Singapore Design Week 2024 to spotlight People of Design

Promotion: design fair Singapore Design Week has announced highlights for this year's programme, which is curated around the theme People of Design.

Organised by Design Singapore Council, the 11-day festival will run from September 26 to October 6 with three design districts and more than 80 programmes exhibited across the island.

This year's festival will focus on celebrating "everyday visionaries that shape our society through design" and share an aspiration to improve how we experience life.

Key events taking place during Singapore Design Week (SDW) will be split into the festival's three pillars of Design Futures, Design Marketplace and Design Impact, through which leading industry experts will "inform, intrigue and inspire" participants.

"Singapore has a distinct vision and approach, driven by a desire to drive positive change around the world through design," director of SDW 2024 Jody Teo said.

"For this edition of Singapore Design Week, we will be spotlighting the innovators whose impactful ideas help us all to live better."

"We invite all groups and communities to join us in Singapore and participate in the wide range of specially curated programmes," Teo added.

"Through being at this year’s festival, we hope everyone will gain a deeper appreciation for the role of design and be inspired to bring larger design outcomes to the fore."

Design Futures will explore the future of design with aims to create a better future for us all, which will be anchored by the Design Futures Forum.

Held across two days, the forum will encompass presentations, panel discussions and interactive sessions that examine the role of design and designers in the face of rapidly advancing technologies.

Keynote speakers for the event are CEO of Spatial Dynamics Cathy Hackl and fellow tech futurist, Lindsey McInerney. The duo will be joined by segment curators, venture capitalist Debra Langley, artistic director of Het Nieuwe Instituut Aric Chen, and DesignSingapore Council’s School of X director Tamsin Greulich-Smith, to lead conversations around design's role in areas of emerging technology, sustainability and care.

The event's second pillar, Design Marketplace, is aimed at uniting lifestyle trends from around the world with the design community of the Southeast Asia region through its furniture, interiors and design trade fair. Design Fair Asia, also known as "FIND", will once again welcome more than 350 design brands and offerings over 17,000 square metres of space at Marina Bay Sands from 26 to 28 September 2024.

The fair will also host Emerge – an exhibition dedicated to Southeast Asian contemporary design.

Curated by Suzy Annetta of Design Anthology under the theme of 'These Precious Things', Emerge will include new works by over 50 emerging and established designers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam exploring ideas of "internal and external value".

In addition, the showcase will spotlight recently graduated designers from the region. Exhibited works will also be available for sale as part of a partnership with online gallery The Artling.

Design Impact will aim to inspire through innovative and impactful design solutions that tackle society's biggest challenges.

Key to this pillar is the Future Impact 2: Homecoming Showcase, which debuted at Milan Design Week 2024 and features work by designers Christian+Jade, David Lee, Faezah Shaharuddin, Gabriel Tan, Genevieve Ang and Interactive Material Labs, Tiffany Loy and Zavier Wong.

This year's SDW will also see an expanded area for design districts, with the Marina design district alongside Bras Basah.Bugis and Orchard.

Each design district will host exhibitions, installations, workshops, commissions that incorporate the overarching theme of the festival.

Included among these will be an installation by Hangzhou-based food design studio Atelier Fang. Titled Eat, it will explore culinary transformation and consumption, the propagation and migration of seeds, and the innovative use of food materials. Another called Sleep will “awaken the senses of participants in a two-part experience where elements of sleep and sleeplessness are decoded”, according to the organisers.

The Marina Design District plays host to Neufolk, "Bridging Tradition and Future in Design"; a series of works curated by Nathan Yong that merges the "spirit of communities with the future-thinking vision of Singaporean design".

Other highlights include the Design Pavilion at Millenia Walk that will house a curated exhibition, talks, retail spaces and workshops. It is built as a modular structure crafted out of sustainable sources of wood that can be repurposed.

Meanwhile, at the Orchard design district, a place-making trail curated by interdisciplinary group Plus Collaboratives investigates "the role of design in the adaptation and transformation of a place".

More information about the festival can be found on their website.

Singapore Design Week takes place from 26 September to 6 October 2024. Dezeen is a media partner of Singapore Design Week. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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This article was written by Dezeen for Singapore Design Week as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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