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Sydney Indesign 2017 Clicked Into Place

On 11 and 12 August, Sydney Indesign 2017 immersed the city in all things design. Let’s take a look at some the amazing highlights of SID17 to whet your appetite for Singapore Indesign 2017 in October!

Sydney Indesign 2017 Clicked Into Place

Two days, four districts, 50 exhibitors, 50 product launches and 50,000 AUD worth of prizes – Sydney Indesign 2017 was as exciting as it sounds in stats! The event took the theme of ‘Click!’ and everything did click into place fabulously.

While we’re gearing up for the next city-wide celebration of design that is Singapore Indesign on 7 October, here are some of the amazing highlights at #SID17 to whet your appetite for #SGID17!

Surrounded by Sydney’s most intense industrial developments as well as juggernaut local and international design brands, The Alex (a landmark warehouse venue at the Alexandria District) was an oasis of innovation and creative thinking. This district celebrated the power of technology and innovation to assist us all in the pursuit of a better, more intelligent, thoughtful way of living in design.

The Alex was a portal to high-tech R+D, smart design and the intelligence that lies behind some of our most familiar household names. Highlights included an installation by Christina Waterson, CDK Stone’s new showroom launch, as well as the LiveLife ‘Size and the City’ and WorkLife ‘Kitsch, Please!’ seminars. 

 

Who doesn’t love the finer things in life? The exhibitors at Waterloo celebrated quality craftsmanship, the highest in environmental standards, and the top-most tier in materials. Highlights included a series of perspective-based interventions at Abey’s Waterloo showroom (created in collaboration with Spaces & Places), a pop-up by Café Culture + Insitu within the Tongue n Groove showroom, and a cake demonstration by CakesbyCliff.

 

The B2 District put a spotlight on the industry’s local heritage – its people, its achievements, and its brands. The district was all about fostering a culture of appreciation for the unflagging passion that underlies the Australian architecture and design industry. The district played host to one of the most (if not the most) Instagrammed installations in the event – the stunning light installation by Acme&Co for LightCo. Other highlights included the Mafi & Kebony by WOODOS showroom (transformed into the Mafi Ski and Health Chalet), a special Brunner presentation at Zenith’s showroom (and the generous prize of a trip to spa town Baden-Baden in Germany), and the launch of the Toku collection at the Schiavello showroom. Schiavello also hosted a Habitus LiveLife Design Hunter discussion.

 

The Venue hosted an enormous line-up with stellar presentations. Zip Water launched its latest innovation, the All-In-One Celsius Tap with Vestal Water, in a stunning setting (created in collaboration with architecture firm SJB) furnished with taps that dispensed beer, wine and espresso martinis. Other highlights included the crowd-favourite installation by Stormtech and Cox Architecture, retailer SeehoSu’s product launch and presentation area (designed by Geyer) that featured live bunnies, and the silent disco exhibition by Signature Floorconcepts and GroupGSA.

 

SID17’s Worklife and LiveLife seminar series tackled some of the design industry’s most poignant and controversial topics. ‘Hot Enough to Hashtag: A+D in the Social Media World’ concluded that designers and brands could no longer afford not to be on social media, but that they don’t necessarily have to be on every social platform – pick your battle and focus your energy on where your audience is greatest.

Is kitsch a bad thing? The consensus from the ‘Kitsch, Please! How the industry can disrupt and experiment without getting naff’ was not at all – we should be taking more risks, experimenting more, and not being afraid to fail. The question then, is how can we mitigate the risks so that if we do miss, we don’t miss by so much. 

Are we heading toward an ‘officeless’ world? Probably not, concluded the discussion titled ‘Mobile Working is the New Agile: How to design for an out of office workforce’. The office as we know it may still exist well into the future but the mobile workforce is creating demands and movements around how we currently define the ‘workplace’ as a typology – insisting it seems, that it bleeds over into our cafes, restaurants, hotels, airports and education spaces. 

 

The session ‘Size and the City: Our developers have some explaining to do’ looked at how we can make sure developers catering to rapid global urbanisation do so with sustainable and ethical foundations.

‘Design Identities of Australia: Communities in design’ touched on this oft-sidestepped topic regarding an all-inclusive Australian design identity. It drew on questions of how non-Indigenous designers and artists can embrace Indigenous heritage without being culturally insensitive, and what constitutes best practice when collaborating with Indigenous Australian artists, designers, or content. What is the importance of Indigenous Australian culture, myths and narratives in national identity?

‘Talk About Your Generation: Intergenerational co-habiting and residential design’ discussed how the design world has approached – or not approached – the re-thinking of the residential environment to accommodate the multiple needs of many generations in the single domicile.

Sounds great? Don’t worry; we’re brewing one immersive, curated and highly experiential event here on the Little Red Dot.

Singapore Indesign will return on 7 October 2017 in strategically located venues around the city.

Reserve your place now! Click here to register as a visitor!

Psstttt… It’s not too late to host this powerful design event with us. Click here to be an exhibitor, or here to be a sponsor!

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