It is an understatement to say that Mark Wee lives and breathes design. Before his photoshoot, Wee had spent the day at the recently-concluded Smart Cities Expo. He arrives on time for his appointment at the Singapore Design Centre, looking fresh and ready to face the camera and tell us more about his role as festival director for Singapore Design Week (SDW) from Sept 16–25.
He begins by sharing a new vision along with exploring design through three defining festival pillars: Design Futures, Design Marketplace and Design Impact. Wee says: “The three festival pillars align with Singapore’s critical design strengths and values, allowing us to carve a distinctive and enduring niche for SDW.”
Design Futures provides a glimpse into the design of the future and the future of design, through the lens of forward-looking Singapore — where a more positive future is prototyped for Singapore and the world. Design Marketplace reinforces Singapore’s position as a global-Asia hub and East-West connector by convening the latest design and lifestyle trends from across the globe. Design Impact is a way of championing innovative and impactful designs that tackle society’s biggest questions and create a better world by design.
He explains: “Through these three pillars, we hope not only to give regional and international festival-goers a unique perspective on what Singapore design stands for but also to grow recognition and generate utility and economic value for Singapore’s design ecosystem.”
Wee is in a good position to head SDW because of his impressive career background beginning with his role as executive director at the Design Singapore Council. A position he has held since 2018, he recently passed on the baton.
In his role as advisor and festival director for SDW currently, he led the council in driving and implementing national policies on design, growing the design industries, enabling design in business and government, fostering a design mindset for the workforce, and promoting the Singapore design brand. He brought design closer to both SMEs and MNCs through the Design for Business initiatives and the Business Value of Design programme — this was especially timely as Singapore businesses had to brace themselves for rapid change and transformation during the pandemic.
Wee also launched the Good Design Research initiative to empower local designers and design enterprises to find their unique value proposition in designing for impact through research and experimentation. He oversaw the formation of the Design Education Advisory Committee to nurture the next generation of design talents, and the School of X to equip non-design professionals and citizens with collaborative design skills and design-led creative thinking to solve real-world social and business challenges.
With a keen interest in how good design is key to shaping more desirable products, services, and places for people, and how it is increasingly being seen as an effective tool for social change, Wee has a lot to share with Options.
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