In its third year running, the Singapore Design Festival has visibly increased in scale and depth. This year’s theme ‘Design 2050’ attempts to project the future of design, while bringing the best of local design together with the international design scene. With an emphasis on celebrating local design across various disciplines, coupled with hosting the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid) World Design Congress 2009, the highlight of the festival has to be hints of Singapore’s future design scene through the showcasing the portfolios of its local upcoming design talent – the design students.

Events this year came in all forms and sizes, and were contained across a variety of spaces littered across the city. Festival hubs acted as the key anchors for events while the remaining electrifying line up were held in an assortment of spaces, ranging from galleries, museums, stores, embassies to convention centres.

ION Orchard, the city’s newest shopping mall, was one of the festival hubs. The winners of the President Design Awards 2009 were on showcase, as members of the public were invited to sit on Paperfold by Kelvin Teo, PC Ee and Exit Design, flip through the creative works of creative director Tham Khai Meng or explore models of Henderson Waves, designed by RSP & IJP, Singapore’s latest lookout point on the southern ridges. Korea Good Design Selection showcased Korea’s forefront industrial design at ION Art, a new public art space in the heart of Singapore’s premiere shopping street.