In Singapore, a Design Festival Asked to Be Felt, Not Just Seen
Presented by Xtra with Singapore studio Produce, 5DesignDays invited visitors to consider the idea that interiors are not simply containers for living, but active participants in it
How do interiors make us feel? This deceptively simple question actually carries considerable weight. It was this idea that anchored 5DesignDays when it took over Marina Square’s Central Atrium in Singapore at the end of July.
We now spend the overwhelming majority of our lives indoors — at home, at work, in transit and in commercial spaces — yet rarely pause to consider how those environments, and the colours, materials and design decisions within them, shape our emotions and sense of well-being.
Drawing on the growing field of neuroaesthetics, which explores this very question, the festival approached the subject through a series of distinct pods inspired by home settings from living and dining spaces to a reading space and outdoor setting. Each pod was furnished with pieces from Muuto, String Furniture, Vibia, Carl Hansen & Søn, Louis Poulsen and Hoptimist in a manner intended to address the neuroaesthetic element, with visitors invited to move through at their own pace.
The festival was anchored by Held in Suspension, an installation by Produce founder Pan Yi Cheng built from standard bricks and wood and assembled with exposed straps, clamps and mechanical fasteners, all returned to their original forms after the event. Against this temporary framework, the installation reflected on the furniture and objects that populate our homes — the things that imply stability and provide a steady structure for daily life.
The surrounding programme expanded on that idea. Alongside the physical elements, a series of workshops and talks by collaborators such as Candy Floriculture, Gentle Therapy and Tow Tow drew steady audiences interested in the relationship between design and well-being, the latter bolstered by a Technogym showcase. Craft came into sharp focus with a CH24 weaving demonstration and talk by Carl Hansen & Søn, while test drives by Avatr offered a taste of the nexus between design and technology. Coffee by Offday provided a chance to stop and reflect.
Under the banner of String Furniture Design Showcase, String Furniture also invited six Singapore-based designers and creative directors — including Mikael Teh of Monocot, Royston Ho of Oblivion Lab, Geraldine Toh of Ochre Home, Vincent Tan of V.ii.n.s, Larry Peh of &Larry and Michael Ng of Mindflyer — to reinterpret and style their shelving system, adding a distinctly local perspective to the festival.
5DesignDays made a persuasive case for paying closer attention to the rooms we move through and the objects we interact with, and to the subtle ways they shape us even when we’re not consciously engaging.
