design Week (SDW), one of Asia’s premier design festivals, will march into its sixth year from 4 to 17 March 2019 with programme offerings built upon the breadth and depth of collaborations formed with key industry partners from its previous edition.
Organised by the DesignSingapore Council (Dsg), SDW 2019 will showcase programmes forged from its successful partnerships with FORTUNE and Wallpaper* for Brainstorm Design, and with the Singapore Furniture Industries Council (SFIC) for SingaPlural, an annual design platform, to explore deeper and more complex connections between design, its impact and evolution. SDW’s long-standing trade show, the International Furniture Fair Singapore (IFFS), will be held at a new venue at the Marina Bay Sands, while Dsg will continue to partner Wallpaper* to present the Wallpaper* Handmade Exhibition. Held at the National Museum of Singapore for 2019, Handmade will showcase pieces by eight Singapore creatives. Together with the National Heritage Board (NHB), Dsg will enliven the Bras Basah.Bugis precinct with public artworks created by artists and designers through an open call.
Building on successful initiatives to rally the ground among the design community which yielded many creative ideas at SDW 2018, the 2019 festival will feature a new home-grown district activation in the heart of Bukit Pasoh Road. Organised by local creative studio OuterEdit, Street of Clans is a creative celebration bringing together a cross-blend of Singapore’s oldest and newest communities empowered by design, imagination and the age-old clan values of Kinship and Unity.
The popular Singapore Urban Design Festival (#UDFSG), which is organised by LOPELAB, will return for its second edition and will break new ground through the activation of a multi-storey carpark in Jalan Besar, highlighting the potential of underutilised spaces in bringing the community together.
“The Singapore Design Week 2019 aims to encourage visitors to explore and understand design approaches, and how these can lead to creative outcomes that will have a positive impact on their lives,” said Mr Mark Wee, Executive Director, DesignSingapore Council. “We want to facilitate a ground-up movement for design adoption. The 2019 festival will help to build industry capabilities, and facilitate collaborations locally and internationally, as we strive towards our goal to be a Global City of Design.”
On the international arena, Dsg will also work more closely with its overseas partners to come up with more enriching programmes at SDW 2019. This includes the first-ever UNESCO Creative Cities of Design Public Forum which will invite participants to discuss how good design can make an impact on the different facets of their lives.
For more details, please refer to Annex A. Information is also available at: designsingapore.org/sdw. The programmes highlighted in Annex A are just some of the exciting activities that will be featured at SDW 2019. Details and full listing of SDW 2019 activities will be unveiled early next year.
Event: Singapore Design Week 2019
Date: 4 – 17 March 2019
Venue: National Design Centre and various locations
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About the Singapore Design Week
Now into its sixth edition, the Singapore Design Week (SDW) 2019 will run from 4 to 17 March 2019. The annual SDW brings together a collection of local and international design activities in Singapore. Organised by Dsg, the SDW is open to the design community, businesses, design students, public sector officers and the general public.
As one of Asia’s premier design festivals, SDW champions design thought leadership by bringing together the design, business and public policy worlds to bring about innovation and solutions to build businesses, engage communities and enrich people’s lives. It is a hub where the best design talents and businesses from Singapore and Asia converge to be showcased to the world; and a platform where Singaporeans and visitors can experience the value of design through delightful activities.
Through SDW, Dsg hopes to enhance the synergy among our design partners, and in turn boost Singapore’s profile and attractiveness as a global city for design. More information can be found at: https://sdw.designsingapore.org/
About the DesignSingapore Council
DesignSingapore Council’s (Dsg) vision is for Singapore to be an innovation-driven economy and a loveable city through design by 2025. As the national agency that promotes design, our mission is to develop the design sector, help Singapore use design for innovation and growth, and make life better in this UNESCO Creative City of Design. Dsg is a division of the Ministry of Communications and Information.
ANNEX A
Brainstorm Design
SDW’s feature conference, Brainstorm Design, returns for the second time from 5 to 7 March with a new theme, “Vision, Empathy, and Scale”, which explores and amplifies ideas raised from the inaugural gathering in 2018. Brainstorm is led by the editorial teams of FORTUNE and Wallpaper*, and supported by Dsg and the Singapore Economic Development Board.
Delegates will hear from more than 40 speakers from some of the world’s most successful and influential corporations including: IDEO CEO and President Tim Brown; Amazon.com Vice President of Echo and Alexa Devices Miriam Daniel; Google Director of UX Design Kat Holmes; Miniwiz Founder and CEO Arthur Huang; IBM Vice President of Design Doug Powell; Dyson Chief Executive Officer James Rowan; and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Head of Digital, Commercial Real Estate, Commercial Banking Sam Yen. (Full list of speakers can be found at https://www.fortuneconferences.com/brainstorm-design-2019/).
SingaPlural
SingaPlural will once again be held at the National Design Centre, the nexus for design, from 4 to 17 March 2019. Organised by the SFIC and supported by Dsg, the 2019 edition will be curated by the collective Formwerkz and Bravo. The theme ”Unnatural Phenomena” explores the origin and evolution of extraordinary hybrids when disciplines collapse, mix, and morph in shared pursuits.
The event also features a one-day Master Lecture Series to be held on 6 March. Invited speakers include: Elena Manferdini, Principal and owner of Atelier Manferdini; Raffi Lehrer, Associate Art Director for Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival; and Brandon Kruysman, Creative Technology Director, Novel Technologies.
UNESCO Creative Cities of Design Public Forum
Another key highlight for SDW 2019 is the inaugural UNESCO Creative Cities of Design Public Forum: Designing for Impact, to be held on 8 March. This insightful event will feature representatives from the UNESCO Creative Cities of Design, including Singapore, sharing their efforts in designing for impact in education, public policy, business and communication. Participants will gain insights from international design champions and understand how they are turning to design to add value and grow sustainably in an increasingly demanding, complex and fast-changing world.
Handmade 2019
An exhibition not to be missed is Wallpaper* magazine’s iconic Handmade 2019 exhibition, in partnership with Dsg. Since 2010, Wallpaper* has commissioned the best creatives and manufacturers to create original, one-off luxury items for its annual showcase in Milan Design Week.
For the upcoming edition, seven established Singapore-based designers have been commissioned by Wallpaper* for the show: Chris Lee, Clara Yee, Hans Tan, Lai Chan, Lanzavecchia + Wai, Lekker Architects and Tiffany Loy. Earlier in May this year, Wallpaper* had also invited young Singaporean designers to take part in an open call for the “Next Generation Designer”. Brandon Yeo, a recent graduate from LASALLE, was selected and commissioned to create a piece for 2019. The eight Singapore pieces will debut at SDW from 7 March 2019, together with selected exhibits from past editions of Handmade, before being showcased at the Milan Design Week 2019.
International Furniture Fair Singapore
SDW’s homegrown trade show, the International Furniture Fair Singapore (IFFS), will be held at the Marina Bay Sands from 9 to 12 March 2019. Held in conjunction with the ASEAN Furniture Show and NOOK Asia, IFFS will be a multi-sensorial platform with a focus on the future of urban living. It will feature signature showcases in partnership with leading renowned designers, while tapping virtual reality and augmented reality technologies. Cameron Woo Design, famous for their work at Leedon Park in Singaporeand The Haven in Australia, will be one of the curators for the signature showcases. These crafted showcases draw inspiration from the rich heritage, culture and diversity of densely populated ASEAN countries and offer visitors a unique first-hand experience.
Singapore Urban Design Festival
Once again, SDW is partnering creative studios to bring design into neighbourhoods. LOPELAB returns with the Singapore Urban Design Festival (#UDFSG) from 14 to 17 March 2019, promising a fresh format, new topics and novel experiences. This time, it will transform an underutilised part of a multi-storey carpark in the heart of Jalan Besar into an experiential festival village. Visitors can expect a blend of inspiring talks, immersive live entertainment and displays of innovative urban solutions.
Street of Clans
Partnering Dsg for the first time, OuterEdit will host Street of Clans, a three-day local creative festival along Bukit Pasoh Road from 8 to 10 March 2019. This specially curated event offers visitors exclusive access to the stories of its clan associations and businesses, told through a showcase of home-grown design installations, talks, workshops and celebrative street atmosphere that aim to unite and connect communities together through creativity. The inspiration for this vibrant festival centres on the heritage and history of Bukit Pasoh Road, which was and is home to many clan associations that were set up when Chinese immigrants first came to Singapore and banded together in an effort to foster unity and kinship – values that resonate well with the design community and beyond.
Bras Basah.Bugis Public Artworks Street Installations
NHB, in partnership with Dsg, has co-launched an Open Call to invite artists and designers to submit a concept for the installation of public artworks as design interventions within the Queen Street area as part of SDW 2019. Once installed, the public artworks aim to provide visitors with delightful encounters to experience design, as well as to transform and enliven the urban spaces within the Queen Street area. The Open Call will close on 31 December 2018.
Written on : 21 Dec 2018
