Design for Planet Fellowship: Three Perspectives, 2021-2022

Design Council

Design Council has been the UK’s national strategic advisor on design for over 75 years. We are an independent not-forprofit organisation that champions design and its ability to make life better for all. Our work encompasses thought leadership, tools and resources, showcasing excellence and research to evidence the value of design and influence policy. We uniquely work across all design sectors and deliver pro-grammes with business, government, public bodies and the third sector. Our Design for Planet mission aims to accelerate the critical role design must play to address the climate crisis.

The Design for Planet Fellowship was funded by The National Lottery Community Fund.

Introduction

In December 2021, the Design Council launched the Design for Planet Fellowship: a proto-type programme that convened eight designers working across disciplines to explore emergent practices in systemic and regenerative design. Over seven months, the fellows undertook a collective enquiry to explore emerging opportunities for design to tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis.

Alongside this, the programme also explored how designers can act as ‘knowledge weavers’ experts at spotting the connections between different kinds of knowledges, sectors and industries, and who are adept at building relationships and new opportunities across these existing spheres in order to enable systemic change1. Knowledge weavers are often incredibly important actors within social and ecological activism, but their work is often under-valued, and their distinctive contribution to design un-recognised. In this, the project builds on Design Council’s recent Systemic Design and System-Shifting Design reports2.

The following three essays were co-authored by six of the Design for Planet fellows. They share critical perspectives on the role design can play in issues ranging from the rise of the digital commons, to declining connection with nature across communities. Throughout, they share examples of inspiring practice, and links to further reading and resources to continue your learning journey

Author biographies

Professor Carole Collet

Carole is Director of Maison/0, the Central Saint Martins - LVMH platform for regenerative luxury set up in 2017. She is also co-director of the Living Systems Lab and explores how living systems thinking can inform new design knowledge. As an educator, she has pioneered the integration of ecological values in the creative curriculum at Central Saint Martins UAL by founding new courses such as MA Textile Futures in 2001 (now Material Futures), the world first MA Biodesign (2019) and recently launched the new online MA Regenerative Design (2022).

Sarah Drinkwater

Sarah is a community builder, entrepreneur and investor. Most recently, she built and led the responsible technology team at Omidyar Network, funding resources, tools, research, narratives and people working to design more societally beneficially tech futures. Before that, she was at Google building out physical community spaces for entrepreneurs, leading on the social layer on Google Maps, and advising startups on culture and community. Through Atomico’s angel program, she is an active angel investor in community-directed solutions.

Finn Harries

Finn is a British filmmaker and designer. He is the co-founder of Earthrise Studio, a digitial media company dedicated to communicating the climate crisis through research, design and filmmaking. He is currently studying at the University of Cambridge to complete an MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design. His research focuses on regenerative design and ecology. Finn has given talks at both TEDx and the United Nations in New York on the urgency for action on climate change and biodiversity loss.

Nat Hunter

Nat has worked in the field of sustainable design for 15 years as a practitioner and educator. She is also a trained CTI and Organisational Relationship Systems Coach and combines these trainings with her own experience as an entrepreneur and as an employee. She is a systems thinker, and brings her design skills, business experience, and coaching practice together in order to create and support change. She is very interested in how regenerative culture and behaviour within organisations can positively impact people, society and the planet.

Torange Khonsari

Torange is one of the original co-founders of the art and architecture practice public works. She has been a senior lecturer in architecture at London Metropolitan University since 2000 and is currently the course leader for post graduate programs and research on Design and Cultural Commons at London Metropolitan University. The direct two-way communication between academia and practice has enabled and enriched an exploratory environment within which public works is now operating.

John Thackara

A writer and curator, John is developing a Design for Earth Repair agenda for Tongji University in Shanghai, where he is visiting professor. The project explores design's contribution to ecological restoration, biodiversity recovery, and urban-rural reconnection.