Design Trust Futures Festival 2025 at Murray House, Stanley Plaza welcomed over 16,500 visitors from March 22nd to June 18th 2025

Design Trust Futures Festival 2025 at Murray House, Stanley Plaza, photographed by Austin Bell.

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. 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 Sketchalogues” Event as Finissage of Design Trust Futures Festival 2025

“Design Trust Sketchalogues” Event as Finissage of Design Trust Futures Festival on June 18th 2025.

In celebration of the finale of Design Trust Futures Festival, the Finissage event “DESIGN TRUST SKETCHALOGUES” took place on June 18th 2025 at Murray House, Stanley Plaza, inviting Henry Steiner & Margaret Steiner, Gary Chang, Raymond Fung, Elaine Yan Ling Ng, Julie Progin & Jesse Mc Lin, Connie Maoshan, Chi Chun Tang to share their creative process through sketching, with presentation of sketches from Stephen Wong Chun Hei and Eddie Lui, in conversation with Lead Curator Marisa Yiu, and special respondents: Design Trust Heritage Innovator 2024 Honouree, world renowned Hong Kong-based architect Rocco Yim, and Design Trust Futures Studio 2019 mentor and UNESCO Chair on Architectural Heritage Conservation and Management in Asia, Professor Puay Peng Ho.

Highlights from Public Programmes, Tours and Workshops of Design Trust Futures Festival 2025

“Your Mountain: Scholar’s rock making in ceramics” led by Design Trust Feature Grant recipient Niko Leung.

From March 22nd to June 18th 2025, more than 40 events with 16 public programmes and community tours have been hosted at Design Trust Futures Festival: “The Art of Transformation” at Murray House, Stanley Plaza, further delving into the extraordinary costal area Stanley to engage with the local cultural heritage and collective memory, while speculating on the future of material innovation, contemporary culture research and urban transformation, to inspire and gather for community collaboration. Highlights include Open House Hong Kong special edition community tours led by expert Sampson Wong, dialogues and workshop with Hokuto Ando of We+ to the family workshop on dragon boat culture led by Leung Poshan of Island Studies Network(HK).

Launch of new Design Trust Fellowship at V&A East

V&A East Storehouse, ©Hufton+Crow, Courtesy of Victoria & Albert Museum

Design Trust, an initiative of the Hong Kong Ambassadors of Design, is pleased to launch a new one-year programme, Design Trust Fellowship at V&A East, awarding a creative practitioner funding to engage in research at V&A East Storehouse, fieldwork in Hong Kong, the Greater Bay Area and China where appropriate, and to produce a new creative work, which will be displayed at V&A East for a six-month duration. The inaugural V&A East Design Trust Fellowship will begin in Autumn 2025, culminating in a commissioned work on display in Autumn 2026 through Spring 2027. Interested applicants can now submit until August 22nd 2025.

Design Trust 2025 April Cycle Grant Recipients | October Cycle Call for Grants themed “Transforming Boundaries”

Applications for the next grant cycle will close on 20th October 2025. Apply now!

Design Trust 2025 October cycle for applications for Design Trust Seed Grant and Feature Grant supporting projects and research responding to the 2025 theme “Transforming Boundaries” is now open. Share with us your ideas and proposals by October 20th 2025! We are also pleased to announce the Grant Recipients from the 2025 April grant cycle including research topics on urban culture, material upcycling and architectural research.

Design Trust Futures Studio Micro-parks and Design Trust Research Community Featured at 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale

Opening event and forum photographed by Oliver Law, courtesy of 2025 Venice Biennale Hong Kong exhibition curatorial team.

We are pleased to share that Design Trust Futures Studio Micro-parks Initiative and four Design Trust grant projects are featured at “Projecting Future Heritage: A Hong Kong Archive” at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 Hong Kong Exhibition from May 10th to November 23rd 2025, curated by Design Trust grant recipients Ying Zhou and Fai Au, with Sunnie SY Lau. Design Trust grant project is also presented at China Pavilion of Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 curated by Ma Yansong under the theme of “Co-Exist”. Design Trust Advisory Council members participated actively in this year’s Venice Biennale from the Saudi Arabia Pavilion curated by Beatrice Leanza, “Water Parliaments: Projective Ecosocial Architectures” curated by Eva Franch, to Aric Chen as the commissioner of the Dutch Pavilion.

Design Trust Grant and Fellowship Spotlight

“Indus-haus” exhibition by Design Trust Seed Grant Recipient Samuel Yip.

Design Trust is pleased to share a selection of highlighted grant projects and news from fellowship schemes, including “Tell me Concrete Stories” by Enza Migliore and Mirna Zordan featured at China Pavilion of the 24th Triennale di Milano, the exhibition “Novo Typo Offgrid Expo” by Mark Van Wageningen at SWCAC Sea World Culture and Art Center in Shenzhen and the exhibition “IndusHaus: Notes from the underground” by Samuel Yip at Pao Galleries at the Hong Kong Arts Centre.