BY JAY AQUINO

SEPTEMBER 7, 2025

When you design something, you don’t just make an object—you translate personality, memory, and perception into form. The best designers of our generation treat material as language, turning scraps, stories, and traditions into pieces that people cherish, and that spirit of thoughtful, expressive design takes center stage at FIND Design Fair Asia 2025, running September 11–13 at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. From textiles dyed with vegetable waste to myth-inspired light sculptures, this year’s fair showcases the visionary designers redefining how we create and connect through design.

Carlos Mendoza

IMAGE SOURCE: CRAFT COMMUNICATIONS

Shaped by the rhythm of Bataan and the pulse of Manila, Carlos Mendoza creates design that feels both grounded and alive. His work draws on local textures, vernacular materials, and the quiet intelligence of community craft. With Bangko + Bangkito, Mendoza reimagines the humble basahan—a woven doormat made from discarded fabrics—into seating that echoes the bangko, a simple wooden bench found across Filipino homes. Together, they embody humility, care, and togetherness. Exhibited from Salone del Mobile to Manila FAME, Mendoza’s practice shows how design can be empathetic, rooted in place, and unapologetically Filipino.

Ultramar Studio (Ewan Lamm)

IMAGE SOURCE: CRAFT COMMUNICATIONS

Ewan Lamm, the Hong Kong-British designer behind Ultramar Studio, turns myth into material. His Citadel Collection of light sculptures channels East Asian palatial architecture and celestial folklore, filtering them through a Brutalist lens. The results are monumental yet delicate—sacred towers distilled into simple forms and gridded structures. Lamm’s practice thrives on storytelling, using design to bridge cultural divides and illuminate shared humanity. In his hands, light is not just illumination but language, shaping narrative-driven objects that hover between furniture, sculpture, and spiritual artefact. At FIND 2025, Ultramar Studio reaffirms that design can feel like myth made tangible.

IMAGE SOURCE: CRAFT COMMUNICATIONS

Shioka Okamoto

IMAGE SOURCE: CRAFT COMMUNICATIONS

Japanese textile designer Shioka Okamoto treats fabric like a living medium, shaping atmosphere through color, texture, and process. Her project Colour of Attitude transforms discarded vegetable scraps into soft, earthy dyes, reworking waste into tactile narratives of sustainability. With postgraduate training in both textile and interior design, Okamoto approaches material with intellectual depth and emotional sensitivity. Her work has already earned recognition from Red Dot and iF Design, yet it feels most powerful in the quiet intimacy of its textures—pieces that don’t just cover space but recalibrate the way people experience it.

IMAGE SOURCE: CRAFT COMMUNICATIONS

Swirl Up

IMAGE SOURCE: CRAFT COMMUNICATIONS

Shanghai-based Swirl Up, founded by Wenny Chen and Marco Yu, is carving a space where sustainability meets digital craft. Their Movement01 collection is a radical demonstration of how technology can redeem discarded material. Using 100% recycled plastic—blue water jugs and translucent car headlights—they 3D print objects with hypnotic gradients, bridging industrial waste with sculptural allure. Swirl Up is a manifesto for a design future that values innovation without compromising ecology. Their work exists at the intersection of artistry and responsibility, showing how design can be experimental, futuristic, and deeply human all at once.

IMAGE SOURCE: CRAFT COMMUNICATIONS

OKKIM Studio (Ok Kim)

IMAGE SOURCE: CRAFT COMMUNICATIONS

Seoul-based artist and designer Ok Kim reinvents traditional Korean lacquer work for a contemporary audience. Her Merge_Wishing Pagoda is inspired by the meditative act of stone stacking, where each layer represents a wish or prayer. Kim mirrors this ritual in the repetitive layering and sanding of natural lacquer, gradually revealing seasonal colors embedded within. The result is an object that feels timeless yet personal, holding patience, emotion, and transformation within its polished surface. Shown at global fairs from Frieze New York to Design Miami, Kim’s work proves that heritage craft can evolve into sculptural, poetic forms of modern design.

IMAGE SOURCE: CRAFT COMMUNICATIONS

Tshioh Rushcraft & Jochieh Huang

IMAGE SOURCE: CRAFT COMMUNICATIONS

Taiwanese weaving brand Tshioh Rushcraft and designer-curator Jochieh Huang collaborate to bring culinary storytelling into the world of design. Their Rush Tableware Collection, made in partnership with chef Hao-Fu Chang of Tu Pang restaurant, reimagines rush grass—a traditional material in Taiwanese craft—as the basis for fine tableware. The collection doesn’t just function at the dining table; it becomes a vessel for cultural dialogue, connecting guests to Taiwan’s history through touch, ritual, and taste. Huang, known for exploring intersections of craft, culture, and food, ensures the work feels both grounded and inventive—a reminder that design can nourish in more ways than one.

IMAGE SOURCE: CRAFT COMMUNICATIONS

Discover Find Design Fair Asia here.