Singapore Designers at Milan Design Week 2023

DesignSingapore Council will bring Singaporean design to the global stage with the exhibition Future Impact at Milan Design Week, the world’s largest design event. Opening to the public from 18 to 23 April 2023, Future Impact celebrates Singapore's forward-looking design and its positive impact on everyday life.

Co-curated by global design thought leader and consultant Tony Chambers and Milan-based author and curator Maria Cristina Didero, Future Impact spotlights Singapore as a hub of innovation and creativity, in which impactful design solutions and technology intertwine to shape a brighter future while emphasising the urgent need for sustainability in design and production today.

Six of Singapore’s most talented and imaginative designers will share their vision for a shared global future. Forward-thinking solutions that employ cutting-edge technologies and poetic storytelling have been created by these designers: Forest & Whale, Gabriel Tan, Nathan Yong, Studio Juju, Tiffany Loy, and Viewport Studio.

"Singapore has been a hotbed of progressive design talent for many years, and I am delighted to help bring this message to a global audience during Milan Design Week. I’m confident that Future Impact will also leave its own positive and lasting impression." - Tony Chambers

"The contemporary design scene in Singapore shines with an innovative and futuristic spirit. A distinct economic, social, and political landscape for Asia and beyond, Singapore has built an independent and thriving cultural scene, which is now presented in Milan to showcase the ability of the local designers in connecting the most uplifting sustainable products with the latest available technologies. The participation of six of the most prominent Singaporean studios with never-seen-before projects at Future Impact presents the opportunity to discover new perspectives and visions, as well as the possibility to envision our own global future.” - Maria Cristina Didero.

Future Impact will debut six new works at the historic and iconic location - Casa del Pane (Bastioni di Porta Venezia). The venue acts as a fittingly dramatic backdrop for the showcase and is a nod to the future as it will be transformed into the new home of the Museo dell’Arte Digitale come 2025.

The OO Collection, designed by Studio Juju, is a collection of five sculptural objects characterised by circular holes. Abstract in their function, the familiar and ubiquitous holes punctuate the pieces, leaving one to imagine their purpose. The pieces are constructed entirely from Dekton (Pietra Kode series), a sophisticated, high-performance, ultra-compact stone slab material by Cosentino that has achieved carbon neutrality for its entire life cycle.

Multidisciplinary designer Nathan Yong presents Bent Onyx, a bridge between the past and future, traditional craft and technological innovation to sculpt Onyx, one of the most fragile and brittle natural stones.

Aiming for Peace is a floor and pendant lamp by Gabriel Tan that carries a sense of hope and poignancy. Inspired by the Flower Power movement – the flower triumphs over conflict and becomes an iconic symbol of non-violence and harmony. Amidst our current global climate of division and strife, this lamp is a beacon of light amid the chaos. Composed of an ash wood base made from furniture production offcuts, a recycled steel pipe stem and a 3D-printed lampshade made from recycled plastic, the lamp uses a low-energy 2.5W LED source.

Textile designer Tiffany Loy teams up with the Singapore University of Technology and Design's (SUTD) Digital Manufacturing and Design Centre (DManD) to explore advanced automated textile construction as a means of additive manufacturing. Despite their time-honoured existence and association with craft, weaving and knitting have been consistently rejuvenated with digital accompaniments such as software and automation of hardware. Fuelled by fervent designers such as Loy and researchers at DmanD, the domain of coding for complex SUTD’s textile construction is growing.

This collaboration explores the construction of multi-material, pliable 3D forms, filling a gap in the current world of 3D printed options. Textile construction methods allow material properties to be retained in the final product, unlike 3D printing processes, which are often restricted by the types of fusible materials used. Any material in the form of a pliable line can be woven or knitted into a 3D form. With this starting point, Loy and the team at DmanD explore an imagined future of a world built with lines.

With Artificial Intelligence (AI) still in its infancy, Viewport Studio was keen to look at how it may change design in the future – particularly in relation to sustainability. The studio has produced two sculptural room divider screens made from waste metal parts from their ongoing collaboration with Italian manufacturer Equilibri. One is designed via conversations directly with the manufacturer, and the other via conversations with an AI (Chat GPT). Viewport Studio will let the viewers decide for themselves which approach they prefer and leave room for reflection on the usefulness of AI at this moment and in the future.

Forest & Whale is a design duo focusing on circular systems, social care and future envisioning. Their project, Wallflower, is an interactive wall poster that transforms seeds into art, imbuing them with constant presence and visibility in our living environment. Composed of multicoloured tesserae, these colour chips, embedded with seeds, can be torn off, planted and grown into herbs. As more chips are used, the artwork evolves, growing smaller until it finally disappears, leaving no waste behind. Wallflower rethinks the philosophy of gardening and is a subtle daily reminder for us to rekindle our relationship with nature.

In collaboration with Fab.Pub, Forest & Whale designed a limited edition of vases that will be 3D printed onsite using a clay-based filament. With a surface that undulates and ripples like plant roots, the herb vessels elevate the visual form of the ubiquitous pot into a taller silhouette, drawing intention to the ritual of kitchen gardening. Visitors to the installation will witness the growing of herbs and terracotta vessels at the same time.

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. The Dsg is a subsidiary of the Singapore Economic Development Board.

Exhibition Dates: 18 - 23 April 2023
Address: Casa del Pane, Casello Daziario Ovest di Porta Venezia, Corso Venezia, 63, 20121 Milano
Opening Hours: Mon-Sun: 10am - 7pm

All images are courtesy of DesignSingapore Counil and the designers.