Circular design lab 2019

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Circular Design team, in collaboration with the British Council’s Architecture Design Fashion department, hosted a programme for designers, makers, and creative entrepreneurs.

The Circular Futures Lab was a pilot project that was initially run in 2018. It brought together six leading creatives and designers from the South East Asia region to discuss the future of making and circular design.

The event, now in its second year, saw participants from ten Sub-Saharan countries meet for a week of design workshops and creative exchanges. Workshops were led by leaders from the UK’s design industry, including Community 21, Materiom, Ma·tt·er, Open Cell, Raeburn, Makerversity, Somerset House, Design Museum, and the Royal Society of Arts (RSA).

The workshops provided learnings and insights, and opened up new discussions around how to overcome existing challenges for the participants in each of their areas and countries. Currently, the delegates are all working on their proposals for projects which aim at implementing circular design approaches at different levels and in different industries. They are also disseminating and sharing their learnings

“Circular design will benefit communities, the economy and create a lot of opportunities for locals.” - Isatu Harrison, Sierra Leone delegate - Founder, designer, and creative director of Izelia

“I learnt a lot from the different workshops and presentations and it’s going to help me implement the work I’m doing.” - Vanessa Nsona, Malawi delegate - Founder of Dorovee, a creative hub and sustainable fashion enterprise

“We’ve learnt a lot about materials and processes, some of which I was not aware of before. I’m definitely going to integrate these into my work.” - Yegwa Ukpo, Nigeria delegate - Founder of Newtype, a project to create synergies between indigenous and contemporary wisdom to generate alternative sustainable futures