‘Be Here Now’: Re-Route Festival takes over Orchard Road with more than 30 design collabs and programmes

We all know Orchard Road as the vibrant go-to shopping belt in Singapore; now rediscover the space through Re-Route: Orchard (RR:OR). Happening from Sep 26 to Oct 6, the festival encourages visitors to explore the topic of adaptation in the past and future on the famed street. 

RR:OR is the second edition of Re-Route Festival, a placemaking event that immerses visitors in an alternate storytelling of place through a collection of creative activations. It was first held in 2022 at Little India during Singapore Design Week. 

Curated by Singapore-based inter-disciplinary group Plus Collaboratives, and led by festival directors Cheryl Sim and Mervin Tan, RR:OR brings an investigative design lens to deepen visitors’ experience of Singapore’s famed shopping belt.

Its theme of “Be Here Now” is inspired by adaptive reuse – a concept in architecture that involves repurposing old structures for new uses. The festival showcases installations that highlight the idea of adaptation, showing how design can change and respond to new needs in scales other than architecture such as programmes and behaviours influencing how we experience a place.

Sparking curiosity
The festival will host curated experiences, installations, programmes, and other design activations to spark curiosity and explore the topic of adaptability. Visitors can view the street from a whole new perspective and appreciate the “invisible” design that shaped the space and experience across multiple locations. 

Not sure where to start? We suggest heading to Design Orchard where you’ll be greeted by a playful giant mascot affectionately named Charrdo (an anagram of the word Orchard). The red mascot represents Orchard Road’s illustrious past and a forward-looking mindset to take giant leaps of innovation.

Design Orchard also houses several design collaborations. Re-think on level one has a curated selection of products from innovative brands, each one embodying five core themes: Sustainability, Relevance, Preservation, Behaviours, and Innovation. See how products are transformed through adaptive reuse, offering fresh perspectives on what it means to rethink design. 

Meanwhile, Raffles Design Institute students showcase their Rain Ready creations in response to a fictional brief inspired by Orchard Road’s past as an open canal. Their innovative garments explore how clothing might evolve if we lived in a watery environment.

Head upstairs to Nowafter Cafe for Time-Honoured Backdrop, a photoshoot by Nikko Pascua that captures the essence of stylish individuals against the backdrop of iconic establishments that have withstood the test of time. 

Across the road outside Mandarin Gallery is Timeless Tales, an exhibition featuring five local illustrators whose fresh perspectives of the iconic street are portrayed as advertising posters. 

The other activations across Orchard Road include Chair Imagined at Centrepoint where iconic kopitiam chairs transformed through creative modifications; Adaptations: Design in Motion which brings together designers from Singapore and the region who show how ordinary items can be approached and understood in new ways; and Nostalgia Play at Far East Plaza’s atrium space that’s a playful tribute to the aesthetics of the 1980s and 90s. 

As you visit various sites, participate in Charrdo’s Stamp Rally. Get a stamp with every site you visit; together they reveal a picture of the giant mascot. Another stamp-collection activity is Re-Route Festival: Hidden Gems where everyone is invited to visit trendy, lesser-known stores – and collect stamps at each stop. Collect stamps from all eight different sites, follow, tag, share on social media, and you can redeem an exclusive set of keychains of Charrdo.

Finally, don’t miss out on the workshops. At the Trifecta x Re-Route: Orchard Surfboard Upcycling Workshop on Oct 5, transform old surfboards into original art pieces in this one-hour session. At the Sashiko Bandanas Workshop conducted by Fin Crafted Goods, learn the Japanese embroidery art of Sashiko stitching. Create beautiful, one-of-a-kind bandannas using hand-stitching techniques on repurposed fabrics. 

For more information about Re-Route: Orchard, visit www.reroutefest.com. The festival features free activations and ticketed events. Tickets to workshops and other activities are available here.