SingaPlural 2016 has recently ended with a bang, as close to 28,000 visitors came to experience some of Singapore’s most innovative design concepts put up by over 100 designers and more than 20 local and global brands.

The fifth instalment of this annual design festival, the anchor event of Singapore Design Week by DesignSingapore Council, was officially kicked off on 7th March 2016 by Mr Poon Hong Yuen, Chief Executive of SPRING Singapore.

With the theme ‘Senses: the art and science of experiences’, SingaPlural 2016 was a treat for the senses. The showcase of installations was curated by PLUS Collaboratives and GOVT.

“We are proud to say that SingaPlural 2016 was a resounding success. The strong content and the innovative designs wowed the audience and drew praises from both visitors and the participating brands,” commented Mr Mark Yong, Chairman, SingaPlural 2016.

Mr Yong, who is also the Vice President and Chairman of Design Development at Singapore Furniture Industries Council (SFIC), the organising body behind SingaPlural, shared: “The fifth anniversary of SingaPlural had brought a new level of design innovation to the industry. We are happy to be able to work with some of the top local and international brands who showcased their innovations here. Brands such as 3M, Bolon, Hafary and LG HI-Macs were among the many which joined us this year.

He added, “We have also matched global giants to local designers – creating a dynamic and spectacular result that tantalised our senses. Through the festival, we have provided a creative platform for brands to reach out and widen their exposure. We are also happy to hear from participants who shared about the new business opportunities that were spun off through their involvement with SingaPlural.”

For many of the participating brands, the event proved to be a choice marketing and branding platform to test new concepts and gain exposure.

Mr Simon Cheong, Business Development Director of Hafary Pte Ltd, which worked together with architects Wy-To to put up a design installation called Tile It Up said, “Hafary decided to participate for the first time in SingaPlural 2016 due to the event's wide outreach to audiences from various walks of life. By matching product companies like us to designers, SingaPlural helped us engage visitors and excite them on the various uses of tiles, making the Hafary brand name synonymous with quality tiles.”

Mr Jimmy Tong, President and Founder of Luxx Newhouse Group, which sponsored SingaPlural’s flagship installation this year, said “Our involvement in SingaPlural through Project X has pushed new boundaries for us – in terms of product design innovation with LG HI-MACS solid surface materials and reaching out to the mass consumer market here in Singapore and overseas. The four local companies we worked with to put up these design installations had explored unconventional applications for our solid surface materials, whileour presence in the anchor event of Singapore Design Week further strengthened Luxx Newhouse brand association with quality design.”

Indie designers also stood to gain a lot from the event. Mr Albert Lee, who collaborated with Chew Jiaying on the interactive installation Lumos, shared, “Most visitors who entered the installation had fun and many expressed interest to know more about the designers and our motivation behind the exhibits. Some were curious to know if we are selling our displayed works and a handful of them thought there could be opportunities to bring our designs further and possibly collaborate with them in the future. Specifically, the interested parties include travelling designers from Germany, a pre-school educator and a botanist start-up.”

Reflecting the growing sustainability concerns and environmental consciousness in the industry, SingaPlural this year also saw a first time collaboration between MediaCorp, Interior Design Confederation (Singapore) (IDCS), SFIC and Singapore Institute of Landscape Architects (SILA) to put up Doors – a sprawling outdoor installation comprising old doors and sets from local MediaCorp productions that gave a new lease of creative purpose to these end-of-life-cycle materials.

Mr Barry See, Head of Production Resource at Mediacorp, said, “The experience of working with top design associations in Singapore offered different perspectives for us in looking at how we can extend the creative life of our studio props and support environmental causes in innovative ways. We look forward to exploring further collaborations with SingaPlural in the future.”

Extending the creative purpose of materials was applied again when one of the installations - The Singapore March, by design studio A Good Citizen, will be re-displayed at the Affordable Art Fair from 22-24 April 2016.

Designer Celine Ng who was the creative behind the Engulf installation, said, “Working with Xtra and BOLON for SingaPlural 2016 has challenged myself to design out of my comfort zone, to express the tactile nature of BOLON’s material in the form of a 3D installation inspired by breaking waves. Through the SingaPlural platform, it has sparked interest in other material suppliers to rethink how they can present materials in a refreshing way, sprouting potential collaborations”.

Going forward, the organising team is already making new plans and welcoming new partnerships as it sets to stage a bigger, better SingaPlural come March 2017.

On his future aspirations for the festival, Mr Mark Yong said: “We have achieved many firsts for SingaPlural 2016 – a timely achievement as the Singapore design industry is on a cusp of profound growth, with the nation being dubbed a UNESCO Creative City of Design just months ago and the DesignSingapore Council recently announcing its Design 2025 masterplan.

“We hope that SingaPlural will continue to work with leading global and local brands and harness the growing local design talents to fuel business growth and further cement Singapore’s stature as a regional design hub.”

About SingaPlural

SingaPlural showcases the best design elements from the multi-faceted creative spectrum – Advertising, Architecture, Urban Planning, Landscape Architecture, as well as Interior, Furniture, Graphic and Fashion Design.

Organised by the Singapore Furniture Industries Council (SFIC) since 2012, 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 designers with the industry. SingaPlural 2016 is the anchor event of the Singapore Design Week and is held in conjunction with International Furniture Fair Singapore 2016, ASEAN Furniture Show, The Décor Show and furniPRO Asia.

Together with eight other network partners of DesignS, this week-long design celebration is an international platform for talents across the creative industries to engage and evoke the design senses of visitors; through installations, exclusively curated design spaces, symposiums and many other activities.

SingaPlural is supported by DesignSingapore Council, International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, Singapore Tourism Board, SPRING Singapore and Singapore Workforce Development Agency. It is also the anchor event of the Singapore Design Week, which is organised by the DesignSingapore Council, a part of the Ministry of Communications and Information.

(Source: Singapore Furniture Industries Council)