Southeast Asia's Emerging Talents: An Interview with Suzy Annetta

Southeast Asian design showcase, EMERGE @ FIND, is back this year at Marina Bay Sands from 26 to 28 September 2024. Returning curator Suzy Annetta, who is the founding Editor-in-Chief of Design Anthology, frames the showcase under the theme "These Precious Things", provoking the notion of the value of objects. For the first time, recent graduates from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam will be featured.

The Artling speaks to Annetta about the emerging designers at the showcase and what to expect from these talents.

This year’s theme, These Precious Things, posed very thought-provoking questions to the designers, like who decides what is valuable, and how is that decided. What was the motivation behind the theme?
After the past two editions of EMERGE, where we explored Southeast Asian designers' existing practices via materiality (2022) and making (2023), we decided that it would be interesting to provide the designers with a brief or a provocation. The idea of value seemed to be a broad enough idea that it could elicit a variety of interpretations.

I found a quote by the Italian designer Enzo Mari - "I suggest looking outside the window: if you like what you see, there’s no reason for new projects. If, on the other hand, there are things that fill you with horror... then there are good reasons for your project" - which really summed up my thoughts. I would love to see more of us considering what we make / use / buy, where it comes from, how and from what it is made.

If we are going to bring something new into the world then it had better be something of quality, of value. I was curious to see how the designers would interpret and respond to this as an idea.

One of the questions in the curatorial brief is about why we create more stuff when we have more than enough on the planet already. How do you think the designers responded to that with their submissions?
As I anticipated, each of the designers interpreted and responded to this idea in their own way, although we started to see patterns in thinking as we were reading through the designers' submissions and proposals. What we found was they were either looking inward for value (or importance) - with subjects such as identity, time, memory, history and culture as a few that seemed pertinent. While others were drawn to more obvious environmental issues such as natural (virgin) materials, or handcraft.

Southeast Asia has a huge pool of emerging talents. How did you select the final works for the showcase?
It's never easy as the longlist is quite long to start with. Generally we start by asking designers to submit an expression of interest with a proposal and an artist statement to accompany their ideas. The shortlisting process was quite lengthy as we had to evaluate each of the pieces and determine whether it really addressed the brief provided. In the end it was about finding the right mix of works as well as a group of designers who are representative of the region.

Could you tell us a bit more about this year’s focus on the recent graduates and why they are important to the showcase?
We've always had a group of recent graduates in the show, but this year we wanted to highlight that further. Given the name of the show, it's important that we are highlighting new and emerging talent. In previous years we've had more of a mix of more established names with recent grads, but as the show finds its feet and is becoming a more and more important event on the design calendar, we wanted to make sure we were providing the newcomers more exposure and opportunities.

How have you seen some of the designers incorporate traditional methods or craftsmanship into their works?
Yes, definitely. You'll notice that several designers are working with traditional weaving techniques, while a Thai designer has incorporated sand-cast Brass into his work.

What are some of your highlights in this year’s showcase?
There are so many, it's hard to name just a few. Like the last two years, we have several new names at EMERGE this year, including a few from Thailand. Yanothai Treeratchotikul is one of them (and also a fresh grad) and has a quite unique interpretation of the brief. Mohd Sujak Hasbollah from Malaysia is a bit more established but is new to EMERGE this year and I'm really excited to see his works in real life.

Khanh Linh Phan, from Vietnam, is another newcomer and is showing a series of lights that she has hand made using crochet, Ivan Ho from Singapore is showing an intresing series of vessels that I'm excited to see, Edward Sibunga from the Philipppines showed at EMERGE last year for the first time and this year is showing some tables made from an innovative new timber terrazo material, and another newcomer, Nikko Wonoto from Indonesia is showing pieces made from bamboo and terrazo.

Do you have any returning designers this year and how have they responded to this year's theme compared to the previous year’s?
Many of the designers are returning to EMERGE this year for their third show, which is super exciting. Given that the brief each year has been so different, their submissions are also really varied. I'm always really interested to see what's new from designers like Alvin T (Indonesia), Nazareno/Lichauco (Philippines), Sputnik Forest (Malaysia), Gin&G (Singapore), THINKK (Thailand) and Nghiem Vu (Vietnam).

Besides EMERGE, where can collectors go to discover new, up-and-coming designers?
Good question. I think the success of EMERGE is mostly due to the fact that it's a one of a kind showcase. Salone Satellite has done a great job of this in the past, and it's a platform I always like to see in Milan, but the focus on Southeast Asia at EMERGE is what sets it apart, in my opinion.

Supported by FIND – Design Fair Asia, EMERGE @ FIND is part of Singapore Design Week 2024 and presented by DesignSingapore Council.

Click here for more information on Singapore Design Week 2024 and FIND - Design Fair Asia.

Click here to view the full list of design items from EMERGE @ FIND.