Late night at the museum

SLEEPLESS in Singapore? Night owls now have an additional location to check out. The Red Dot Design Museum, which opens on Oct 20 at its new location at 11 Marina Boulevard, is now open till 2am daily. The museum, which was previously at the former Traffic Police Headquarters building at Maxwell Road, used to close at 8pm.

The late opening hours means that more people will be able to visit Singapore's only design museum. At its old location, about 80,000 people visited it annually, of which about 70 per cent were tourists.

Elvin Seah, media relations spokesman for the Red Dot Design Museum, says that with a more central location, he expects the museum to attract a bigger crowd. The museum had to move when the lease at its old location ceased in April.

If the numbers are encouraging, there could also be the possibility of having the museum open 24 hours.

The Red Dot Design Museum houses entries from the Red Dot Award: Design Concept category, which include Bao, a minimalist and eco-friendly wardrobe, and &Y01 (Andy Zero-one), an electrically power-assisted wheelchair that plays music. These entries are mostly in conceptual stages.

The museum also showcases winning entries for the Red Dot Award: Product Design, which are for items that are already in production. For example, smack in the centre of the museum are the hanging Mesh lamps, a modern looking chandelier, created from a network of metal cables and artistically position LED lights. Mesh won a Red Dot: Best of the Best award in 2016.

The Red Dot Design Awards are seen as the Oscars of the design world. Besides Singapore, the main museum is in Essen, Germany, which currently houses about 2,000 international design objects in the former boiler house of the Zeche Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex. All the displays are award-winning design works from the Red Dot Design Award across three distinct disciplines: Product Design, Communication Design and Design Concept.

At the Singapore museum, visitors have the chance to don virtual reality goggles for a virtual tour of the museum in Essen.

Besides viewing the displayed products, visitors can better enjoy the Red Dot Design experience through the museum shop and the café, which is a new feature.

Both areas are fitted out with special flooring and ceiling materials and systems which are also Red Dot winners.

At the museum shop, visitors can buy knickknacks, as well as the Lumio, a lamp that resembles a book, which was a Red Dot winner in 2015.

At the café, visitors can take their pick from the Bloom stool, a 2012 Red Dot winner; the Tibalt stool, a 2017 Red Dot winner; or the Masters Chair, a 2013 Red Dot winner; to rest their bums on.

Hot drinks are served in Bodum's Pavina double-walled drinking glasses, which won a Red Dot in 2005; while beer is served in beer glasses from Craft Master Two, which received an Honourable Mention in 2016.

The café will serve salads, bar bites as well as a variety of local foods, such as nasi lemak and chicken rice.

Mr Seah says the café will give visitors a more holistic experience.

The ever popular Market of Artists and Designers (MAAD) will also return to the museum in December. Whereas it used to be a monthly market, the new MAAD will be on every weekend, in the open space just outside the museum.

Red Dot's Asia president Ken Koo said: "We welcome everyone to the world of design. It is about seeing the exhibition, learning about the latest design trends and innovation, and bringing design to everyday life via the shop."