Visions of the Future – New rituals and practices aimed at health, well-being and sustainability

From 10 December 2020 to 7 January 2021, DesignSingapore Council’s (Dsg) “Visions of the Future” imagines future trends in the wake of the pandemic, through seven designs that look at the improvement of health and wellbeing through rituals and practices, sustainable processes, new materials and safety through design.

The participating designers were selected through an open call held by Dsg in late 2019, and were mentored throughout the process by Wendy Chua and Gustavo Maggio, founders of the Singaporean multi-disciplinary design practice Forest & Whale.

The exhibition – presented online and at the National Design Centre in Singapore - highlights the significance of design in safeguarding our health and wellbeing. Beyond the immediate needs of the crisis, it explores the intangible but deeply rooted cultural beliefs that anchor one in a future filled with uncertainties. Through new interpretations of rituals of repair and mindfulness, design plays a pivotal role in building financial, mental and emotional resilience.

Let’s see the projects.

"Mass Production of Happiness" by Yingxuan Teo is a soap-making device, made of natural ingredients, which can be incorporated into an everyday routine. A project which envisions a near future where plastic packaging is eliminated from the cosmetics industry, with single use plastic being replaced by entirely sustainable ‘make your own’ systems. 
 

"Rewind" by Poh Yun Ru is a cognitive stimulation therapy tool for people with dementia that stimulates the patients throught the repetition of sounds, smells and sights in order to retain memory. Poh Yun Ru has designed a new tool to engage the mental agility and acuity in older people who, due to the coronavirus, are forced to stay home and to live in isolation with little physical contact with their families.
 

Taking an experimental approach to pneumatics, Sheryl Teng seeks to investigate how air can “come to life” in the form of a pneumatic textile, which responds to the needs of the user and the environment - creating the "Pneumatics’ Touch" collection. The innovative series serves to reimagine the system and application of pneumatic objects, utilising its thermal insulating properties.
 

Lin Qiuxia presents contemporary artefacts of belief as vessels for hope under the invisible threat of the coronavirus, called "Ji Jian Wu". Originated from the ancient divination rituals of Chinese geomancy, each object by Lin Qiuxia is conceived as amulets to maintain the Feng Shui meaning associated with its traditional counterpart. 
 

“Canvas” offers a visionary approach to the “make do and mend” culture which fell out of fashion as goods became cheaper. Designers Ng Luowei and Mervyn Chen have repurposed quick-drying liquid rubber paint to become a material that can be used to restore and repair worn-out shoes in creative patterns. The work recalls old repairing cultures in the frugality of the impending economic recession due to the pandemic. 



"Design Probes" by Kevin Chiam are design solutions to overcome our conditioned reflexes and unconscious behaviours, such as our tendency to touch our face mask. “Soap Tattoos”  dissolve upon contact with water to reveal animal prints, while “Echo” it is a fire alarm system that uses an imminent bursting balloon to motivate occupant evacuation.
 

The “Chun” collection by Jasmine Quek – part of her wider "Phenomenal Wood"project – is a modern reinterpretation of traditional teaware that is used in the Chinese GongFu tea ceremony. The contemporary tea set, that explores new interpretation of familiar materials, brings a ritual of mindfulness into our homes in times of quarantine fatigue.

The seven works presented in “Vision of the Future” illuminate the opportunities in the crisis by imagining new rituals of living in the new normal. Through innovations in craft, technology and materials, the designers illustrate a hopeful future despite the pandemic. 

Exhibits and a full programme of discussion panels and podcasts will be available on the dedicated microsite www.visionsofthefuture.sg.