Prototype Island exhibition highlights Singaporean design at Milan design week
Futuristic themes, including the cultural impact of artificial intelligence, were explored at this Milan design week exhibition organised by the DesignSingapore Council to celebrate the nation's creative scene.
The Prototype Island exhibition presented Singapore as a living prototype that is using design to future-proof against a range of global challenges.
Lead curator Hunn Wai and assistant curator Eian Siew set out to demonstrate how designers are shaping everyday life through projects that reflect Singapore's evolving culture.
"The exhibition is called Prototype Island because Singapore is a small country where we constantly need to prototype, to find new ways for different groups of people to live together," Wai told Dezeen during a private tour of the show.
"The act of prototyping allows you to test whether a dream is feasible and this exhibition is about presenting how Singaporeans use design and innovation to prototype solutions for local and global issues."
Wai and Siew were joined on the curatorial team by independent curator, author and consultant Maria Cristina Didero, who brought an international perspective to a show aimed at connecting cultures, contexts and conversations.
The exhibition presented work by established and emerging designers based in Singapore, whose projects addressed topics ranging from healthcare to supporting underprivileged classes and those with special needs, as well as the impact of artificial intelligence on culture and religion.
"Prototype Island frames design as an ongoing act of world-making, where the ambition is not resolution, but the sustained capacity to recalibrate, adapt and reinvent under real conditions," added Wai, who is the co-founder of design studio Lanzavecchia + Wai.
"Bringing Singapore's flair for purpose-driven design to the fore, this exhibition translates inquiry into action, presenting tangible responses that navigate constraint, uncertainty and lived realities with rigour and imagination."
The exhibition's scenography featured light, flexible structures that supported the concept of adaptability and continual change. Faceted rock-like forms in a bold blue hue functioned as plinths and display elements that helped to unify the presentation.
An installation designed by Lanzavecchia + Wai introduced visitors to the 15 works, which explored three key themes: experimentation with technology and materiality; reinterpreting care systems and rethinking traditional crafts; and reshaping the future of urban living.
The first section included a modular ceramic furniture system by Parable that can be reconfigured to suit the user's needs, along with a collection of objects for the home made by ODD M. using post-consumer waste.
In the section dedicated to cultural continuity, Roger Ng presented a traditional tea table reimagined using modern materials and digital production.
Melvin Ong, Shervon Ong and Andy Yeo created vessels made using a combination of 3D printing and traditional lacquer threading, while Serina Lee merged Chinese calligraphy with the English alphabet in her digital and physical garments.
Projects that foregrounded care and accessibility included Tusitala's 3D-printed tactile book featuring raised pictures and words written in Braille, as well as Celeste Seah's AI-based system that constructs images as memory prompts for people with dementia.
The Everyday Infrastructures section included a 4D-printed cast system that offers a bespoke alternative to conventional fibreglass casts, while Reynard Seah presented a flexible joint system inspired by plant cells that can be used to create transformable structures.
"The fifteen works showcased at Prototype Island were chosen for their ability to translate inquiry into action, shaping tangible responses that navigate constraint, uncertainty and lived realities with rigour and imagination," explained Wai.
The exhibition represented an all-new concept that followed on from DesignSingapore Council's Future Impact series. The previous series was shown in Milan from 2023 to 2025, with Wai taking on a role as the first Singaporean co-curator at last year's event.
The studio Wai co-founded in 2010 with Francesca Lanzavecchia adopts a transdisciplinary, research-led approach to projects including a catalogue explaining how to hack IKEA products to better serve people living with dementia, and a furniture collection featuring clashing colours and illusory forms.
DesignSingapore Council's remit is to champion the use of design for innovation and growth in Singapore. It is the organiser of the Singapore Design Biennale, which will launch in 2027 and succeeds the long-running Singapore Design Week event.
The photography is by Marc Cocksedge.
Prototype Island took place from 20 to 26 April 2026 as part of Milan design week. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.
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