Happy Holidays from Design Trust

14. 12. 2018

2019 is just around the corner and our Design Trust team is reflecting on this year’s incredible journey whilst planning and looking forward to another creative and stimulating year ahead.

Design Trust continues to enable new conversations, and build opportunities for emerging designers, thinkers and scholars to excel in their work. We are committed to stimulating the positive process of design though research based grants, creative sharing, and engaging communities in the Greater Bay Area and internationally. With our collaboration with RCA in London, as well as the M+ museum, we are pleased to support fellows’ access to the greatest curatorial minds in design and architecture. Now in its fifth year, we are delighted to expand our M+ / Design Trust Research Fellowship to encompass two separate fellowships. One fellowship supports a project focused on Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area, and another related to other parts of Asia through a transnational lens of inquiry.

The role of design has increasingly gained importance through the years and its focus on the public realm. At Design Trust we continually look for ways to positively impact the design community by giving our grant recipients, fellows, and designers the opportunity to contribute to bodies of original knowledge related to this discipline. Through our flagship programme Design Trust Futures Studio, we have had the opportunity to reimagine the role of micro-parks in Hong Kong and are pleased to share that Yi Pei Square Playground, Hamilton Street Rest Garden, and Portland Street Rest Garden concept designs have successfully passed their respective local District Facilities Management Councils. This milestone is only possible by the dedication and hard work of the young designers, LCSD, ArchSD, the local community, and other stakeholders.

This year we have also received an unprecedented number of grant applications and are excited for the growing interest in the seed grants. With the support and collaboration of the design community, and the public and private sector through the year, we were also pleased to have the presence of Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten of OMA at our annual gala, along with the leading support of Prada and Kerry Hotel Hong Kong. In addition, two special installations of Design Trust Grant Recipients: Michelle Poon and Matthew Hung were also presented to give guests a sense of the achievements by Hong Kong’s own emerging designers.

Ultimately with a goal to focus on future thinking with outcomes that are impactful to society in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area, Design Trust’s philosophy is to make positive contributions with design, and we are excited to plan on 2019 activities that will look at Hong Kong identity, critical making and heritage topics.

Our work is only possible with the great support of our community, trustees, advisors, patrons, funding partners, and the designers, mentees and grantees who work tirelessly to produce new knowledge, and an energetic and vibrant city of Hong Kong.

On behalf of my board and team here at Design Trust, we send our warmest thoughts and best wishes for a wonderful holiday season ahead, and a very happy new year. See you soon in 2019!

- Marisa Yiu
Co-founder, Executive Director