The region’s premier design week is finally here! Check out the festival line-up of design that will bring together over 50 events and 200 designers for an immersive suite of design experiences.
This September 16–25, Asia’s premier design festival will finally be happening in Singapore after two years of hiatus. Aimed to showcase the best of design from Singapore and beyond, the flagship design festival of Singapore, a UNESCO Creative City of Design, is slated to chart new paths towards becoming a global creative event – particularly highlighting Southeast Asian design excellence.
Launched in 2014, Singapore Design Week returns with a brand-new vision that demonstrates Singapore’s distinctive brand of creativity, exploring through three defining pillars: Design Futures, Design Marketplace, and Design Impact.
As per Festival Director for SDW 2022: “The two-year hiatus was a good time to hit the refresh button. We deliberated on a stronger festival vision and how we could carve a distinctive and enduring niche by focusing on Singapore’s design strength. The new Singapore Design Week will shine the spotlight on Singapore as a futuristic city of design and innovation economy; an East-West connector and convenor for Southeast Asian design and lifestyle; and a purveyor of sustainable and impactful design solutions that address urgent real-world problems. This year’s line-up of design and creative heavyweights promises to cement SDW as one of Asia’s premier design festivals.”
The Executive Director of DesignSingapore Council, Dawn Lim, added that the team is more than excited to unveil the brand-new Singapore Week – which hopes to establish design thought leadership and raise conscious awareness of the significance of design. They hope that the festival goers will be genuinely inspired, make meaningful connections, and come away with a new perspective on what Singapore design stands for.
Making its new vision, DesignSingapore Council aims to partner with local creative agencies every year to bring to life the annual theme for Singapore’s flagship design festival. For this year, the team worked with Kinetic Singapore – one of the highly awarded independent creative agencies – to launch the campaign concept for Singapore Design Week: “Everything By Design”, which reflects hopes and aspirations for this festival, that it may grow and become one of the momentous events for designers and visitors alike that celebrate the true nature and potential of design.
Singapore Design Week 2022 Programme Line-Up
- Design Futures
To probe some of the critical ways for design to enable progress, one of the pillars highlighted for the Singapore Design Week this year is the Design Futures Symposium, which was developed under the curatorial direction of internationally renowned design curator and author Paola Antonelli. This symposium is slated to bring together a host of distinguished thought leaders from Singapore and all parts of the world.
Themed “Agency for the Future: Design and the Quest for a Better World,” the Design Futures Symposium will highlight the unique approaches taken by Singapore based on modeling, prototyping, testing, and perfecting solutions for preferable futures. Among the topics which will be discussed include the design approaches to complexity, systems, and prototypes; the imperative of regenerative design; designing for local and global challenges; how design can optimize human experience within the rest of nature; and how design can harness technology to build a better and inclusive future.
- Design Marketplace
Spearheaded by FIND – Design Fair Asia, the newest and largest furniture interiors and design fair in Asia will convene the largest carefully selected collection of interior brands, key opinion leaders, designers, and content from East and West. Renowned design tastemakers Tony Chambers and Yoko Choy of Wallpaper* magazine will be initiating conversations with global design opinion leaders on key trends and topics, like the metaverse, sustainability, biophilia, and overall wellbeing.
As part of FIND, a one-of-a-kind talent design showcase will be held at EMERGE @ FIND. The showcase will spotlight over 50 established and emerging designers from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam who will share their fresh works through the lens of materiality. This will be personally curated by Design Anthology’s Suzy Annetta.
- Design Impact
Seeing the world’s most critical issues – from waste and sustainability to mental health and aging society – this pillar highlights design as a primary driving force to create transformative impact by showcasing innovative real-life solutions to these enduring problems.
The President’s Design Award (P*DA), the highest honor awarded to designers and design projects across all disciplines, will be launching a new signature series during Singapore Design Week. Centered on architecture and place-making projects, two special P*DA Tours—”Design that Cares” and “The Hunt for the Green Treasure”—will be provided to the public to allow them to experience first-hand some of Singapore’s most outstanding and impactful designs. This will be done through immersive tours and self-guided journeys that will amplify the event’s call for innovation, inclusivity, and sustainability.
To promote social impact, the National Design Centre will be transformed into N*thing is Possible, a regenerative design showcase led by the creators of the world-famous Desa Potato Head creative village, Potato Head.
Interesting to see how these visions will translate into reality, right? Expect to experience an immersive suite of design activities in various spots across Singapore as the full line-up of activities gets unveiled closer to the festival. Aside from highly inspiring and motivating talks and symposiums, there will also be open houses, workshops, and showcases that will stir your creative spirit and passion for design.
To learn more about Singapore Design Week 2022, visit their official website at sdw.sg. Ticket sales will be open soon. Keep posted!
