The central loop had its ’game face’ on, packing in a load of serious action over at Xtra in Park Mall starting with Herman Miller’s Aeron Hockey Championship. The matches went on all day with teams from different design companies pitting themselves against one another ’in the name of sport’.

The fierce action (accompanied by lots of beer and ice cream!) worked itself to a climax in the afternoon with the finals between Woodhead and WOHA, from which Woodhead emerged the winner, sweeping away 10 Aeron Chairs – plus the chance to compete in the Pan Asian Aeron Hockey Championship in Hong Kong!

The games may have been pretty addictive, but we were equally intrigued by The Project at the Xtra showroom: following the theme “Alt.Work.Space”, Xtra/Herman Miller and Contrac-Image/InterfaceFLOR collaborated with HBO+EMTB, Woodhead, PDM International and MMoser Associates to create innovative, alternative and out-of-this-world work environments using the great products from Herman Miller and InterfaceFLOR.

Then it was a tour of Xtra’s exhibition featuring the latest designs from Jesse, all housed within 4 spaces depicting a contemporary lifestyle, followed by a hop over to the Grafunkt showcase, also located at Park Mall.

Led by creative director Nathan Yong, Grafunkt presented Verses/Versus – essentially a showcase of various works under the brand, along with new and creative designs (some still in the prototype stage) by Cilicon Faytory, Exit, H55, HJGHER, :phunk and Voon Wong & Benson Saw.

Over at the Curated Space at Warehouse 72 -13, we found a great crowd all eager to cover as much ground as was possible in one location!

Miles & Theodore offered up a colourful scene filled with the latest blooms and patterns from the MissoniHome 2011 collection. Visitors waited turns to capture the moment in a larger-than-life photo frame created by K2LD for this space, and got up-close to the new Massproductions furniture pieces from Stockholm, also carried by Miles & Theodore.

Round the corner, Hay took things to a higher level – literally! – with its eye-catching stadium-like stand that held row upon row of stunning chairs from About A Chair – a collection designed in collaboration with Hee Welling and recognised for its outstanding simplicity.

There was lots of crowd interest over the Japanese office furniture designs at the Okamura stand, with many especially keen to test out the new Leopard and Luce chairs, both innovative designs utilising robotic technology!

A similar product interaction took place at the CMS Electracom stand with guests curious to check out the host of modular wiring solutions for workstations, meeting tables and training tables, as well as the new Libelle task lighting range.

Nearby, a colourful and dramatic scene created by Dean Sharpe and inspired by exotic locales provided the perfect backdrop for a well curated display of Bode’s stunning new collections from Decortex Firenze and Designs of the Time, and Vantage Concept’s Mottura Italian blind systems and Artvivant blind textiles, among others.

The second floor of the Curated Space was equally vibrant with Bambu Interiors presenting an extravagant showcase of their many fine products and brands, including exclusive fabrics from French company Elitis, and the latest ranges from UK’s Jacaranda Carpets.

Right next to Bambu Interiors, the DQ Design Collective displayed the latest works by up-and-coming creatives, Cilicon Faytory and Oon. Both had already caught our eye at the recent International Furniture Fair Singapore, and this was yet another great opportunity to further explore Cilicon Faytory’s bright and bold plastic rotary moulding products for KIAN, and Oon’s playful pieces!

Zip Industries was a great final stop to make at the Curated Space having created a very relaxed lounge setting to comfortably test out their latest instant boiling and chilled filtered water units…

Photography by Yong Sze Yuen Kelvin