DesignSingapore Council

A heartfelt thank you from our Executive Director, Dawn Lim ✨ We’re incredibly grateful to our partners and stakeholders for your unwavering support and collaboration. Together, we’re shaping a more vibrant and innovative design landscape for Singapore. Your contributions continue to inspire and drive us, and we look forward to a wonderful year ahead with you all!

2024 has been amazing ✨! Thanks to all of you for being part of our journey as we celebrate design and its role in shaping our world into a better place.    This year, we celebrated the People of Design in our midst – countless individuals who inspire us with their everyday creativity. Through initiatives like the Singapore Design Week, Design Futures Forum, and Future Impact, we are awed once again by the immense design talent and equally grateful for the support so generously given by the design community and our partners.      It is People of Design like you who show how a Nation by Design is built — from the ground up and from the heart.      We look forward to another incredible year ahead with you!      #DesignSingaporeCouncil #PeopleOfDesign #NationByDesign

𝗔 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 – 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂! From doctors and business owners to students and communities across all ages and creeds, we’ve uncovered inspiring stories of people using design to create meaningful change – often in the most surprising ways. This journey has shown us one powerful truth: no matter who we are or where we come from, we all play a part in shaping Singapore’s creative culture. We can’t wait to see how this spirit of everyday creativity continues to flourish and enrich our home – a true 𝙉𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙗𝙮 𝘿𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣. Thank you for sharing your passion, your creativity, and your ingenuity. You inspire us every day. Explore the People of Design stories at https://lnkd.in/gHA8CdfD and stay tuned for more as we celebrate 60 years of innovation in Singapore next year! – Organised by the DesignSingapore Council, People of Design celebrates the everyday visionaries who are delivering extraordinary impact through design. These innovators defy the stereotype that design is only for designers or that it is merely about aesthetics – it is a tool for positive change that is accessible to everyone. #DesignSingaporeCouncil #PeopleOfDesign

Who knew design thinking could be used in so many contexts and occupations to improve everyday lives! From an immigration officer to a sustainable funeral director for pets, your nominations for People of Design are an inspiring bunch! Thank you for following our stories and proudly nominating others in your lives to be featured in this initiative! These stories highlight the value of empathy, curiosity, open-mindedness – and most importantly, the creative courage to seek and find better ways to do things. Read more inspiring stories of People of Design by heading to https://lnkd.in/gHA8CdfD or any of our social channels. You’ll discover that we can all be People of Design. – Organised by the DesignSingapore Council, People of Design celebrates the everyday visionaries who are delivering extraordinary impact through design. These innovators defy the stereotype that design is only for designers or that it is merely about aesthetics – it is a tool for positive change that is accessible to everyone. #DesignSingaporeCouncil #PeopleOfDesign

Learning valuable new skills, connecting with your community, and appreciating the ingredients of more sustainable living (including well-considered product design) feels good. Just ask the Repair Kopitiam coaches! There’s a team of around 1,200 volunteer repair coaches driving the Repair Kopitiam initiative with co-founder Veerappan Swaminathan. Their network of free monthly repair clinics for the public is their conduit for spreading the culture of mending all around Singapore. With the number of clinic locations steadily growing and repair slots being quickly booked out, it’s clear that they are building a movement. Shifting mindsets about consumption and diverting objects from the trash are their twin goals. Newly formed friendships among coaches make the experience that much sweeter. Read more about how Repair Kopitiam is making a positive impact on people and the planet by heading to bit.ly/pod-repairkopitiam. – Organised by the DesignSingapore Council, People of Design celebrates the everyday visionaries who are delivering extraordinary impact through design. These innovators defy the stereotype that design is only for designers or that it is merely about aesthetics – it is a tool for positive change that is accessible to everyone. #DesignSingaporeCouncil #PeopleOfDesign

Oftentimes, we only realise the value of good product design when something breaks, leaving us to wonder: Why wasn’t this built to last? Thanks to Veerappan Swaminathan and his team of dedicated repair coaches who run free Repair Kopitiam clinics all around Singapore, the public can learn how to fix their broken items. These monthly clinics aim to break the cycle of throwaway consumption by igniting a repair movement in Singapore. Veera, who is a mechanical engineer by training, learned through his volunteering experiences that the best way to encourage more sustainable lifestyles is to directly engage the community. With Repair Kopitiam, he has designed a model for learning, connection, and empowerment that diverts trash, builds awareness of our consumption choices, and fosters greater appreciation of good product design. To read more about how Veera is creating a powerful repair movement across the heartlands, head to bit.ly/pod-repairkopitiam. – Organised by the DesignSingapore Council, People of Design celebrates the everyday visionaries who are delivering extraordinary impact through design. These innovators defy the stereotype that design is only for designers or that it is merely about aesthetics – it is a tool for positive change that is accessible to everyone. #DesignSingaporeCouncil #PeopleOfDesign

Have you heard of “HoloMedicine”? It’s a pioneering application of mixed reality in the medical sphere – and yes, “holo” is short for “hologram”. Think of how Tony Stark manipulates holographic models in the Iron Man movies, and you’ll get a sense of how surgeons such as Dr Yujia Gao are visualising internal organs before and during medical procedures. A liver and pancreatic surgeon at the National University Health System (NUHS), and its Assistant Group CTO, Dr Gao believes these technologies offer enormous benefits by improving surgical and clinical processes. In his journey of implementing the technology at NUHS, he has mirrored the design thinking process by empathising, ideating, prototyping, and testing solutions to a range of barriers – from technological shortcomings to human acceptance. He has also built a team of tech innovators to help him along. It’s still in its early days, but Dr Gao has become a global leader in the effort to bring HoloMedicine to fruition. Thanks to him, future surgical patients may just benefit from shorter, more effective procedures that allow for faster recovery. – Organised by the DesignSingapore Council, People of Design celebrates the everyday visionaries who are delivering extraordinary impact through design. These innovators defy the stereotype that design is only for designers or that it is merely about aesthetics – it is a tool for positive change that is accessible to everyone. #DesignSingaporeCouncil #PeopleOfDesign

Missed the sold-out Design Futures Forum 2024 during #SingaporeDesignWeek? Catch the highlights here! What will be the role of design and designers in the face of rapidly advancing technologies, a planet that is at the point of “global boiling”, and a future in which the global life expectancy is increasing? Organised by the DesignSingapore Council (Dsg), the expanded two-day forum investigated the critical role of design and designers in the areas of emerging technology, sustainability, and care through the theme “Designing Our Collective Future”. Featuring thought leaders and practitioners from Singapore and around the world, the forum explored how people – from an individual scale to a larger, societal one – and design intersect to make a positive impact and create a better future for all beings. Stay tuned to SDW.SG as we progressively roll out videos for each of the 3 segments for Day 1. #SDWSG24 #SingaporeDesignWeek #PeopleofDesign #DesignSingaporeCouncil Cathy Hackl Lindsey McInerney Alex Govoreanu Jeremy Ang C. H. Philipp Kandal Debra Langley Boonserm Premthada Mitchell Joachim Yu-Ning Hwang Zac Toh Aric Chen Claudia Poh Hon Tym Wong Jeanne Tan Muchaneta ten Napel Esther Sternberg M.D. Karthik J Tamsin Greulich-Smith Ziqq Rafit Farah Shiraz Megan Bednarczyk Ice Zhao Bing Tobias Ahlin Benjamin Bowes Samantha Lee Mark Foo Ying Seow, PhD Wendy Chua Srilalitha Gopalakrishnan (Dr) Leong Tatt Man Chris L. Ivonne Bojoh Kana Lauren Chan Karlijn Sibbel Eason Yang Maria del Pilar D. Proud Patanavanich Ting-Ting Zhang 张婷婷 Li Lian Liew

Woodworker Ahmad Alhabshee has always loved making things.    When he decided to leave his job making stage sets and embark on a new self-directed career making furniture, he faced a difficult road ahead. He had plenty of passion for the craft but he lacked the design training that could help him give shape to his dream.   The self-forged path he trod took grit and tenacity, but today, Ahmad has a successful and growing business – Urban Salvation (named in reference to his interest in reclaimed materials) – and a new design diploma. He learned from experts and his own insight, and these days he pays it forward by training his team for their own future success.   Ahmad’s advice for anyone starting out like he did? Build up your experience by working for others, then test yourself with small projects, and listen to your mentors. – Organised by the DesignSingapore Council, People of Design celebrates the everyday visionaries who are delivering extraordinary impact through design. These innovators defy the stereotype that design is only for designers or that it is merely about aesthetics – it is a tool for positive change that is accessible to everyone.    #DesignSingaporeCouncil #PeopleOfDesign

Digital natives know that technology is a great way to capture the interest of their peers! Luke Tian Le Ke, Amelia Gaw Oon Leng, Ng Ying Xuan, Karyne Phua, and Gang Rui Jie were on a mission to encourage fellow students at Ai Tong School to make healthier food choices at the canteen. Using design thinking, they created the GummyCare concept using a gaming approach to nutrition. This digital food ordering system categorises foods with points based on nutritional value, and rewards students with coupons. Steamed rather than fried means more points, and ultimately a higher-value coupon to use at the bookshop or canteen. It’s a clear case of empathising with your audience, and it earned the GummyCare team an award in the National Design Project 2023! Read more about how the students developed their idea for stealth health by heading to bit.ly/pod-aitong. – Organised by the DesignSingapore Council, People of Design celebrates the everyday visionaries who are delivering extraordinary impact through design. These innovators defy the stereotype that design is only for designers or that it is merely about aesthetics – it is a tool for positive change that is accessible to everyone. #DesignSingaporeCouncil #PeopleOfDesign