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The Speakers
Design For Good
2015
How can design help to make the world a better place to live in?
How can it enhance the quality of lives in communities?
The speakers at the talk addressed some of these current issues using award winning case studies. During the talk, the brief for the first ever design and advertising competition for students on Design For Good was announced.
We hoped to ignite the passions of Singapore youths in contributing their creativity to design campaigns for a social cause. The competition was opened to all students who were currently studying in secondary schools, international schools, ITEs and polytechnics. The winning works were awarded and executed in real life.
The competition was organised by Make The Change (MTC) in collaboration with M.A.D. School by Chatsworth Medi@rt Academy.
FARAH SANWARI SUSTAINABLE LIVING LAB
Farah Sanwari is a designer and social innovator based in Singapore with deep interest in social change by design. She believes that everyone has a gift and as designers, it is not our role to change behaviours. Instead, designers should facilitate people into discovering their gifts and celebrate it so that they can achieve their utmost creative potential.
Currently working for Sustainable Living Lab, she oversees the Repair Kopitiam project, a public repair programme where people come with their broken items to repair, guided by volunteers. It is an initiative to involve the community in taking action to combat the throw-away culture in Singapore. Since its conception in November 2014, the community of repair volunteers has grown to over 30 people, and 3 public repair sessions have been conducted between the months on February and March.
This initiative is set to proliferate in other public spaces across Singapore and has even taken a spin-off in the form of Repair@School.
GRACE CLAPHAM THE CHANGE SCHOOL
Driven by purpose, passion and innovation, Grace considers herself a ‘Changepreneur’. A woman with many hats, Grace is the Co-Founder of The Change School, a lifelong learning insitute and Founder Agent Grace, a boutique consultancy. Grace also organises and is the co-founder of various communities within the S.E.Asian region, Co-Founder Secret {W} Business - the only network for women entrepreneurs and changemakers across South East Asia. Connector at Plus Social Good, Co-Organiser of CreativeMornings Singapore,SheSays Singapore, Ambassador & Co-Curator of Deceler8 and Lead Curator for TEDxSingapore Women. She is also a Mentor at Hub Singapore working with the young startups in Singapore.
In November 2013 Grace was chosen as one of 13 iconoclasts and recognised as a Visionary by the renowned Grey Goose brand and its dedicated Guild for her work. In March 2014 Grace spoke at SXSW Interactive 2014 on Co-Creation By Design: Asia, Women and Innovation. In July 2014 Grace won the “Inspirational Leadership” Award at the global Talent Unleashed Awards judged by Sir Richard Branson and Steve Wozniak.
RICHARDO CHUA ADRENALIN
Richardo Chua has worked in the events industry for the last 10 years, first as a freelance emcee and now as the Founder of the social enterprise events agency, Adrenalin Group Pte. Ltd.
Adrenalin uses events management as a platform to provide training and employment opportunities for the disadvantaged, including at-risk youths, persons with disability (physical disability, hearing impairment) as well as persons recovering from psychiatric illnesses.
As events management requires “frequent fire-fighting and creative solutions,” Richardo feels firmly that the company’s culture of unity and open communication has been “critical” for Adrenalin’s growth. Although Richardo concedes that running the social enterprise has been “incredibly tough,” he embraces challenges each day with much motivation and excitement. “Many of the beneficiaries are capable. Instead of letting them end up as car washers or furniture movers, I would rather give them a future in events management. This is my passion and my calling.”
HUNN WAI L+W
Hunn Wai, together with Francesca Lanzavecchia forms the Italian-Singaporean design practice Lanzavecchia + Wai, since 2010.
To them, being designers means being researchers, engineers, craftsmen and story-tellers all at the same time.
Their cooperation is based on those focuses and having hailed from two very different countries and cultures, they attempt to feed off each other’s backgrounds, knowledge and skill-sets to fuel lateral thinking and agile tangible application.
Their work spans from limited editions for galleries and museums, to design research and mass products for major companies, to special commissions for brands like Alcantara, AgustaWestland, Samsonite and Mercedes Benz. They have also exhibited their work at many international platforms and have contributed to several academic symposiums, offering their viewpoints on the future of healthcare.
Their most recent accolade was being awarded the Elle Deco International Design Award 2014 - "Young Designer Talent of the Year”.
KARIN AUE AIDUCATION INTERNATIONAL
As a designer Karin has a great passion for communication and good storytelling.Having lived, studied and worked in various locations across Europe and Asia, she was able to collect a broad spectrum of skills, as well as a keen insight on the value of culture and communication.
She is at the moment based in Singapore and working as Design Director for local design and innovation consultancy Chemistry. Her love for design with a strong impact and a clear social component can be seen in passion projects such as for-impact-organisation Aiducation International, which focuses on giving access to education for bright students in developing countries.
Karin holds an MA (distinction) in Creative Practice for Narrative Environments from Central Saint Martins, London, UK, and a Magister (distinction) in Graphic Design from the University of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria.
DFG Talk 2015 Photos
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