If you’re still buzzing around Singapore and are planning to go explore Singapore Design Week, you are sure as well to pop by SingaPlural 2019. SingaPlural 2019 is in fact the main event at Singapore Design Week. This exhibition focuses on the creative processes before the actual design work itself. It celebrates the concept of “play” in our life and society, as well as in the design industry.

SingaPlural 2019 is definitely an experience not to miss and you have time until March 17th at the National Design Centre of Singapore. So here you have our guide to the edition! Learn and read more on our SingaPlural 2019 Event Guide.

SINGAPLURAL 2019 EVENT GUIDE

ABOUT SINGAPLURAL 2019

SingaPlural 2019 draws on evolution in nature to inspire innovation in design. The theme “Unnatural Phenomena” revisits and explores the processes and origins of and that precede design. Signed by extravagant and exiting collaborations between artists and disciplines. SingaPlural 2019 is going to be ground-breaking, as usual.

Organised by the Singapore Furniture Industries Council (SFIC) since 2012, SingaPlural is supported by DesignSingapore Council, Enterprise Singapore and Singapore Tourism Board, SingaPlural is also a programme of the annual Singapore Design Week, which is organised by the DesignSingapore Council, a part of the Ministry of Communications and Information.

HIGHTLIGHTS OF SINGAPLURAL 2019

SingaPlural is a strong advocate for collaborations between brands and creatives, to encourage innovation through test-bedding of ideas, and uncover possibilities through pushing boundaries. A multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary design platform, the name ‘SingaPlural’ is derived from a combination of the terms ‘Singular’ and ‘Plural’, and was conceived from the need to create a common platform to bridge the industry with designers.

TERROIR – TWG TEA X ATELIER MANFERDINI

Nature is the silent protagonist of TWG Tea’s exhibition at Singaplural. The TWG Tea Design Teapot takes centre stage. Iconic in its use of dual materials – ceramic and precious metal – the Design Teapot is the perfect marriage of form and function reflected in the mirror finish of its cover which wraps tightly around the teapot to maintain the temperature of the infusion inside.

Using 3D technology, the Design Teapot has been reconceived with gold tea leaves, fashioned as if they were emerging from the earth to embrace the teapot. Sourcing life from the terroir, the leaves seem to grow up around the teapot to reach inside, where they infuse to produce the perfectly prepared cup of tea, a pot of molten gold. An elixir of life, Terroir transforms the ephemeral tea leaf into a jewel of lasting beauty.

A PORTRAITURE OF FACETS – ADMIRA X STUDIO DAM

Designers often mimic or enhance nature. The act of design is actually an unnatural process because we create anything and everything from scratch. Any craft or technique is the epitome of “Unnatural Phenomena”. By inlaying laminates, we mimic the natural materials traditionally used for this technique.

While looking at the entire Admira collection, we started seeing each laminate as an individual colour. The entire library provided us with a diverse range of palettes, hues and shades. Piece by piece we use each laminate like paint, piecing together an archive of faceted portraits.

IPSE IPSA IPSUM – IPSE IPSA IPSUM, ORCA, AMR

This year ipse ipsa ipsum challenges itselt to look beyond the familiar and extends itself to embrace transformation. A conversation starter on heritage and artistry, each handcrafted piece is a beautiful piece of furniture you can come home to and treasure for many years to come. Muse, is a collaboration between AMR, a London based haute couture designer to develop to take inspiration from the world of couture and create a line of fashion interiors. It explores the eclectic taste of a seasoned collector of modern furniture & screen production property.

“Muse” traces the transformative journey through the eye of a collector. The Straits Collection is the culmination of a deeply personal pursuit for Singaporean originality as well as its aspiration to transform. Together, Saurabh Mangla and Jeremy Sun, Design Director of Orcadesign, have delved into aesthetics, materials and craftwork which draw inspiration from the rich cultural heritage of Singapore. The result is metamorphosed furniture design inspired by heritage which aspires to interrupt the uniformity of our urban life.

MASTER LECTURES

At SingaPlural 2019 you can’t miss the Master Lectures. 3 distinguished speakers have crossed boundaries and succeeded in their quest to be hybrids. In between disciplines. They step out of their comfort zone and into the unfamiliar. They walk within and outside the boundaries and inspire others not to be scared of change and of the different facets of creativity. They are the true faces of Unnatural Phenomena, as they roam in unidentified, unknown areas, and keep on evolving and adapting. All while creating.

What if, with Atelier Manferdini

The goal of the lecture is to broaden the audience’s intellectual and critical understanding of the role of design in society. Taking Atelier Manferdini creative process and professional practice as a point of departure, this lecture will focus on the specific effectiveness of visual languages to formulate alternative realities (drawings and pictures will be at the center of the lecture).

Breaking Out: Making and Experiencing Art in Non-Traditional Contexts, with Raffi Lehrer

Where do artforms begin and end? What determines how they’re experienced? These are among the questions art director Raffi Lehrer will explore in a discussion of his multidisciplinary approach to art production and curation. From his own background in sculpture and furniture design, to his work with artist-designers the Haas Brothers and Coachella producers Goldenvoice, Lehrer is guided by an interest in straddling art and design, and exploring how art is experienced in non-traditional contexts.

Some Novel Projects, with Brandon Kruysman

Brandon Kruysman lectures about the role of technology in design, along with showcasing the work of San Francisco based studio, Novel. The work of Novel cuts across a variety of genres and disciplines, including architecture, robotics, and augmented reality. The lecture will examine a range of case studies created with a variety of different mediums. These mediums are real-time and reactive, code based, nonlinear and unpredictable. We will talk about the influence of these tools, their impact on the design process, and their potential to yield novel results.