Design Trust is pleased to announce the inaugural Design Trust Futures Festival 2025: “The Art of Transformation” conceptualised by Lead Curator Marisa Yiu at Murray House, Stanley Plaza, has welcomed over 16,500 visitors from March 22nd to June 18th, 2025 with more than 40 events, tours and community programmes. Curated by Marisa Yiu (Co-Founder, Lead Curator / Executive Director) with Zheng Zhou (Head of Programmes / Associate Curator), collaborating with over 60 designers, architects and artists, the festival explores sustainability, culture, and heritage in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area with an international context, supported by Lead Venue Sponsor Link Asset Management Limited (Link) as Programme & Exhibition Co-sponsor and a distinguished roster of partners and supporters.
Design Trust Futures Festival 2025 at Murray House, Stanley Plaza welcomed over 16,500 visitors from March 22nd to June 18th 2025
3. 7. 2025
Marisa Yiu (Co-Founder, Lead Curator/ Executive Director) says: “The Art of Transformation” micro-festival has been a humbling experience with positive feedback from the community, who have joined us to explore spatial constructions and interactions of design and architecture to re-imagine, transform perspectives of city heritage and the culture of nature. We have furthered delved into this extraordinary costal area Stanley called “Chek Chue” in Cantonese, on the peninsula of Hong Kong Island in the Southern District with beaches, to engage with the historic piers, to the popular annual dragon boat festival, heritage monuments and the seaside culture of Hong Kong. This natural context, continues to form and inspire us on the importance of heritage research, activating underutilized public space assets, to inspire and gather for community collaboration. With this inaugural DESIGN TRUST FUTURES FESTIVAL 2025: “THE ART OF TRANSFORMATION” we have collaborated with over 60 designers, artists, architects and curators, over a three-month period at Murray House, Stanley Plaza where the 19th Century Victorian-era building, fronted by Blake Pier and Ma Hang Park, shares on new perspectives on material ecologies, ocean connectivity that links the 263 islands of Hong Kong, as a space for dialogue to speculate on the future of spaces, urbanism and creative discovery.
Reflecting on the past three months, Yiu continues: Design Trust Futures Festival 2025 “The Art of Transformation” has attracted visitors not only from Hong Kong but also cities in Greater Bay Area, Asia and internationally including Art Basel 2025 patrons and enthusiasts. Design Trust researchers, scholars, global partners to innovative designers, participated in and shared further their ongoing work, where small scale site specific commissioned works around themes of “Exceptional Transformations” of the historic site Murray House at Stanley Plaza, a 3-storey Victorian style building with architectural significance and its extraordinary heritage and natural context enlivens conversations on the public realm. As a micro-event festival examining urbanism, heritage, culture and architectural sustainability, at Design Trust Futures Festival 2025: “The Art of Transformation” at Murray House, Stanley Plaza we have touched many curious members from all walks of life, that have passed through the doors to interact with the iconic shocking pink “Timeless Towers of Murray” a “Transformational Interventions” feature installation in the public verandah of Murray House created by Editecture: Jacqueline Chak (Design Trust Futures Studio 2022 designer mentee) & Genevieve Chew using 36 KG of recycled plastic waste, to Toshiya Hayashi & Hokuto Ando of We+’ creative and transforming probing Seaweed Installation “Less, Light, Local”. Other Highlights unveiled April onwards includes “Design Trust Curatorial Survey Show: Hong Kong Islands & Material Ecologies” that presented a thematic selection of research and speculative projects on sustainability research, oceanic pursuits, community research, locality and heritage, island communities and the potential how these works and research inform an ideas-to-action think tank while shaping critical and cultural urbanism to tourism, as a space of innovation and engagement for Hong Kong’s future, including works of Island Lights (Design Trust Seed Grant recipient) a laboratory like installation with an updated Islands Catalogue in the “Sea Garden: Design Trust Ideas Lounge” with site specific expansion to Round Island and Lo Chau; and the very popular Wang Xin’s “Hamster Wheel” facing the Blake Pier, in the former old restaurant remnant with playfulness, through intriguing displacement.
Design Trust would like to extend a sincere thank-you to all the creatives who participated in this festival, the supporters and partners as well as the public visitors who joined our exhibition and public programmes. Built upon the ongoing research and community engagement through Design Trust Futures Festival at Murray House, Stanley Plaza, Design Trust will continue its efforts to DESIGN TRUST FUTURES STUDIO Greater Bay Area programme: “Nature is Nurture is Nature” crafting a visionary explorative Creative Atlas, Design Trust Impact Grant initiative Open House Hong Kong 2025 to be launched this November, to a new fellowship programme in partnership with the renowned V&A East and recently unveiled V&A Storehouse in London, whilst supporting ongoing granting projects and design research projects.
Design Trust would like to thank all the designers, architects, artists and curators involved to bring this programme alive with Design Trust curatorial team and a group of enthusiastic exhibition ambassadors and volunteers, alongside Design Trust Board members, Trustee Council, International Advisory Council, Greater Bay Area Design council and our community of supporters and partners, with special thanks to Lead Venue Sponsor and Programme & Exhibition Co-sponsor Link Asset Management Limited, and Southern District Office. For more information on Design Trust Futures Festival 2025 please visit https://designtrust.hk/designtrustfuturesfestival/.
