PLURALITY OF IDEAS
Singapore once again played host to a design festival where creative collaborations mean art
Singapore’s iconic F1 Pit Building might be an unusual choice of venue for an international art-and-design event like SingaPlural, given its boring, schoollike façade. Even so, the annual event, which wrapped earlier this month, did not fail to draw design enthusiasts to immerse themselves in a six-day exhibit showcasing not just creativity but also the practicality of art.
Now in its sixth edition, SingaPlural was part of Singapore Design Week — a 10-day celebration of all things design, featuring more than 100 events in various locations around the Little Red Dot. As its name suggested, SingaPlural aimed to encourage collaborative work between local and international artists and designers alike.
Organised by the Singapore Furniture Industries Council (SFIC), this year’s SingaPlural revolved around the theme of “Stories: A New Perspective”. The majority of works on display encouraged visitors to think about the value of design and its ability to transform lives. Many of the showcases were not just a feast for the eyes, but had messages and clear concepts. These included global brands such as Uniqlo, Italy’s Studio Architetto Egidio Panzera and Japan’s Kanto Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry.
This year was the first time SingaPlural was curated by award-winning curator Black. Black is a Singapore-based creative agency whose creative director, Jackson Tan, was awarded Designer of the Year in 2007. The company was also crowned Asia’s Top Design Practice in the Singapore Design Awards 2015.
Here are six projects from SingaPlural 2017 worth taking note of.
1. TOMORROW: DESIGN STORIES OF OUR FUTURE
By Singapore’s 10 local designers and 10 illustrators
What will Singapore look like in 2065? This featured project at SingaPlural fast-forwards visitors to Singapore in 2065, as the country celebrates SG100. The project was divided into 10 parts, featuring works by 10 local designers and 10 illustrators working together in response to 10 speculative questions of how Singaporeans will communicate, connect, dress, eat, learn, live, play, relax, travel and work in 2065.
At SingaPlural, Tomorrow was partitioned separately from the rest of the exhibits. The first zone featured a library where a special book telling 10 stories of future Singapore was available for borrowing. (An audiobook was also there.) Apart from stories, the book featured detailed illustrations by 10 local artists, giving a picture of the next 49 years.
The second area had on display items from the future such as canned and packaged food. This area also encouraged visitors to write a letter to their future selves, using a provided typewriter. The letter would then be stored at a mailbox where other visitors could come and read it.
2. KYO
By Kanto Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry
Kyo aimed to bridge Singapore designers and Japanese traditional craft makers from the Kanto region. The project saw a series of furniture and lifestyle products co-created through a combination of intricate skills from the Japanese craft masters, and modern interpretations from Singapore designers.
On display was a work by Ishimoku x Asylum called Supu Playset, which was a children’s Paulownia wooden play set. Given the wood’s soft and lightweight properties, the play set indulged a range of growth and development stages.
Kyo featured other minimalist lifestyle and household products, including hand-dyed textile Dot Dot, Paulownia wooden jewellery box Ojo, pottery set rEvolve and Cypress adult bed and baby crib set As We Grow.
3. STORYTELLING SURFACES
By Ewins x Studio Architetto Egidio Panzera Storytelling Surfaces was conceptualised by renowned Italian architect and designer Egidio Panzera. The work featured a large box-shaped display, containing acrylic sheets in various colours and sizes. These two-dimensional sheets were arranged in order of height so that they created a hole through which visitors looked and saw different stories and experiences from the other end.
4. FREEZING THE MOMENT
By Jarken
Freezing The Moment was a project by a Thai design company Jarken, featuring plates of oxidised steel that could be applied for interior and furniture design. The project used small pieces oxidised naturally. Artists then added texture to the surface, using acrylic paints, before splashing acids to create a corrosive effect and coating it with resin to “freeze the moment”.
Because each plate was made by hand, each piece of steel was a unique art-object.
5. STORED VALUE
By Loh Zhide, Lim Ke and Wei Matthew Stored Valued was inspired by Singapore’s EZ-Link card, a contactless stored-value ticket that locals use every day for public transportation. The project was designed to explore Singaporean identity through a collection of sounds that seemed ordinary but might become unfamiliar.
At the exhibit, visitors could use their own EZ-Link card or a provided card to touch each of the EZ-Link card readers. When touched, the readers would project different sounds, allowing visitors to learn the reality of Singapore. These sounds included hawker wok, Taoist funeral, Indian temple, Malay wedding, durian seller, spitting, one-dollar tissue seller and many more.
6. BEAUTY IN THE VERNACULAR
By Ette Tea x MessyMsxi
The project was presented as a small teahouse with the aim of creating an artwork adorned by 6,000 pandan leaves hanging vertically from the teahouse’s ceiling, as well as a space for visitors to relax and enjoy tea. At the teahouse, visitors were allowed to taste a number of products from Ette Tea — a contemporary company specialising in blends with local and Southeast Asian nuances. There were teas like mango-and-stickyrice, chicken-rice, and many more.