Singapore Design Week 2025 explores Singapore’s design journey as part of 60 years of nation building

From a tongue-in-cheek exploration of Singapore’s improbable rise at the Unnatural History Museum of Singapore, to innovation-driven experiences at the new Singapore Science Park Design District, Asia’s premier festival brings the “Nation by Design” theme to life

Singapore, 10 July 2025 – Singapore Design Week (SDW) returns from 11 to 21 September 2025 in a city-wide celebration of Singapore’s design spirit and creativity.

Organised by the DesignSingapore Council (Dsg), this edition will commemorate 60 years of Singapore’s independence with the festival theme “Nation by Design”. Across 11 days, Singapore Design Week will highlight the nation’s distinctive design journey, its standing as a UNESCO Creative City of Design, and the enduring role design plays in shaping Singapore’s past, present and future. 

“Singapore’s journey has always been guided by intention and imagination, and this year’s festival is a powerful reminder of that,” said Jody Teo, Festival Director of SDW 2025 and Director of Marketing Communications and Outreach at the DesignSingapore Council. “Festival-goers can expect a strong line-up of new commissions and collaborations centred around the theme ‘Nation by Design’, reflecting how design has transformed Singapore and will continue to shape our nation’s story for the future.”

Special festival commissions for ‘Nation by Design’

As the epicentre of creativity, arts and heritage, the Bras Basah.Bugis (BBB) Design District will host two new festival commissions that spotlight Singapore’s brand of creativity that turns limitations into opportunities.

Staged at the National Design Centre, the Unnatural History Museum of Singapore led by Pann Lim, Co-founder and Creative Director of creative agency Kinetic Singapore, will reframe the nation’s past 60 years of development. This unconventional exhibition offers a thought-provoking exploration of how the city-state flourishes through deliberate planning and bold design despite the lack of natural resources. 

Through three themes: R/Evolutionary Life, Growing Habitats and The Resourceful Island, visitors are invited to explore some of the nation’s most curious creations, which include a six-metre “fossil” of the Merlion, unusual habitats, reimagined landscapes, and hybrid flora and robotic fauna like “cyborg cockroaches”, which were developed by the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, HTX (Home Team Science and Technology Agency) and Klass Engineering & Solutions.

The journey extends to NAFA’s Fashion Gallery with The Sausage of the Future: Singapore Edition. Building on Zurich-based Dutch designer and researcher Carolien Niebling’s investigation into one of mankind’s first-ever designed food, this commission presents a selection of innovative sausages inspired by Singapore’s vibrant culinary culture and food security needs. Making its debut in Asia, the exhibition responds to urgent food sustainability challenges such as food waste, biodiversity, and preservation. It showcases four newly designed sausages through anatomical models, large-scale prints of proposed local ingredients, and a tasting event. 

Singapore Science Park comes onboard as a new Design District

As part of Dsg’s commitment to spotlight homegrown talent and foster meaningful collaborations, SDW 2025 is expanding to four key precincts – returning Design Districts of Bras Basah.Bugis, Marina, Orchard, along with the new addition of Singapore Science Park. Each district will interpret the festival theme that reflects its unique identity through immersive experiences.

Singapore Science Park Design District

Singapore Science Park will make its debut as a new Design District, where science and technology meets design. Curated by local creative agency OuterEdit and in partnership with CapitaLand Development, this inaugural edition introduces the theme of “REINVENTION”, transforming the newly launched Geneo precinct and the park into a living lab of installations, experiments, and inventions. The district comes alive with the participation of global innovation leaders like DENSO, KONE, and Merck, alongside homegrown creative partners like Green House and Tusitala, exploring how design thinking meets bold ideas in urban planning, material science, healthcare, sustainability and more. 

Marina Design District 

Marina Central remains a mainstay of the Marina Design District this year, returning with a focus on “Design for Care”, curated by Architect and Principal of Zarch Collaboratives, Randy Chan. A series of thoughtful, human-centred activations will take place across Marina Square, Millenia Walk, South Beach, and Suntec City, including a Design Pavilion at Millenia Walk constructed using the iconic Unica Plastic Stool designed in the 1990s. Other highlights include an inclusive Indoor Playground at Marina Square, designed for neurodivergent children in mind, and a series of installations and placemaking structures to encourage rest, reflection and shared moments.

Orchard Design District

The Orchard Design District welcomes *SCAPE and the wider Somerset Belt this year as it rallies youths to be co-creators around the concept of “Open Design Dialogue (ODD)”. Curated by Jerry Goh of branding and design studio Grain, the district’s centrepiece is a pavilion – developed in collaboration with architectural designer Nous Nous, botanical studio This Humid House, and kinetic technologist Insert Coin – where discussions and installations will be held. Festivalgoers can also look forward to curated trails and a series of in-store brand collaborations with the likes of Beyond The Vines, In Good Company, MUJI and Moleskine. 

Signature programmes across the festival’s core pillars

SDW’s annual highlights will return through the festival’s three defining pillars – Design Futures, Design Marketplace and Design Impact. Curated in collaboration with leading local and international names, these key events will provoke new thinking, spotlight emerging talent and inspire bold ideas for Singapore’s next chapter.

The Design Futures Forum returns on 17 September 2025 at the Victoria Theatre. Led by curators Aric Chen, Director of the Zaha Hadid Foundation, and Ong Ker-Shing, Co-founder and Director of Lekker Architects, the forum will draw from the theme “Braving Complexities”, discussing the role of design in addressing immense challenges and unprecedented opportunities at the intersection of sustainability, emerging technologies and care. New this year is a refreshed format that includes experiences curated by design studio OuterEdit, featuring innovative F&B concepts and activation zones.

Back at Marina Bay Sands for its fourth edition, FIND – Design Fair Asia will take place from 11 to 13 September. Organised by dmg events and Fiera Milano, the fair continues to bring together the best of East and West in the world of design. This year’s edition will feature over 300 international brands and a vibrant line-up of country pavilions, including returning showcases from the Czech Republic, Thailand, Italy, Singapore, and Indonesia, alongside debuts from Hong Kong and France. In addition, the FIND – Global Summit will spotlight more than 60 cross-disciplinary thought leaders from the fields of architecture, design, and hospitality. Pre-registration for complimentary passes has opened for festivalgoers.

EMERGE @ FIND will also return as part of the fair with a new Singaporean co-curator, Edwin Low, founder of Supermama, joining Suzy Annetta, founding editor-in-chief of Design Anthology. This year’s edition will showcase over 100 works from a diverse mix of more than 70 established and emerging designers. For the first time, EMERGE will expand beyond Southeast Asia to include creatives from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan as well as a retail activation at Supermama’s museum store within the Asian Civilisations Museum, and a showcase focused on inclusive design at Enabling Village from 1 to 30 October 2025.

Following its successful outing at Milan Design Week 2025, Future Impact 3: DESIGN NATION returns for its highly anticipated homecoming at the National Museum of Singapore. This third instalment of the Future Impact series introduced Hunn Wai of Lanzavecchia + Wai as the first Singaporean co-curator, alongside Tony Chambers and Maria Cristina Didero. The showcase is presented in three parts, presenting works that demonstrate how design enhances the world we live in and how we live in it.

Celebrating design with other programmes

Beyond its main showcases, SDW 2025 will see a series of activations that extend the spirit of design, including a special edition of the Singapore River Festival. Dsg will also present a series of after-hours activities over the two weekends, starting with Friday Late and extending into Saturdays across all four districts.

Complementing these will be an array of ground-up programmes by over 60 design community partners island-wide ranging from exhibitions and talks to pop-ups and workshops — further amplifying the reach and resonance of SDW 2025.

“As Singapore turns 60, this year’s Singapore Design Week invites us to reflect on how far we’ve come — not by chance, but through deliberate and thoughtful design,” said Dawn Lim, Executive Director of the DesignSingapore Council. “Through the lens of ‘Nation by Design’, we want to inspire Singaporeans to see design not just as a creative discipline, but as a powerful force for shaping how we live, lead and thrive together as a nation. As we look ahead, this is just the beginning, as we lay the groundwork for the next chapter of design in Singapore.”

Press Assets: High-res images are available for download HERE.

Singapore Design Week 2025
11 September to 21 September 2025
sdw.sg
#SDWSG25 #SingaporeDesignWeek #NationByDesign

About Singapore Design Week

One of Asia’s premier design festivals, Singapore Design Week (SDW) celebrates Singapore’s distinctive brand of creativity, exploring design through three defining festival pillars: Design Futures (the design of the future and the future of design), Design Marketplace (lifestyle trends with a spotlight on Southeast Asia) and Design Impact (innovative solutions for a better world). Organised by DesignSingapore Council, SDW is a celebration of creativity and innovation, championing thought leadership and showcasing the best of design from Singapore and beyond.
sdw.sg

About the DesignSingapore Council

The DesignSingapore Council’s (Dsg’s) vision is for Singapore to be an innovation-driven economy and a loveable city by design. 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 subsidiary of the Singapore Economic Development Board.
designsingapore.org