SIDFest 2021 Press Conference on 30 Mar 2021

After the turbulence of 2020, Singapore’s interior design industry is ready to get back on its feet. With Operation DE-COVID-19 done and dusted and the campaign’s cheque presented to our migrant workers to help them through this difficult time, it was indeed a sign of great things to come.

At a press conference at the National Design Centre on 30 March 2021, members of the Society of Interior Designers Singapore (SIDS) announced the launch of the Singapore Interior Design Festival (SIDFest) 2021, which will be held at the National Design Centre from 17 to 30 May 2021.

SIDFest 2021 was aptly themed ‘Optimised/Optimism’, as Professor Keat Ong, President of the SIDS, shares about the challenges brought about by COVID-19 and the industry’s optimism to come out strong this year.

Professor Keat Ong addresses conference attendees. Photo © RenoTalk Pte Ltd

“While the pandemic, in many ways, brought mankind to a standstill, it also brought out the best in us,” he said. “We were forced to innovate, to create, to allow our minds to wander in ways we never thought possible or were brave enough to try.”

“SIDFest 2021, with our theme of Optimised/Optimism, pays tribute to those in our community who have embraced new habits and, through their works, created new norms. The festival and SIDS Symposium will be a celebration of this positive spirit and feature designs that reflect the optimism in our industry.”

SIDS Symposium

There are a few highlights to look forward to at SIDFest 2021, including the SIDS Symposium. It will be supported by the International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers (IFI), with both physical and virtual attendance from IFI delegates and the international design community.

The Asia Roundtable, which will be part of the SIDS Symposium, will have delegates from 15 countries and territories from the Asia-Pacific region.

As the Symposium coincides with World Interiors Day (WID) on May 29, IFI has decided that the theme for WID this year will be ‘Design as a Global Conversation’ - a timely topic for discussion as global designers meet once again after a year apart from one another.

IFI CEO Shashi Caan has expressed the organisation’s support for the SIDS Symposium: “On behalf of all at IFI, we are honoured to be part of the SIDS Symposium to discuss the future of design in a post-Covid world.”

“The Covid-19 pandemic has forced the design community to rethink how we look at spaces. With added emphasis and needs on aspects like wellness, for example, the symposium will provide a good opportunity for the international community to speak about these issues.”
“We commend The Society of Interior Designers Singapore (SIDS) for organising SIDFest and for shining the spotlight on the interior design trade. The festival’s theme - Optimised/Optimism - and having it coincide with World Interiors Day brings added significance.”

Design By Numbers At SIDFest 2021

Another major part of SIDFest 2021 is the Design By Numbers installation, exuberantly announced by Mr Dennis Cheok, Creative Director of UPSTAIRS_ and Festival Director for SIDFest 2021.

Design By Numbers is a multi-sensory interactive experience comprising numbered plots in the centre’s atrium which will display gigantic inhabitable art pieces of varying heights and sizes.

Designed to resemble a ‘colour by numbers’ activity sheet, the installation echoes the festival’s message of looking forward as it represents the design industry’s individual parts growing into something bigger and better.

Mr Dennis Cheok shares about Design By Numbers. Photo © RenoTalk Pte Ltd

The slide presentation for Design By Numbers. Photo © RenoTalk Pte Ltd

A layout preview for Design By Numbers. Image © SIDS

20UNDER45 Award

There is also the inaugural 20UNDER45 Awards, which celebrates and recognizes the most promising interior designers under the age of 45.

Mr Brandon Fee, independent consultation and chairperson for the 20UNDER45 Awards, stated that nominated entries - which should be via a third party and not by self-nomination - should have made ‘multiple impacts’ in any of the following areas:

• Displaying design prowess to improve business performance for clients
• Improving quality of life
• Showing environmental consciousness
• Promoting culture and fostering community
• Achieving design breakthroughs,
• And sustainability principles in design

After nominations wrap up, 20 of these nominated designers from the local design sphere will be selected to show off their works at SIDFest 2021. These 20 designers will be revealed at the end of April.

Nominations close 4 April 2021.

Mr Brandon Fee shares about the 20UNDER45 Award. Photo © RenoTalk Pte Ltd

For the last segment of the press conference, questions were also brought up from the floor, such as whether aspects of the festival will be streamed online (yes, some parts of SIDFest will be hybrid events of offline and online streaming), if SIDFest will be open to the public (yes, it is open to both professionals and the public, with free admission), and whether smaller designers will get a chance to display their projects at the festival (opportunities are open for designers to showcase their work in Design By Numbers).

The Singapore Interior Design Festival (SIDFest) 2021 will be held at the National Design Centre from 17 to 30 May 2021. For more information, you can visit the SIDS website.