Design Trust Fridays: Inaugural Showcase Public Opening

Design Trust, an initiative of the Hong Kong Ambassadors of Design, is pleased to announce that Design Trust Fridays: Inaugural Showcase will open to the public weekly on Fridays by appointment from 29th September 2023. The Inaugural Showcase presents snapshot of key moments of time that brings together the regional and international design community together through Design Trust’s grants and community platform. With a sincere commitment to advance design competency, catalysing our programmes to benefit and inspire the public on the role of design, as well as supporting emerging designers and scholars’ research on urgent topics. To date, Design Trust has supported 541 grantees, fellows, mentee designers and collaborative teams to date since 2014. Through charting and revisiting their research interests and outcomes, the Inaugural Showcase maps out a vast and expanding Design Trust Community Network supported and formed by Design Trust’s various funding schemes, fellowships and programmes, which contributes to active knowledge production and exchange across 47 cities internationally. The inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural collective research efforts continue responding to critical and urgent topics in the regional and global design ecology, including Architecture and Urban Culture of Hong Kong, Heritage Crafts, Education, Environment Sustainability, Curatorial & Design Experimentation, as well as the Greater Bay Area Expanded Network.

Curated by Marisa Yiu (Lead Curator, Co-founder/Executive Director) and Zheng Zhou (Associate Curator & Designer), the showcase is presented in a visual archive format displaying the visionary publications, exhibition documentation materials, research films, as well as design prototypes and research samples in a 9.5m-long adaptable shelfing system in the 3.15m high space according to thematic zoning, not only celebrating the works themselves but further creating new dialogues between adjacent works. Key themes include “Education/ Participation/ Play”, “Hong Kong Design, Heritage and Identity”, “Design Prototyping and Material Innovation” and “Design and Manufacturing in the context of Greater Bay Area”. Six visual works of modern architecture in Hong Kong are specially highlighted on the wall next to the shelf, forming new and ongoing conversations on the changing context of the city Hong Kong.

As the flagship programme, Design Trust Futures Studio aims to make the role of the design process, visible in the creation of our cities, while transforming the ways in which designers participate, individually and collectively, in the production of urban space. With the Yi Pei Square Playground and Portland Street Rest Garden, the Sitting-out Area under Flyover in Hill Road and Hamilton Street Rest Garden all opened to the public, the section “Design Trust Futures Studio Micro-parks Initiative” shows the behind-the-scenes efforts of these four micro-parks through models and design drawings, shedding light on the complexity and opportunity of public space in Hong Kong.

Visit to Design Trust Studio Inaugural Showcase is by-appointment only. Please make appointment through the link here to reserve your slot before visiting. Subscribe to Design Trust Newsletter and follow Design Trust on social media to get more news on the upcoming events and tours.

Design Trust Fridays: Inaugural Showcase

Venue: 1F, One South Lane, No.1 South Lane

Date & Time: every Friday 3:00 – 6:00 pm (September 29th, October 6th, October 13th, October 27^th, 2023)

Open by appointment only: Register here