EXPO 2005 AICHI gathered about 120 nations. On August 16th, towards the end of the expo, one of most popular pavilions Singapore pavilion started exhibiting “Design Stories”. This exhibition was a project of the Design Singapore Council and Singapore Tourism Board. Its aim was to exhibit the leaders of Singapore’s design industry. It also acted as providing a sneak preview of the “Singapore Design Festival”, which will take place in Singapore from November 9-23. During the opening many of the designers visited the pavilion.

If you walk along “Global Loop”, a main line over the expo Nagakute Area, you will often find a space called the “Global Common” in each pavilion and region. The “Global Common” consists of six venues throughout the expo. The Singapore pavilion is in “Global Common 6” and gathers countries of the South Pacific region. In this summer season, the expo site overflows with people from the young to the elderly, and it is normal to have to wait for a couple hours to enter the popular pavilions. Singapore pavilion was also not an exception as people were making long lines in front of the other entrances.

In such venue, Mr. Edmund Cheng, a chairman of the Design Singapore Council began his speech at the Singapore pavilion, opening it for public. He spoke about the on-going exchanges between designers from Singapore and Japan including Toshiyuki Kita and Toyo Ito. He also mentioned lively activities that Design Singapore Council is working on and showed his enthusiasm for Singapore Design Festival.

“No Lines Drawn” is the concept of this Singapore design. It showed a part of Singapore design in various fields; animation, fashion, furniture, jewelry, toys and so on, including a trademark Singapore characteristic, vivid colors. “The true interest of designing is that it has been existing… the possibilities of the design are within the materials and concepts. Design is not a complete invention, but you need to find the possibilities from something which seemed to be completed. The trick of new combinations is the true meaning of this theme.” says the sign explaining the concept.