15 curated works showcase the nation's distinctive design approach, exploring innovative responses to pressing global challenges across living and world-making SINGAPORE, April 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Prototype Island, presented by the DesignSingapore Council officially opens at Foro Buonaparte 54, located in the prestigious Brera Design District.
Prototype Island is the Council's all-new concept for the 2026 edition of Milan Design Week, following its successful Future Impact series.
It showcases the nation as a living prototype - never static, but continuously evolving, optimising, and working to solve global challenges through ground-breaking design and technology.
The exhibition brings together established and emerging designers based in Singapore, offering unique insight into the future-focused design solutions being developed today in one of the world's leading design nations.
Each participant has been carefully selected by lead curator Hunn Wai (Lanzavecchia + Wai) and assistant curator Eian Siew, both of whom were part of Future Impact 3: DESIGN NATION in 2025.
At Foro Buonaparte 54, visitors encounter future-focused ideas that respond to the challenges of an increasingly globalised world, highlighting Singapore's reputation for bold thinking, creativity, and action at scale.
The exhibition layout is thoughtfully conceived to reflect its key themes, with light, flexible structures that symbolise adaptability and continual change.
Visitors are greeted by an installation designed by Lanzavecchia + Wai, which introduces the 15 works brought together across three key themes: exploring modern challenges through experimentation with technology and materiality; rethinking how craft can be preserved and advanced alongside innovative interpretations of care systems; and reshaping the future of urban living.
Technological & Material Ecologies Tackling global challenges through materiality, Parable's handcrafted modular ceramic system Iris blends unique artistry with ceramic design that can be reconfigured to suit the user's changing needs, while ODD M.
repurposes post-consumer waste into lasting, functional objects.
Jake Tan, Ezequiel Ignacio Rodriguez Chiacchio, Bao Songyu presents an interactive, quantum-inspired installation using classical computation to explore dynamic interactions reminiscent of everyday life.
Meanwhile, Carlos Banon and Yiping Goh display an AI-driven architecture and spatial planning platform that preserves creative ownership while streamlining the design process.
Care Infrastructures & Cultural Continuities Exploring the preservation of craft and its integration with technology are Serina Lee's Language System, which draws from a bilingual Singaporean lens to merge traditional Chinese calligraphy with the English alphabet into a system for constructing both digital and physical garments; Roger Ng's Lustre Series, reimagining the traditional Peranakan tea table with mother-of-pearl motifs using contemporary materials and digital production; and collaborators Melvin Ong, Shervon Ong, and Andy Yeo, who explore how 3D printing and traditional lacquer threading can coexist, creating vessels that bring technology into dialogue with rare Southeast Asian craft.
Aditi Neti reinterprets the traditional....
