Five years ago, he launched an autobiography-slash-commentary on his fifteen years of independent design practice. Now, he launches a retrospective exhibition of his work. Industrial designer Nathan Yong is prone to bouts of self reflection, but that’s hard to fault. Why?
You need only consider his pivotal role in helping Singapore achieve a global design voice, and the way he fuses the story of his personal design journey with truthful commentary on the (at times challenging) context in which he, his contemporaries and his juniors practice. Honest dialogue can only help to foster strength in a design community. Nathan’s role in paving the way to international success for younger Singaporean designers is certainly worthy of a tip of the hat.
September 14 marked the opening of his exhibition In The Scheme of Things. Nathan Yong: A Retrospective Show 1999-2019 at the National Design Centre atrium. It will run until 6 October, from 9am to 9pm daily. With the show, Nathan aims to continue the dialogue via 30 of his past works and ten of his new ones – a mix of his most praised and personal favourite pieces.
An integral part of that dialogue will be a series of talks by collaborators (including manufacturers), which will be held at the NDC auditorium on Friday 20 September from 4:30pm to 6:30pm. This session will dive into issues around materials, technology and the manufacturing process with individuals from Dupont Tyvek, Synergraphic, Marble and Meuble Galleri and Superstructure. Additionally, Nathan will chat with graphic designer Hanson Ho of H55, who designed a new book for the occasion.
The exhibition scenography – a cocoon-like gallery space with soft walls of cascading Tykev fabric – forms the backdrop to the exhibited pieces, both inside and outside the cocoon. It was designed by Nathan to encourage the perception of each product as a three-dimensional, life-like painting, with a story that can be deciphered and read.
Experience it for yourself and reflect on Nathan’s design achievements with international brands such as Design Within Reach (USA), Ligne Roset (France), Living Divani (Italy), Gerbruder Thonet Vienna (Italy), Won Design (Denmark), Opinion Ciatti (Italy), Punt (Spain), spHaus (Italy), Domicil (Germany), Ethnicraft (Belgium), Royal Selangor (Malaysia) – as well as his own home-grown achievements with Grafunkt and FOLKS Furniture.
The show is co-presented by the DesignSingapore Council as part of the SG Designer Milestone Series.
Nathan Yong Design
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Photography courtesy of Nathan Yong Design