7 trailblazing Singaporean designers put sustainable design to the test

The term “sustainability” has become a buzzword in design, thrown about so casually that its meaning is increasingly diluted. This is why “Future Impact 2: Homecoming Showcase” at the Asian Civilisations Museum, part of Singapore Design Week 2024, offered a timely reflection on the issue. 

Curated by Tony Chambers and Maria Cristina Didero, the exhibition highlighted works by seven of Singapore’s most innovative designers — Christian+Jade, David Lee, Faezah Shaharuddin, Gabriel Tan, Genevieve Ang and Interactive Materials Lab, Tiffany Loy and Zavier Wong — who claim to integrate new technologies and reimagine production methods to minimise environmental impact.

But how sustainable are these efforts in practice?

The designers in “Future Impact 2” certainly push boundaries, but their work also invites a more critical question: can these designs, however innovative, live up to the full promise of sustainability? 

Minimal waste, maximum impact

Christian+Jade’s Para Stool was made by combining commonplace rubber and underutilised rubber wood from Malaysian rubber trees that would otherwise have been burnt after their 30-year rubber cultivation lifespan. 

The pair noted, “For us, scaling up and sustainability is not something that we should assume come hand in hand. We are proposing to consider the other materials — rubber wood, for instance — that result from natural rubber production, elevating it from waste or by-product into an equally valuable resource to be used.” 

Also reducing waste in production, Zavier Wong’s Manifold Steel - Wall Piece No.1 was an artwork-like shelf fashioned from thin sheets of steel that were cut, folded, welded and finished by hand, guided by algorithmic and AI design tools and digital fabrication techniques.

However, the long-term sustainability of objects depends not just on reducing waste during their creation but also on the materials used. Are they biodegradable or recyclable at the end of their lives? 

Gabriel Tan’s Good Gourd - Hybrid Basketry table lamps saw recyclable nylon fishing lines handwoven around 3D-printed, transparent resin lattice structures using ancient basket-weaving techniques.

Likewise, David Lee’s sleek Monolith chair was crafted from aluminium, chosen for its recyclability, which can be reused indefinitely without losing quality. This decreases raw material needs and energy consumption, lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, aluminium’s durability ensures a longer lifespan. 

Monolith also impressed with its focus on conserving materials and labour during manufacturing. While chair production typically involves approximately 12 components in three different materials, processed through multiple machines and handled by several individuals, Monolith was made from one piece of aluminium, which was laser-cut and bent using a traditional method known for being cost-effective and forgoing additional tooling requirements. 

“My definition of sustainability is about creating solutions that have a lower environmental impact throughout their life cycle and improving existing practices to drive broader systemic change,” stated Lee.

“While no solution is entirely perfect, I believe Monolith represents a significant step forward in sustainable furniture design and serves as a practical example of how innovative thinking can yield meaningful environmental benefits.”

Repurposing the old into the new

In her exploration of our relationship with materials, Genevieve Ang researched repurposing glass waste into a glaze, which she applied to Reciproco, interactive ceramic trinket trays that transmit human heat remotely from one to another.

Though infinitely recyclable without declining in quality, glass recycling is notoriously energy-intensive, complicating the sustainability narrative. 

Similarly, Tiffany Loy’s Glass Column is made from glass offcuts cut into triangles and assembled into a three-dimensional lamp based on the stained-glass technique, reconsidering the potential of discarded materials. 

“If we were to produce this again, the colours would be entirely different, and I think this is what’s beautiful about working with offcuts,” Loy says. “Consumers have grown used to industrially-made products, expecting each piece to be identical. However, if we can accept variables in production — not from errors, but by choice — then there will be far less waste accumulated from the very act of producing.”

Challenging audiences to go beyond current sustainability practices and achieve a net positive impact on the environment rather than merely doing less harm, Faezah Shaharuddin’s Unlikely Fragments united wood offcuts from her studio’s furniture production with textiles coated in Singapore-based material engineers Xinterra’s COzTERRA technology, which captures CO₂ from the air.

“Most of COzTERRA’s current applications are within fashion manufacturing, so I wanted to explore how it could be applied to the interior industry, another large industry that utilises large quantities of textiles,” explained Shaharuddin. “I think it would be wonderful to create spaces that aren’t just beautiful, but also ‘breathe’, helping to reduce the carbon footprint these industries create.” 

While the technology is undeniably innovative and might reduce the immediate carbon footprint of her design, this solution needs to be applied on a larger scale to make a significant environmental impact and to understand the coating’s long-term durability.

Thinking ahead

Ultimately, while designers featured in “Future Impact 2” are undoubtedly making strides in green design, their work also highlighted the complexities and trade-offs that come with sustainability, which requires an ongoing commitment to innovation, ethical sourcing, scalability, longevity and the overall ecological cost of creating and maintaining these products. 

Sustainability, when wholly realised, encompasses the entire life cycle of a product — material sourcing, manufacturing, usage, and disposal. It’s more than reducing waste or using eco-friendly materials and energy-efficient processes; it’s about long-term solutions that account for a product’s environmental footprint from beginning to end. Otherwise, these objects could still contribute to the growing waste problem in the furniture industry.

Exhibitions like this provide an excellent platform to start these discussions and encourage more critical reflection on the long-term implications of objects. “I’d hope that all visitors will leave feeling that designers are responding positively to what often seems overwhelmingly insurmountable problems,” Chambers concludes.

“I hope this will inspire all visitors to do something themselves, no matter how small, to minimise their impact on the planet. I also hope that any visitors with power and influence will commission or fund our designers to push their projects forward.”