Singapore Design Week 2023: Find Design Fair celebrates Southeast Asian designers working across the spectrum of tradition and technology
- More than 50 designers showcased works at the Emerge @ Find showcase made using ancient and modern production methods, from weaving to 3D printing
- Highlights included Anon Pairot’s 3D-printed Churros Chair and Hana Surya’s textile artworks made with offcuts and waste fabric
As distinct as the Southeast Asian countries they hail from, creative works displayed at the recent Find Design Fair, a key event of Singapore Design Week, demonstrated the diverse and resourceful ways designers in the region are bringing their ideas to life.
The Emerge @ Find showcase, billed as a meeting of the traditional and the technological, featured a spectrum of furniture, textile, lighting and objects by more than 50 designers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam, using production methods ranging from ancient to industrial.
“There are some designer-makers handcrafting their own work; there are some designers collaborating with skilled craftspeople; while others are working with second- or third-generation factories, but they’re kind of taking them in a different direction,” says Emerge curator Suzy Annetta, who is also founding editor-in-chief of Hong Kong based magazine Design Anthology.
“And then there’s a couple of people that are using hi-tech techniques like 3D printing to produce their work, so it’s really broad.”
One of those 3D printed pieces was the cylindrical concrete Cord Bench by Singapore designer Nathan Yong, which he produced with local company CES Innovfab.
“It’s kind of like crossed fingers where they start to interlock with each other,” says Yong of the hollow structure. “People expect concrete to be blocky and very brutal, but I wanted to bring out a softer, almost handmade side, more lightweight.