Designers to Check Out at Future Impact 2: Homecoming Showcase

The commissioned works of seven visionary Singaporean designers will be exhibited at Future Impact 2: Homecoming Showcase, held from 26 September to 17 November 2024 at the Asian Civilisations Museum as part of Singapore Design Week 2024.

Participating designers Christian+Jade; David Lee; Faezah Shaharuddin; Gabriel Tan; Genevieve Ang and Clement Zheng with Interactive Materials Lab; Tiffany Loy and Zavier Wong demonstrate the power of design for a more sustainable future. Their pieces push creative boundaries to develop innovative designs that tackle global challenges, reduce environmental impact, and reinvent production methods.

This exhibition, originally shown at Milan Design Week 2024 and curated by Tony Chambers and Maria Cristina Didero, will also feature some updated pieces.

Christian + Jade

Christian+Jade (Christian Hammer Juhl and Jade Chen), are a design duo based in Copenhagen and Singapore, aiming to create objects that encourage meaningful interactions through thoughtfully crafted narratives and materials.

With their Para Stool, the designers explored rubber production and material waste from the Para rubber tree, found in Singapore and Southeast Asia. The rubber wood is burned after 30 years and the duo are repurposing this with rubber to highlight its qualities.

David Lee

David Lee/I Am Not David Lee's practice explores the grey areas between art and design. He often disregards the traditional practices in both disciplines and introduces a hint of unpredictability to structured processes. Experimenting is an essential part of his creative process and is something he relies on.

Exhibiting at Future Impact 2: Homecoming Showcase, David Lee/I Am Not David Lee's Monolith chair is crafted from a single piece of material, laser-cut and bent into its final form. By producing it in this way, he minimizes material usage and reduces labour and waste generated during production.

Faezah Shaharuddin

Multidisciplinary designer Shaharuddin is known for her whimsical furniture brand Studio Kallang, which features sustainable design through her collection, Unlikely Fragments.

The designer crafts pieces for her Unlikely Fragments collection with wood scraps from Studio Kallang's production processes. The vintage textiles are infused with COzTERRA, a formulation which absorbs carbon dioxide and developed by Singapore-based technological material company Xinterra.

Gabriel Tan

Based in Singapore and Portugal, Tan's studio uses innovative approaches to reimagining tradition, craft, and technology. Operating from both Singapore and Portugal enables him and his team to draw on influences from Asia and Europe, enriching the studio's design process.

Using traditional basket-weaving techniques, these colorful table lamps are crafted with 3D printed resin. The harmony between the design and traditional techniques demonstrates the importance of technology in preserving traditional methods by reducing human labour and increasing accessibility to amateur designers.

Genevieve Ang and Clement Zheng (with Interactive Materials Lab)

Ang is an artist and designer who is interested in the hidden structures of materials, exploring the varied and complex processes of clay. For Future Impact 2, she collaborates with Clement Zheng from Interactive Materials Lab to delve into combining traditional materials with technology.

Spotlighted at Future Impact 2, Reciproco is a pair of interactive ceramic wares that transfer heat between objects and is activated by touch. Made with glass waste and thermochromic paint, the ceramics changes color when heated. Head to the showcase to touch and interact with the designs and discover how the technology comes to life.

Tiffany Loy

Loy is a textile artist who is trained in industrial design in Singapore and textile-weaving in Kyoto. With her background in product and textile design, she creates materials with precise details while taking into account their impact in the spatial context.

Glass Column is a wall-mounted light that uses off-cut stained glass fragments from previous projects by Synergraphic, a glass manufacturing company in Singapore. Loy achieves this through the classic stained glass technique, transforming a common object into a vibrant, illuminated piece.

Following her Mosaic Membrane piece at Milan Design Week 2024, which featured stone in a fluid form, Loy continues to collaborate with local artisans with this work to create a unique glass structure from discarded materials.

Zavier Wong

Based in the Netherlands, Singaporean-born Wong considers interior objects as his medium, gravitating towards materials that are considered imperfect, unwanted or useless. He creates new ways of experiencing materials by discovering ways of working with it in hopes that the objects move people in unexplainable ways.

Wong's design at Future Impact 2 is an art-like shelf, created from thin sheets of metal. The sheets are cut, folded, welded and finished by hand using algorithmic and generative design tools. Manifold Steel - Wall Piece No. 1 integrates AI into the design process while reducing material usage and production intensity.

Future Impact 2: Homecoming Showcase is a Key Event of Singapore Design Week 2024. For more information about the exhibition, click here.

For more information on Singapore Design Week 2024, visit SDW.SG.