Winter Greetings from Design Trust | Message from Executive Director

Highlights of Design Trust 2025 programmes and events.

Design Trust wishes you a wonderful holiday season and a New Year filled with good health and prosperity. The year 2025 marks a special moment with a growing community of over 663 creative individuals and collectives through Design Trust’s grants and programmes, benefitting over 75,000 participants who attended our public events over the years. We remain truly humbled and grateful for this unwavering support from our supporters and partners, helping to shape our community with positivity, creativity, resilience and hope.

Design Trust Fellowship at V&A East Fellows Announcement

Design Trust Fellowship at V&A East Fellows Announcement.

With the latest Design Trust partnership with V&A East on curatorial programmes, we are pleased to announce Sian Fan, and Adam Huxley-Khng & Jimin Jeon as the inaugural fellows of Design Trust Fellowship at V&A East. The fellowship received over a hundred applications worldwide responding to the theme “The Stories of Clothes” through a competitive selection process. The fellowship programme has commenced this Autumn, and will culminate with commissioned works on display from Autumn 2026 through Spring 2027.

Design Trust Impact Grant | Highlights from Open House Hong Kong 2025

Highlights from Open House Hong Kong 2025, courtesy of Open House Hong Kong team.

Design Trust Impact Grant Programme Open House Hong Kong 2025 returned for the second consecutive year under the theme of “What Makes a Good City?” to showcase over 80 sites across Hong Kong with more than 150 guided tours. Over 1,000 participants joined the tours on the weekend of November 22nd and 23rd with the support from over 80 expert docents contributing to the community experience. Our gratitude goes to all supporters who joined and contributed to Open House Hong Kong 2025. Please stay tuned for future editions in 2026.

Upcoming | Design Trust Charity Benefit 2026

Save the date: Design Trust Charity Benefit event on Friday March 20th 2026.

We are excited to announce the upcoming Design Trust Charity Benefit 2026 to be held on Friday, March 20th 2026, marking a new edition of our annual charity fundraising benefit and community events. All the fundraising proceeds will go towards our ongoing grants and fellowships as well as a new digital and architectural grants archive, and other design development projects, regional design research programmes, advocating for the positive role of design through the DESIGN TRUST initiative, created in 2014 by the registered charity Hong Kong Ambassadors of Design founded in 2007.

Design Trust Grant Recipient | Charles Lai’s research publication “Recollection: Tao Ho – The Multi-Disciplinary Visions of a Hong Kong Architect” launched on October 23rd 2025

Design Trust Feature Grant research publication and showcase “Recollection: Tao Ho – The Multi-Disciplinary Visions of a Hong Kong Architect” by Charles Lai.

Design Trust Feature Grant research publication “Recollection: Tao Ho – The Multi-Disciplinary Visions of a Hong Kong Architect” by Charles Lai was launched on October 23rd. The publication provides insights into Sir Tao Ho's intricate life, interwoven with the development of Hong Kong's architecture, art, and cultural scene, documenting a pivotal chapter in the city's history. A feature exhibition on Tao Ho’s legacy will be presented at Hong Kong Arts Centre in 2026.

Design Trust 2025 October Cycle Grant Recipients | Design Trust Seed & Feature Grants 2026 Theme Announced

Applications for the next grant cycle will close on 20th April 2026. Share with us your ideas now.

Design Trust is pleased to announce the upcoming grants cycle of April 20th and October 20th 2026 for applications for Design Trust Seed Grant and Feature Grant supporting projects and research responding to 2026 annual theme “Technology as Community”. Share with us your ideas and proposals by April 20th 2026! We are also pleased to announce the Grant Recipients from the 2025 October grant cycle including research topics on urban culture, heritage craftsmanship, technology innovation, and architectural archive research.

Design Trust Grant Programmes Spotlight

Research documentation of outlying islands, photo courtesy of Island Works.

Design Trust is delighted to share a selection of Grant project highlights and news from our Grantee community. Design Trust Seed Grant design research “Your Greenhouse Is Your Kitchen Is Your Living Room” led by Leyuan Li presented their project at the 14th São Paulo International Architecture Biennale; Design Trust Seed Grant design project “Videotage Media Art Collection (VMAC) Kiosk” launched their mobile kiosk in October; and Design Trust Seed Grantee, Island Works is currently showcasing their research installation “Island Totem” at the 2025 Hong Kong & Shenzhen Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (Hong Kong).