DESIGN TRUST PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS: We are pleased to share the upcoming grantee exhibitions and programmes including book launch and exhibition of Design Trust Feature Grant research publication “Recollection: Tao Ho – The Multi-Disciplinary Visions of a Hong Kong Architect” by Charles Lai, Design Trust Seed Grant design project “Videotage Media Art Collection Kiosk” launch, Design Trust Feature Grant exhibition and workshop “After Life Design for Lost Wings Theatre Land Art Festival” led by Olivia Yan in collaboration with Kay Wong, and Design Trust Seed Grant exhibition “just-a-furniture” led by Charis Mok, along with ongoing exhibitions and programmes in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Venice. Mark your calendar and visit the exhibitions and events supported by Design Trust grants and fellowship schemes!
Hong Kong:
Weekends of November 22nd – 23rd, 29th- 30th, 2025
Design Trust Impact Grant programme Open House Hong Kong (OHHK) 2025 will return and take place on two weekends of November 22nd – 23rd and 29th – 30th supported by Design Trust Impact Grant as Lead Partner. Organized by a team of local architects, curators, arts practitioners, researchers, designers and writers, the Open House Hong Kong was inaugurated in 2024 with Design Trust as the founding partner. Building on the success of the inaugural edition, the 2025 edition of OHHK returns with a theme of "What Makes a Good City?", exploring the multiplicity of places that constitute a liveable and vibrant city. Details and registration of tours and events here.
On view till October 13th, 2025
Design Trust Seed Grant exhibition programme “ZINE YO! FEST” led by Forrest Lau, Beatrix Pang and Jason Li of Zine Coop at Heath, Chungking Mansions, Tsim Sha Tsui, presents a vibrant month-long celebration of DIY publishing, experimental print art, and zine culture, organised by zine publishers’ collective ZINE COOP, serving as Hong Kong's creative nexus while connecting communities across the Greater Bay Area and East/Southeast Asia. The 2025 edition features a zine market with more than 60 local and international exhibitors, a curated exhibition of zines from regional creators, with hands-on workshops in risograph, bookbinding, and zine-making bridging the creative zine community across borders.
On view till October 18th, 2025
Design Trust Seed Grant research exhibition “RE:SEW FOR FUTURE” led by Sylvia Lai and Toby Crispy at “In time of” on 1F Airside, Kai Tak, invites the public to revisit the craftsmanship and local tradition of garment-making in Hong Kong, while reimagining the future of textile and community through a series of participatory activities. Through showcasing sewing machines and clothes-making tools, from different eras, the exhibition delves into their historical layers, bridging the past with the future, restoring the intrinsic value of clothing and fostering a zero-waste culture and material circularity.
October 16th – December 18th, 2025
Design Trust Feature Grant recipient Charles Lai will launch his upcoming research publication “Recollection: Tao Ho – The Multi-Disciplinary Visions of a Hong Kong Architect” on October 23rd 2025 as part of a research showcase from October 16th to December 18th at Commaa, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong. In his career that spanned from 1960s to 1990s, late Sir Tao Ho left the world with countless sketches, drawings, manuscripts, correspondences, photographs and slides. Based on these recently available archival materials, this project provides critical insights into the Tao Ho’s life and career to examine his significance in local, regional, and global architectural history. The upcoming publication portrays his persona and philosophies by studying his essays, correspondences, poetry, artworks and media interviews, as part of the discourses around his works of architecture. A research exhibition on Tao Ho’s legacy will be presented in 2026.
Saturday, October 18th 2025
Design Trust Seed Grant design project “Videotage Media Art Collection Kiosk” initiated by Videotage will debut on Saturday October 18th 2025, an initiative to upcycle the organisation’s old furniture into a mobile archive viewing space. The launch ceremony will take place at 5 pm, at Videotage’s Cattle Depot venue, with sharing from the design collaborator Zou-mat. The kiosk’s transportable design aims to expand Videotage’s screening environment beyond Cattle Depot, while making their archive accessible to a wider community during the nomadic phase of the Videotage. Stay tuned for more details on the upcoming screening programmes of the VMAC kiosk.
Weekend of November 1st – 2nd 2025
Design Trust Feature Grant exhibition and workshop “After Life Design for Lost Wings Theatre Land Art Festival” led by Olivia Yan in collaboration with Kay Wong, will take place at Quarry Side, Quarry Bay on November 1st – 2nd 2025 to showcase a wide range of needle-punched textile works repurposed from approximately 120–150 costumes and props created during over 8 natural and art workshops held between 2024 and 2025. The exhibition also invites public to participate in the botanic dyeing and printing workshops to gain a first-hand experience of textile upcycling and sustainable design process.
December 5th – 13th, 2025
Design Trust Seed Grant exhibition “just-a-furniture” led by Charis Mok, will be presented at community living room, 6-8 Wa In Fong West, Central, Hong Kong from December 5th – 13th 2025. Built upon a year’s research and documentation of urban furniture in Hong Kong’s public spaces, the exhibition explores human-scale placemaking by showcasing adaptive furniture designs that challenge conventional static forms. Through research documentation display and design prototypes, the exhibition narrates collective memories and local community stories in the evolving urban context while inviting the public to observe the public space in an alternative approach.
Shanghai:
September 18th - December 20th
Design Trust Feature Grant research “The World of Lines” by Rui An Ho presents at his exhibition “Chronologies”, at Institute of Contemporary Arts at NYU Shanghai, that examines the history of the textile industry between the ends of two major river systems in China, namely the Pearl River and the Yangtze River. With a focus on the shifting relations between labour, technology, and capital, the project considers the industry’s origins in Shanghai and its surrounding cities in the late nineteenth century, its displacement to Hong Kong in the 1940s through the 1970s and its “return” to the mainland through technological and capital flows as Hong Kong began deindustrialising in the 1980s. Building upon years of fieldwork and archival research across the two regions, the project culminates in a feature-length artistic documentary and book that present the different stories and perspectives collected by the artist and his collaborators.
Venice:
On view now till November 23rd
Design Trust Futures Studio Micro-parks and research projects supported by Design Trust grants at “Projecting Future Heritage: A Hong Kong Archive” at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 Hong Kong Exhibition curated by Design Trust grant recipients Ying Zhou and Fai Au, with Sunnie SY Lau. Highlighted projects also include “By Us For Us: Future Proof Narratives of a Third Housing for Hong Kong” by Guillaume Othenin-Girard & Kent Mundle, “Estate Centres, Postwar Public Amenities in Hong Kong Public Housing” by Jeffrey Cheng and Kris Provoost, “Social Condenser Extraordinaire: Hong Kong’s Municipal Services Buildings” by Ying Zhou and Fai Au, and “Photovoltaic Hybrids: Hong Kong’s Experiment on Climate-Responsive Architecture” by Emily Po & Quentin Yiu.