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SFIC’s continuous effort
to push for design excellence among young design talents and the
furniture arena has yielded much success once again at the International
Furniture Fair Singapore 2009 / 26th ASEAN Furniture Show (IFFS/AFS
2009)!
Furniture Design Award
(FDA) 2009
This year, the Furniture Design Award (FDA) 2009 achieved a record
number of 637 entries from 19 countries, a commendable 20% increase
as compared to last year.
Unlike previous years, participants in all three
categories – Students, Young Designers and Open – were
given free reign in their furniture creations. The 18 finalists
from Australia, Belgium, Indonesia, South Korea, Mexico, Singapore,
Taiwan and Thailand presented their works to the distinguished jury
panel on 6 March at the Singapore Expo. Having achieved outstanding
scores in creativity, marketability and functionality, Ripple by
Apirat Boonruangthaworn, Thailand, and The Naked Chair by Outofstock,
Singapore, emerged as the winners for the FDA Grand Award for the
Young Designers and Open categories respectively. Three FDA Honorable
Mention Awards were handed out in the Students Category to COR by
Somchai Thuntharnaukul, Thailand, Ekilpse by Koh Qibao Kenneth,
Singapore and The Leg Centre Table by Chaiyo Opassamutchai, Thailand.
The 18 creative pieces were displayed at the
Singapore Expo during IFFS/AFS 2009. |
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FDA Grand Award
for FDA 2009 Open Category,
The Naked Chair by Outofstock, Singapore |
FDA Grand Award
for FDA 2009 Young Designers Category, Ripple by Apirat
Boonruangthaworn, Thailand |
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Honorable Mention Award for
FDA 2009 Students Category, The Leg Center Table
by Chaiyo Opassamutchai, King Mongkut’s Institute
of Technology Ladkrabang, Thailand |
FDA Honorable
Mention Award for
FDA 2009 Students Category,
Eklipse, by Kenneth Koh Qibao,
National University of Singapore, Singapore |
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PLATFORM
2009
Thumbs up for a breakthrough edition of PLATFORM!
This year, young design talents were not only
given the opportunity to exhibit and experience participating in
a major trade show via PLATFORM, they were also given a very special
opportunity – to curate the 800 sqm PLATFORM booth. Jarrod
Lim from Jarrod Lim Design, an FDA 2009 finalist and PLATFORM 2009
exhibitor, took on the challenge and impressed many with his sleek
and eye-catching booth design.
1degOFF design playgroup, a design collective
actively involved in grooming young local designers also had a very
positive experience at PLATFORM. Bacus Boo, founder and Creative
Director of 1degOFF design playgroup told us: "We used to only
receive enquiries about our products from the Asia Pacific region
but at PLATFORM 2009, we are very excited to have met potential
clients from European countries such as Italy and France."
Other than the creations by the 11 exhibiting
design schools, institutions and young entrepreneurs, visitors also
got to view outstanding works by previous exhibitors at the “Best
of PLATFORM” gallery and the sketches by a group of local
designers who participated in a workshop with renowned Italian design
company Magis in September last year. Visitors, exhibitors, furniture
players and designers also gathered to network and enjoy the free
flow of Bombay Sapphire drinks during the daily PLATFORM Happy Hour
at the fair.
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Best of PLATFORM gallery |
SFIC – Magis
Workshop Corner |
5th FL!P Challenge
5th FL!P Challenge Gold Award
- Torsion The Act of Twisting
by Nway Yu Win Sein & Lina Fong,
Temasek Polytechnic |
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Another successful design
competition that encourages students to creatively transform
furniture pieces was the 5th FL!P Challenge. Participants
were tasked to ‘Flip a Chair’ into innovative
works of art while retaining its seating function.
69 sponsored pieces of the Erpo Dining Chair by Star Furniture
Industries Pte Ltd were distributed to local design schools
and institutions and 17 outstanding works were selected for
the final round of judging. These creative pieces were also
showcased throughout the four-day IFFS/AFS 2009 at Singapore
Expo. |
Designers Cocktail Networking Session
From left: Mr Naoto Fukasawa (Founder,
Naoto Fukasawa Design, Japan), Mr Apirat Boonruangthaworn
(Grand Award Winner of FDA 2009, Young Designers Category),
Mr Simon Ong (Chairman, Design Development, SFIC) & Mr
Andrew Ng (President, SFIC) |
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Winners of FDA 2009 and 5th
FL!P Challenge were acknowledged at the Designers Cocktail
Networking Session on the evening of 6 March. Celebrated designer
and SFIC International Design Advisory Panel Member, Mr Naoto
Fukasawa from Japan, specially graced the event to present
the awards to the winners and shared his inspiring design
journey with the designers, industry players and media. |
Launch of Design DNA (Develop, Nurture and Accelerate) Programme
At the official opening of IFFS/AFS 2009, Minister of State for
Trade and Industry, Mr Lee Yi Shyan, announced the launch of the
Design DNA Programme, a new initiative by SFIC that aims to raise
the bar in design excellence and encourage a more vibrant and robust
design-led furniture industry in Singapore. Supported by SPRING
Singapore, the programme will be implemented over the next three
years to assist the furniture industry in fully leveraging design
as a key competitive advantage and driver for future growth.
Some programmes the industry players could look
forward to include more design seminars, forums and workshops, overseas
design immersion programmes and missions, an interactive furniture
design online platform as well as an annual Singapore design guide.
Furniture Design Forum (FDF) 2009
In collaboration with Singapore Mozaic Ambassador - Office Planner
Pte Ltd, SFIC invited top design guru, Karim Rashid of Karim Rashid
Inc, to speak at the Furniture Design Forum (FDF) 2009 held at the
Singapore Expo on 11 March.
FDF 2009 Keynote Speaker, Karim Rashid |
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During the forum, Karim Rashid,
dressed in his signature pink and white, shared his views
on how the world has evolved greatly and bolding challenged
design to keep up through the topic “Shaping the Globalandskape”.
A natural and eloquent orator, Karim Rashid delivered his
thoughts and insights effortlessly and led the audiences into
his design philosophy with vivid illustrations of his works.
Intriguing questions such as “Are we too nostalgic when
it comes to design? Has design evolved in tandem with our
lifestyle requirements? Has design become something ‘elite’?”
were also posed to the 439 member strong audience.
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Notably, Karim Rashid pronounced that he believes
that Singapore is going to be ‘the’ place for the design
in the near future. And yes, we believe so too!
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