SingaPlural – Singapore Furniture Design Week 2012 March 8, 2012

SingaPlural – Singapore Furniture Design Week 2012
Discovering Design Talents from Multi-Faceted Entities
Held in conjunction with the International Furniture Fair Singapore 2012/29th ASEAN Furniture Show (IFFS/AFS 2012), Deco Asia and Hospitality Asia 2012, ‘SingaPlural’ - the inaugural Singapore furniture design week will take place in the exhibition at the Singapore Expo from 9th to 12th March 2012 and along the Singapore’s city streets from 9th to 11th March 2012.
Co-organised by the Singapore Furniture Industries Council (SFIC) and its subsidiary, International Furniture Fair Singapore Pte Ltd (IFFS), supported by International Enterprise Singapore, SPRING Singapore, Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau and Singapore Tourism Board (STB), ‘SingaPlural’ encompasses a series of seminars, exhibits, designers’ exchange forums, and a design trail - that showcases Singapore’s best design talents in the industry. It aims to provide a premier platform for local talents to display its finest works, and exchange ideas with renowned international designers.
Design Trail
The star highlight of the inaugural ‘SingaPlural’ is the Design Trail – a new and interesting element where local and global visitors can participate and expect to view multiple satellite exhibitions at various high traffic areas in the Singapore city centre. These routes will focus on Furniture, Architecture, Interiors, Graphic and Fashion – which will include design precincts and stopovers to showcase Singapore’s vibrant cultural essence and exciting dining concept attractions.
Design precincts of the Design Trail include the nostalgic dilapidated shophouses sheltering current modern design retail stores and cafes at Ann Siang Hill, Klapsons – an avant-garde boutique hotel located at the heritage of Tanjiong Pagar residential estate and the Marina Bay Sands, an iconic and integrated landmark that possesses a distinct design which will distinguish Singapore from other cities.
Design*Scape
Another main highlight of ‘SingaPlural’ is Design*Scape, a concept which alters the conventional way of individual exhibition and transforms a congregated platform for local designers or talents to showcase their design artworks. This basically offers a great opportunity to see a group of companies in one convenient location where different brands will be on show from international, commercial and residential accessories brands to emerging local labels.
Such showcases will be able to feature our local designers with their creative designs in individual spaces. It also reflects on the designers’ ‘out of the box thinking’ talent by incorporating and cross trading different design elements to create a symbolic design.
Design-Larger-Than-Life
To reach out to the local design enthusiasts, there will be a ‘Design-Larger-Than-Life’ installation competition, themed ‘Love, Think, Design, Green’. Open to ten design schools in Singapore, the two main objectives of this competition are to develop an understanding of furniture design with reference to the environment and its sustainability and to produce an incentive and explorative design that speaks the “Green & Eco” language. Among the five finalists shortlisted, each school will be given a seed funding of $2,000 for the fabrication of the installation. Winners of this competition will be selected by public voting and stand to win attractive prizes.
D’Space
D’Space is an exclusive design space at the IFFS/AFS which features cutting-edge and exciting works from both local and international designers and companies. As an over-arching tag that circled all design initiatives within the IFFS/AFS, D’Space also stages the up-and-coming design talents under PLATFORM and the winning pieces from the Furniture Design Award.
PLATFORM
PLATFORM, an initiative under the SFIC Design Entrepreneurial Development Programme will be returning to IFFS/AFS 2012 for its sixth installment. Providing a sought-after avenue for new and promising furniture designers, PLATFORM is a two-way street - facilitating the networking of designers with manufacturers to kick-start their design careers and also providing manufacturers the opportunities to uncover marketable designers to form fruitful partnerships.
Furniture Design Award
Furniture Design Award (FDA) is an annual furniture design competition organised by the SFIC and is one of Asia’s leading platform for unveiling trendsetting furniture pieces and design talents. Now into its 19th year, FDA 2012 is introducing the theme, “Love, Think, Design, Green”, to reflect the rise of social and eco-consciousness among the general public.
The Award comprises of two categories – Students category which is open to students at local and international arts and design institutions; and the Designers category which is open to local and international participants.
Furniture Design Forum
Furniture Design Forum, also known as FDF, is an annual forum held in conjunction with the IFFS/AFS, Deco Asia and Hospitality Asia, where distinguished keynote speakers in the field of furniture designs will be invited to share their knowledge and experiences over their illustrious careers. The exchange illustrates clear examples of the art, craft and business of their respective disciplines within the local and international community.

Come March 2012, local and international visitors can expect a brilliant showcase of furniture events as SingaPlural integrates the entire local design industry, showcasing the finest of Singapore’s design capabilities and mark this little red dot as the Milan of Asia.