Cover Wallflower by Forest&Whale comprises paper chips with seeds embedded in them that can be planted to grow varieties such as rosemary, coriander, parsley, oregano, dill, thyme, sage, sweet basil and peppermint

A room divider created through ChatGPT conversations, 3D-printed lighting and projects made with seed paper and other sustainable materials are among the pieces presented by Singapore designers. Learn more about the Future Impact exhibition at Milan Design Week here

As one of the world’s most highly-anticipated design events, Milan Design Week is just around the corner, and this time our talented multidisciplinary designers from Singapore will be entering the mix with a beautiful group showcase.

Presented by DesignSingapore Council and co-curated by design consultant Tony Chambers and Milan-based author Maria Cristina Didero, the Future Impact exhibition will run from April 18 to 23 in Milan and highlight the work of six incredible and innovative design studios from Singapore.

The event with showcase sustainable and technological design solutions by Forest & Whale, Gabriel Tan, Nathan Yong, Studio Juju, Tiffany Loy, and Viewport Studio. Ahead, we get to know the designers and their latest projects that will make their first appearance at the Future Impact exhibition.

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1. Viewport Studio

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Above Voon Wong, creative director of Viewport Studio

Viewport Studio is an award-winning multidisciplinary practice based in Singapore and London that specialises in architecture and cross-disciplinary product and furniture design. In the two decades since its founding, the studio has gained a diverse clientele with international names, from Virgin Galactic and Delta Air Lines to Royal Selangor and The Goodwood Hotel Group. Voon Wong, director of Viewport Studio, was notably named Designer of the Year at the President’s Design Award in 2012. Wong was also behind award-winning furniture lines such as the Essential Collection, which comprised a series of tables made from discarded timber, the Silt clay tableware collection, and the Loop lamp.

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Above The Rinnovare room dividers will be made with repurposed metal parts designed off conversations between Viewport Studio, Equilibri and ChatGPT

Having a keen interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its impact on design, Viewport Studio and Wong created the Rinnovare collection to observe how technology and design can help with the progress of future sustainability efforts. In collaboration with Italian manufacturer Equilibri, the studio produced two sculptural room divider screens made with repurposed waste metal parts and designed off conversations with the manufacturer and ChatGPT.

Read also: Opinion: How AI-generated art may change the way designers and architects design

2. Forest & Whale

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Above Gustavo Maggio, co-founder of Forest & Whale
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Above Wendy Chua, co-founder of Forest & Whale

Forest & Whale is a Singapore-based multi-disciplinary design studio founded by Gustavo Maggio and Wendy Chua. The husband-wife pair behind the Forest & Whale believe it is their calling to create products that respect the environment and, in this spirit, have become agents of change with their practice to reimagine the future possibilities of design through the lens of innovation, sustainability, and design anthropology. Through this mission, Forest & Whale hopes to be at the forefront of homeware objects and furniture systems that are long-lasting, omit single-use plastics, and can redefine our way of life.

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Photo 1 of 2 The multicoloured tesserae, embedded with seeds, can be torn off and planted to grow herbs.
Photo 2 of 2 Wallflower, is an interactive wall poster that brings a new purpose of bringing a touch of green into our homes by converting seeds into art

At the showcase in Milan Design Week, Forest & Whale will reveal their new project, Wallflower. Aimed to rekindle our relationship with nature in an indoor setting, Wallflower is an interactive wall poster that transforms seeds into art. Composed of paper chips embedded with seeds, homeowners can tear off a colour strip if they wish to replant and grow a herb of their own and this will simultaneously modify the artwork, growing smaller in size until it finally disappears, leaving no waste behind. Each of the posters comprises seedling varieties such as rosemary, coriander, parsley, oregano, dill, thyme, sage, sweet basil and peppermint.

Forest & Whale will also debut a special collaboration with Fab.Pub that features a limited edition of vases that will be 3D printed onsite using a clay-based filament.

In case you missed it: Meet the jury panel of the Tatler Homes Design Awards - Singapore 2023

3. Gabriel Tan Studio

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Above Gabriel Tan

Gabriel Tan is well on his way to becoming an international design sensation—the Singapore and Portugal-based designer has charted a career with his progressive, minimalist designs that have led him to greater heights with upcoming projects with globally renowned manufacturers.

After helming Singapore and Barcelona-based design collective Outofstock as one of its partners for ten years, Tan became the founder of the award-winning eponymous design practice Gabriel Tan Studio and creative director of the interior architecture firm Studio Antimatter in 2016. He is also the creative director of the Japanese furniture brand Ariake. In recent years, Tan relocated to Porto, Portugal, and has also started the artisanal craft brand Origin Made.

Through his journey, the trailblazer has also clinched several awards at the Industrial Designers Society of America's IDEA Award, Japan Good Design Award, and the Singapore President's Design Award, as well as guest lectured at Lasalle College of the Arts, National University of Singapore, University of Oregon, and Pratt Institute.

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Above Aiming for Peace collection by Gabriel Tan
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Above The Carnation lamp is representative of a carnation flower and was designed in homage to the Flower Power movement

Tan will soon showcase his latest work, Aiming for Peace which features his original Carnation Lamps. The Aiming for Peace collection comprises floor and pendant lamps that borrow inspiration from the Flower Power movement and evoke a sense of hope and poignancy. Each lamp has a design with an ash wood base derived from furniture production offcuts, a recycled steel pipe stem, and a 3D-printed lampshade made from recycled plastic. The lamps also use a low-energy 2.5W LED source.

4. Tiffany Loy

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Above Tiffany Loy

With a discerning eye for lines and colours, Tiffany Loy has become the textile designer to watch in Singapore. Loy’s body of art goes unnoticed with her formal background that began from pursuing industrial design in Singapore and learning textile weaving in Kyoto. She also graduated with a Master’s in Textiles from the Royal College of Art, specialisng in weaving, with the DesignSingapore Scholarship.

Her time-honoured craftsmanship and contemporary sculptural approach to textiles remain a hot conversation starter amongst design lovers and have even been showcased at the Singapore Art Museum, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, and La Triennale di Milano. Her recent work include Supertextures, a woven rug collection for the homegrown brand The Rug Maker, and The Weaverly Way, a site-specific textile sculpture presented at citizenM Hotel, Bankside, London.

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Photo 1 of 2 Building Futures Line by Line
Photo 2 of 2 A look at how digital technology and codes can result in intricate textile construction

Now, Loy has teamed up with the Singapore University of Technology and Design’s (SUTD) Digital Manufacturing and Design Centre to present her latest experimental works, Building Futures Line by Line, that intertwine digital software and automated hardware to produce unique textile designs. The process of each multi-material piece featured will unveil how the domain of coding for complex textile construction will become the future for 3D printed design and additive manufacturing.

5. Studio Juju

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Above Priscilla Lui and Timo Wong, founders of Studio Juju

Studio Juju is a Singapore design studio founded in 2009 that is a culmination between the creative minds of Priscilla Lui and Timo Wong, who first met while working at the National University of Singapore’s Design Incubation Centre, a research hub for industrial design. Each project the duo has undertaken takes a simple yet artful take on furniture and product design while bearing a refined look, functional approach, and emotional connection in mind. Collaborators at heart, Studio Juju has worked alongside international furniture labels like Living Diviani, Desalto, and W. Atelier and produced their original works for clients like Singapore Design Week, OCBC Premier Bank at Orchard Gateway, Gardens by the Bay, and Alice@Mediapolis, to name a few.

 

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Above The OO Collection by Studio Juju is a design collaboration with Cosentino and uses the Spanish-owned company’s Dekton surfaces from the Pietra Kode line

The OO Collection by Studio Juju takes inspiration from the nature-inspired textures of Cosentino’s Dekton Pietra Kode surfaces. Comprising a series of five decorative objects, these pieces by Studio Juju showcase the functionality and versatility of Dekton—a carbon-neutral material composed of natural Italian stones—by transforming them into minimalist furniture pieces with circular motifs and perforations.

6. Nathan Yong Design

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Above Singaporean industrial designer Nathan Yong

A celebrated industrial designer, Nathan Yong is no stranger to the industry and has honed his skill set over the last thirty years in specialised disciplines of art, furniture, spatial design, and product design. Yong was named Designer of the Year at the President*s Design Award in 2008 and is the founder of wooden furniture line Folks Collective; he also helms furniture store Grafunkt with business partner Jefery Kurniadidjaj. Beyond that, he helps nurture the next generation of designers as a programme leader at the Lasalle School of the Arts, and has been a mentor for young creative startups in Asia.

Yong has put Singapore on the map with his locally-based multidisciplinary design consultancy practice and star-studded collaborations between global names like Ligne Roset, Guocoland, Jewel Changi Airport, H&M, and Disney, and institutions like Singapore Tourism Board and Design Singapore. His thought-provoking works have since been exhibited globally at design centres across Singapore, Shizuoka, Milan, London, Cologne, and Taipei.

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Above A chair from the exclusive Farewell To Reason collection by Nathan Yong
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Above Bent Onyx by Nathan Yong

Singaporean designer Nathan Yong’s namesake studio will showcase products from his Bent Onyx range, created in collaboration with MM Galleri. Similarly inspired by his observations of the visual environment and essence of object materiality, Yong blends traditional craftsmanship techniques with technology to produce furniture and decor with the onyx, which is said to be one of the most fragile and brittle stones. These pieces help to reduce surplus waste and maximise the use of each onyx slab as each piece is thinly sliced into sheets and laminated to create durable decorative veneers for sculptures and furniture pieces.

Credits

Photography  

Nathan Yong Design, Khoo Guojie, Studio Juju, Inês Sá, Gabriel Tan Studio, Michelle Mantel, Dju-Lian Chng, Forest & Whale, Studio Periphery, Tiffany Loy and Viewport Studio

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