From cyborg cockroaches to sausages of the future, Singapore Design Week 2025 (11–21 September) marks 60 years of nationhood with a bold line-up of design showcases, immersive districts and city-wide experiences.
25 August 2025
Singapore Design Week 2025 isn’t just another date on the cultural calendar — it’s a full-scale takeover of the city, where design slips into the everyday and reminds us how much it shapes the way we live. From witty reimaginings of our past to bold ideas for the future, this year’s festival brings design into sharper focus by celebrating Singapore’s 60 years of nationhood through the theme Nation by Design. Over 11 days, expect eye-catching installations, immersive districts, and a mix of playful and thought-provoking experiences that show design at its most inventive.
What if Singapore’s story was told as a natural history museum? At the National Design Centre, Pann Lim, creative director of Kinetic Singapore reimagines 60 years of development through a playful yet pointed lens. Expect a six-metre “Merlion fossil”, hybrid flora and fauna, and even cyborg cockroaches. It’s an exhibition that cheekily reframes our improbable rise — and reminds us how the city-state has flourished through deliberate planning and bold design despite the lack of natural resources.
Food meets design at NAFA’s Fashion Gallery. Zurich-based designer Carolien Niebling presents “sausages of the future” made with unexpected local ingredients, tackling issues like food security and biodiversity. Think anatomical models, large-scale ingredient prints, and yes — a tasting event. It’s sustainability with a surprising (and flavourful) twist.
This year’s festival spreads across four vibrant precincts, each with its own take on the theme.
SDW 2025 goes beyond the daytime programme. Look out for Friday Late evenings, weekend happenings across the districts, and even a special edition of the Singapore River Festival. Add to that more than 60 partner-led pop-ups, workshops and exhibitions island-wide, and you’ve got design infused into every corner of the city.
As Executive Director of the DesignSingapore Council Dawn Lim puts it: “This year’s Singapore Design Week invites us to reflect on how far we’ve come — not by chance, but through deliberate and thoughtful design.”
For anyone curious about the spaces we inhabit, the festival is more than spectacle — it’s a reminder of how design shapes not just objects or buildings, but the way we live and thrive together.
Singapore Design Week 2025 will run from11 – 21 September 2025. Visit https://sdw.designsingapore.org/ for more details
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