SYSTEM CHANGE DESIGNER MOVING TOWARDS REGENERATIVE FUTURES
During my career, the projects I have worked on and created have been varied, creative and always passion driven. As I continually learn and develop my thinking, there have been milestones that have influenced my worldview, theory of change, and how I believe the fundamentals of a people and planet positive society could be structured.
Reading Cradle to Cradle when I was 18, and then during my masters in product design, I moved from the ‘do less harm’ model of sustainability, into a circular economy approach, understanding the difference between the biosphere and the technosphere, and how resources can flow in cycles by design. From reflecting on the circular economy, I moved into believing that we must go a step further into regenerative systems that are in symbiosis with the cycles of nature. And to get there, I have questioned the how, understanding that an important factor in enabling radical change happens in the mind. Effective and experiential learning is a tool I believe can create necessary change towards a more regenerative and life affirming future.
The projects that have been significant in my career span the areas of food systems, circular economy, biomaterials, education and capacity building for change. The skills I have developed through these projects mapped below are systems thinking, design thinking, futures design, design strategy, learning design, product design, making and craft, exhibition design, facilitation and hosting, design research, human-centred research, literary research and writing.
Here’s a non-linear, non-conclusive overview of the projects that have shaped my career and thinking (up until 2023).
Organisations I’ve worked with
Acker, Arup, Autodesk, Brinkworth Design, B3 Designers, CSCP, Climate Farmers, Designers on Holiday, Ellen Macarthur Foundation, Forum for the Future, Forever Day One, Henkel, IDEO CoLab, Infinite Roots, Matter, Mediamatic, New Standards Studio, Quarterre, Regenerate, ReImagined Futures, Tesco Labs, Worktech Academy.
Education
Basecamp System Change Practioner . School of System Change. May - November 2022
Design Products Masters Degree . Royal College or Art, UK . 2015 - 2018
Interior Design BA Honours first class Degree . Kingston University, UK . 2009 - 2012
Residencies and Programmes
Art of Hosting (facilitating conversations that matter) . Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona. June 2024
Reaktor Incubator . Berlin 2022-2023
Autodesk Pier 9 Residency . San Francisco 2017
Designers on Holiday . Sweden 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023
Networks
Playful Regen
Regenerative Time Lab
Emergent and Regenerative Design Community of Practice
IDEO CoLab