When it comes to tackling the climate crisis, designers can make an impact by shifting from linear to circular ways of making, using and living. Next to this, the most important role of design is that of radical imagination: seeing what does not yet exist, making ideas real, and forging ahead with optimism. That is why What Design Can Do (WDCD) in partnership with the IKEA Foundation launched the global Redesign Everything Challenge earlier this year, inviting innovators everywhere to radically redesign a fairer and more sustainable world. In a series of videos published this week, three renowned designers, thinkers and activists – Amanda Costa, Borre Akkersdijk and Paola Antonelli – weigh in on the state of the world and what their vision of a reimagined future looks like.
Reducing consumption
We live in a world that’s bursting at the seams with stuff: households with a television in each room; city streets packed with idle cars; and dumpsters bloated with takeaway containers. This wouldn’t be such a problem if we weren’t draining the planet’s natural resources, or creating entire oceans of waste in the process. But the inconvenient truth is that we are — so much so that trash has become one of the most abundant materials on the planet. “We have mass overconsumption on everything”, says Borre Akkersdijk, textile innovator and creative director of ByBorre. “In 10 years we will look back at the time we are living in for the textile and product industry and we will wonder: what were we thinking?”
Reconnecting with nature
Rising temperatures, melting ice caps and greenhouse gas emissions: these are the kinds of things that conversations about the climate tend to focus on. But although these variables tell us a lot about the ecological crisis we are facing — they aren’t the cause of the problem. They are symptoms of a broken system and disconnected masses. “A reconnection with nature is what is most urgent at this point,” says Paola Antonelli, senior curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Reimagining climate justice
Though climate change is a global problem, the worst impacts of our warming planet are not shared evenly across society. Building a better future means understanding how in many ways in which climate action is linked to social justice. “Redesigning the world can’t leave people behind,” asserts Amanda Costa, climate activist and content creator. She emphasizes the need to uplift marginalized communities and incorporate their perspectives into design solutions.
These interviews were filmed for the Redesign Everything Challenge, an open call organised by What Design Can Do in collaboration with the IKEA Foundation and other key partners including SECRID. This global design competition seeks creative solutions to address the climate crisis and accelerate the transition to a fair and circular future. Changemakers everywhere are invited to submit ideas to radically redesign the world we live in — our products, materials, stories, systems, services and spaces — through a circular and regenerative lens.
“To redesign everything we need everyone” explains WDCD co-founder and creative director Richard van der Laken. “This campaign encourages people to harness the power of creativity to navigate towards a more sustainable and fair future. Together, we can and will radically redesign the world we live in.”
“At Secrid we believe in design as a force for good,” says cofounder Rene van Geer. “Look around you. All the products we use every day have an impact on people and the planet. That is why Secrid supports this design challenge. As wallet makers we aim to change the way we design, do business and consume in the world. We want to shift the focus of industries from producing more to better products. We call that Industrial Evolution.”
You can submit your biggest and boldest ideas to the challenge up until 20 March.
JOIN THE REDESIGN EVERYTHING CHALLENGE
Participants are invited to submit their project online from 17 January 2024 to 20 March 2024 via the Challenge website: redesigneverything.whatdesigncando.com
The Redesign Everything Challenge seeks creative climate solutions across five main disciplines: products, materials, communications, spaces, and systems & services.
In April 2024, a jury of leading experts in design, social impact and climate action will select a minimum of 10 winners. Winning ideas are turned into reality with €5.000 in funding and a global development programme, which includes online training, mentoring sessions and a bootcamp. This programme will support the winning teams in further strengthening their projects and propelling them through 2024 and beyond. As part of the WDCD Challenge network, winners will have the opportunity to appear in global publications and opportunities to speak at WDCD events.
For more information and to participate in the Redesign Everything Challenge, please visit: redesign everything.whatdesigncando.com.
FOR THE EDITORS
For videos and social media assets, view our press kit. More information about past Challenges and What Design Can Do is available on our press webpage.
For any press enquiries or more information regarding the Redesign Everything Challenge, please contact louise@whatdesigncando.com
ABOUT WHAT DESIGN CAN DO
What Design Can Do (WDCD) is an international platform that advocates for design as a tool for social change. Since 2011, we have undertaken numerous activities to promote the role of designers in addressing the world’s most pressing societal and environmental issues. WDCD has hosted 15 successful conferences in Amsterdam, São Paulo, and México City. In 2016 WDCD launched an ambitious design challenge programme that engages the creative community with urgent societal issues such as the well-being of refugees and climate change.
To see previous Challenge winners, visit www.whatdesigncando.com/projects/
For more information, visit www.whatdesigncando.com
ABOUT THE IKEA FOUNDATION
The IKEA Foundation is a strategic philanthropy that focuses its grant-making efforts on tackling the two biggest threats to children’s futures: poverty and climate change. It currently grants more than €200 million per year to help improve family incomes and quality of life while protecting the planet from climate change. Since 2009, the IKEA Foundation has granted more than €2 billion to create a better future for children and their families. In 2021 the Foundation decided to make an additional €1 billion over the next five years to accelerate the reduction of Greenhouse Gas emissions.
ABOUT SECRID
Design couple Marianne van Sasse van Ysselt and René van Geer have worked for many industrial clients over the past decades. Since 2009 they have been focusing 100% on their own brand: SECRID pocketwear, driven by their dream to be able to create products entirely according to their own values and insights. And without making concessions to customers or shareholders. SECRID consciously opts for production in the Netherlands, with a focus on people and the environment. For more information, please visit www.secrid.com.
