Design Trust Call for Grants: April 2020 cycle

20. 4. 2020

Applications for next grant cycle will close on 20th April 2020, apply now.

Design Trust 2020 April Grant Application is now open. Share with us your ideas and proposals by 20th April 2020. Design Trust offers grants to designers, curators, collectives and non-profit organisations for project proposals that are relevant to the context and content of Hong Kong and the region.

We would also like to congratulate the Grantees from our latest cycle and share on their creative projects.

Adelaide Lala Tam & Kuang-Yi Ku (Hong Kong / Taiwan) at Dual Double Design will propose new cultural food practices that explore the ethical dilemmas we face while producing and consuming food today through their project “New Ultimate Imperial Feast”. Using the history of China’s most extravagant banquet – “Machu Han Imperial Feast”, a Qing Dynasty meal consisting of at least 108 unique dishes uniting Manchu and Han traditions – Tam and Ku will put on a series on dining experiences that bridges developments in biotechnology and agricultural systems with cultural traditions to broaden our perception of what future food systems could look like. Examining the notion of locality, rarity and luxury in traditional dishes from around the world, this ongoing project proposes new cultural practices that can unite us in the face of global ethical dilemmas, such as environment pollution, animal cruelty, and mass extinction.

Harvey Chung Ho Wang and team at FabCafe HK design collective (Hong Kong) will facilitate conversations around design-driven solutions to urgent local socio-environmental issues through a series of workshops, public discussions and exhibitions. The group will conduct in-depth research to identify and understand most important local socio-environmental challenges pertaining to Hong Kong. Subsequently, through organising public meetups, workshops and exhibitions, they aim to facilitate connections and dialogues between designers to identify design opportunities, address challenges from multiple perspectives and support meaningful collaborations.

Johanna Ho and her team at PHVLO HATCH (Hong Kong) will address the issue of waste associated with contemporary consumption patterns and aims to provide a solution by combining modern technology with traditional craftsmanship and methods of production. The project, titled “Sustainable Design, Preservation of Craftsmanship and Community Connect”, is an international exchange programme that aims to connect and inspire. An international designer with experience in combining traditional craftsmanship and modern technology will engage and upskill the community through a series of talks, workshops and life drawing classes, and an exhibition will be organised to share further knowledge. The inspirational training, work opportunities and mentorship programmes will promote awareness in sustainable development and implement preservation of traditional craftsmanship.

Raphael Monnier (Myanmar) will explore the long legacy of Cantonese bamboo construction and its potential usage in architectural projects in Hong Kong and the region. Monnier has already demonstrated the successful result of a collaborative effort between international designers, local bamboo craftsmen and the local community with his 2018 Design Trust Seed Grant project in Yangon, when he constructed a pedestrian highway and community playground using learnings from Cantonese bamboo construction methods. As a result of this success, Monnier received rights to utilise the plot of land where his new project will be sited. With such highly innovative alternative bamboo constructions being built and offering social benefit in South East Asia, Monnier aims to navigate the particular challenges related to space availability and building regulations that inhibit the exploration of these opportunities in Hong Kong. Through the new project, he will research, design and construct a demonstration pavilion in Myanmar built to Hong Kong’s building standards to guarantee the applicability of a future development in Hong Kong and the region.

Chu Wai Kit and his team at GAAU1 Up (Hong Kong) will turn local domestic plastic waste into public furniture and change common perceptions of the value of waste plastic in the process. Addressing one of the biggest global environmental issues – plastic waste – the project is a pilot programme that continues the plastic waste lifecycle 100% locally by collecting material, designing, fabricating and utilising recycled plastic furniture in Hong Kong. The project will also document the transformation of locally produced plastic waste in order to raise awareness of the plastic recycling process, share techniques and act as a sustainable model for future public furniture design and production.

Joshua Bolchover & John Lin at Rural Urban Framework (Hong Kong), Hong Kong University academics and teachers, will examine rapid urbanisation of rural areas and extend the research and design work they have undertaken for nearly a decade. The research will investigate life inside vernacular dug-out house typology and the transforming landscape in Northern China to produce an immersive experience as part of the 17th Venice Biennale of Architecture. By examining the process of house-making and the unique typology of vernacular dug-out houses, the exhibition reflects on the increasingly homogenised rural housing driven by demand and economy and elucidate the dialectic between the past and the present, the traditional and the generic, and the rural and the urban, that shapes and configures China’s contemporary condition today.

Andrea Palmioli (Italy / Hong Kong) will illustrate Hong Kong’s continuously changing urban identity through thematic cartography. The study aims to enhance the understanding and construct new knowledge about Hong Kong’s building names (or oikonyms), revealing how urban social practices and actors have reshaped the city’s identity through exotic place naming that has progressively decontextualized the urban landscape from its ground.

Design Trust is also pleased to share that applicants will be able to submit their project proposals through a dedicated application platform on our website, which will go live in June in time for the next cycle of submissions. The platform will provide a comprehensive dashboard for applicants to submit materials, track their progress and manage their application history. For further announcements, future applicants are encouraged to follow us on Facebook, Instagram or subscribe to our newsletter.