TOMORROW: Design Stories of Our Future

What would a day in Singapore look like come 2065? 10 designers and 10 illustrators from this city present their visions of her future today. Responding to 10 speculative questions of how we will communicate, connect, dress, eat, learn, live, play, relax, travel and work, these creatives were paired up to discuss and ponder upon what one assigned aspect of everyday life in Singapore would be like on its centennial.

The TOMORROW library, designed in collaboration with interior architecture firm LAANK, invites visitors on a journey to discover the future possibilities and pitfalls of life in this little red dot through settings and mediums of the past. The anthology of vignettes written by Justin Zhuang, concepts imagined by the designers, and narratives drawn by the illustrators were published in a soft-cover monochrome book letterpress printed by The Gentlemen’s Press. The anthology was also available for loan on CDs and OHP transparencies.

The library was followed by an exhibition of ideas, sketches, drawings and objects created by the designers and illustrators in visualising their concepts. A visit to the TOMORROW library ends with typing a letter to 2065 on a vintage typewriter, that was shelved and archived, or reading through letters written by others.

‘TOMORROW: Design Stories of Our Future’ was conceptualised and curated by BLACK as the feature project of design festival SingaPlural 2017.

The publication was collected by the US Library of Congress in 2019.