Launch of Design Trust Decade Highlights Booklet

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of Design Trust and Hong Kong Ambassadors of Design since 2007, Design Trust is pleased to launch the Design Trust Decade Highlights booklet online. The establishment of Design Trust in 2014 has positively impacted the design community in support to architects, scholars, design researchers and practitioners with grants, fellowships and public programmes in Hong Kong, Greater Bay Area and internationally. As a grant funding and community platform, Design Trust continues to grow and has nurtured and supported over 590 grantees, mentees and collaborative teams over the last decade. The booklet presents a snapshot of the programmes and research highlights of the past ten years as well as announcements on new design research initiatives for the next decade including Design Trialogues and Design Trust Futures Studio Greater Bay Area programme.

As a dynamic platform, Design Trust provides responsive funding to develop design expertise, build research initiatives and content related to Hong Kong, the Greater Bay Area region and beyond. Grant recipients have opportunities to work on cross-disciplinary projects and exchanges, as well as showcasing works at international exhibition venues, biennales and design festivals, from our first Feature Grant grantee MAP Office exhibited their project “Uneven Growth” at the MoMA in New York in 2014, to emerging designer-grantees work shown in Hong Kong-Shenzhen Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture, Guangzhou Design Triennial, Venice Biennale, London Design Biennale, and established Feature Grantee’s at the Guggenheim in New York.

Design Trust has collaborated with other NGOs such as Caritas, former Haw Par Music, Asia Society Hong Kong Center, Spring Workshop, The Good Lab, Partnership for Community Development in Hong Kong, as well as Design Society in Shenzhen for their opening exhibition in December 2017. Partnering closely with M+ museum since 2014, the Royal College of Art London and graphic archive at HKDI on fellowship programmes, Design Trust continues to contribute to bodies of original knowledge relating to design and architecture in Hong Kong, the region and internationally.

To further advance our mission and the organisation’s community outreach, a flagship programme DESIGN TRUST FUTURES STUDIO was launched in 2017 focused on a theme “Small is Meaningful”, a new platform to give emerging designers and curators opportunities to work on projects mentored by leading designers and practitioners from industrial design, architecture to landscape fields. The 2018 edition “Play is for the People” focused on notions of innovation, leisure and play, and demonstrated the important social impact of public spaces, and to this day micro-parks have been built for the public’s benefit. The 2019 edition focused on the theme “Heritage is Innovation” and explored the role of contemporary design in culture through examining heritage, sustainability and conservation within a 1930s heritage building. Partnered with Hong Kong Palace Museum and Project Twelve, the 2022 edition examined the theme of “Heritage is Creative Generation” to craft new meanings on the role of Chinese Zodiac, exploring craft and technology with new synergies through experimentation, that pass on values of Chinese heritage onto future generations. The publication “Design Trust Futures Studio: from Smallness, Playfulness, to Community Impact” was launched in November 2023 to celebrate and reflect on the four pilot micro-parks built in Hong Kong. The upcoming Design Trust Futures Studio Greater Bay Area programme will craft a visionary and explorative creative atlas for the Greater Bay Area region. Examining the role of creative practice and pedagogy of design research, across communities, Design Trust Futures Studio (2024 onwards) theme is focused on “Nature is Nurture is Nature” involving eleven cities of the region through a mentor-mentee think-tank programme that examine cross-cultural networks.

Design Trust strives to expand and launch new design and research fellowship and programmes with existing and new partners in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Macau of the Greater Bay Area, and further to Shanghai; whilst amplifying our international cultural exchanges with key institutions in various cities worldwide. Sincere gratitude to our community and supporters and stay tuned for our upcoming programmes and events.