The convention centre at Marina Bay Sands, 55 storeys below the world’s longest rooftop infinity pool and surrounded by designer shops and celebrity chef restaurants, is a fitting place to find S$25,000 ($17,000) sculpted glass exercise bikes, displays by petrochemical companies, crystal chandeliers and a man in Balenciaga trainers aggressively painting a canvas to promote a new piano, being played by his twin brother.
Perhaps less so the objects made from cow dung, cigarette butts, old newspapers and sweepings from dog groomers. But all of these were at the first FIND design fair, one of the sources of surprise at Singapore Design Week.
Launched in 2014, Singapore Design Week returned in 2022 after a two-year break. “You can really feel the city come alive again,” says Dawn Lim, executive director of the Design Singapore Council. “And we’re ready”.