where climate action meets the future of design

Month: July 2025

NEXT GEN RESIDENCY AT WDCD IN AMSTERDAM

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In the week of 2-6 June ten young designers and winners of the NEXT GEN DESIGN 2025 competition ‘ Resign Tomorrow, Today’ were invited to join a week-long residency hosted by What Design Can Do in Amsterdam where they took a deep dive into the world of circular fashion, aligning with Amsterdam’s muncipality goal to become fully circular by 2050.

The residency programme consisted of site visits, a design thinking workshop, concept development and presentation. For the programme, the residents were challenged to develop their own bold new circular fashion concepts that disrupt today’s systems, which they presented at the end of the week.

To dive into the topic of a circular approach to fashion, the residents first paid a visit to ByBorre, a Dutch textile innovation company that specialises in knitting fabrics with unique textures. Founder Borre Akkersdijk shared his story of starting his company, working as a designer on innovations in the industry and showed us around the workshop where his textiles are produced.

Next, the group visited United Repair Cente, a garment repair company that extends the life of garments while making social impact by offering job for those with a distance to the labor market. Finally, the residents received a tour at the Stedelijk Museum exhibition ‘Oltre Terra’ by design duo Formafantasma that displays the relation between humans and sheep. Curator of the exhibition and a jury member for the Next Gen competition Amanda Pinatih explained how the design research project came into existence.

After the inspiring site visits the residents received the assignment to create their own circular fashion innovations. The pressure cooker format resulted in three design concepts that addressed the relation between people and their garments, ways to minimise garment production and encouraging repairs on a neighborhood level. The closure of the week happened during the WDCD festival where the Next Gen ‘Redesign Tomorrow, Today’ exhibition was on display showcasing all 50 winning projects. 

Next up are three more residency programmes in Vienna, Barcelona and Skopje happening in fall 2025. 

Thami Schweichler

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Social designer, entrepreneur, and impact leader based in Amsterdam, whose work sits at the intersection of circularity, social justice, and entrepreneurship.

As the founder and CEO of the United Repair Centre, he has pioneered a scalable B2B clothing repair model that partners with major fashion brands to extend the life of garments while simultaneously creating meaningful employment for people with limited access to the labour market, including newcomers and refugees.

Prior to this, Thami co-founded Makers Unite, a social enterprise that empowers refugees and local creatives through sustainable design projects and circular production. This initiative gained international recognition after winning the What Design Can Do Refugee Challenge in 2016. Thami’s vision challenges fast fashion by embedding repair, reuse, and inclusion into the industry’s infrastructure.

Mary Nyaruai Mureithi

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Powerful advocate for dignity, gender equality, and a sustainable future by amplifying grassroots voices on global stages. Beyond Nyungu Afrika, she empowers the next generation of female entrepreneurs as a pan-African pitching and entrepreneurship trainer, helping young women confidently present their ideas and reach their full potential. For Mary, design is activism, and every product is a step toward systemic change.

Driven by an activist heart and firsthand exposure to the harsh realities of period poverty, where girls are forced to exchange sex for pads, use unsafe alternatives, or suffer health issues from poor-quality products, Mary designed a better solution. Through Nyungu Afrika, she pioneers a circular economy model that transforms agricultural waste, like pineapple leaves and maize husks, into a patent-pending, biodegradable, tree-free pulp for eco-friendly sanitary pads. Her innovation tackles both period poverty and the harmful impact of imported disposable pads on health and the environment.

Natasa Perkovic

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BLENDING AESTHETICS, INNOVATION AND A DEEP CONNECTION TO NATURE IN HER DESIGN PRACTICE.

Born in Sarajevo into a family in which her father and grandfather worked for the well- known Yugoslav-era wood industry, SIPAD, Natasa grew up surrounded by the scent of wood samples and an appreciation for wood crafts and industry. Though she once found furniture design uninspiring, her perspective shifted after studying Product Design at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Sarajevo and gaining international experience.

Returning to Sarajevo in the early 2000s, she began teaching at her alma mater and built her design practice in a country still recovering from war and industrial decline. As the country’s furniture sector moved from exporting raw materials to developing its own products, Natasa established her studio and began collaborating with local manufacturers.

Today, she is a leading voice in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s design revival, dedicated to education, regional collaboration, and shaping a bold, innovative and sustainable design culture.

Save the date: 07-17.10.2025 BARCELONA DESIGN WEEK

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This October, we celebrate 20 editions of BDW! From October 7 to 17, Barcelona will once again become the epicentre of creativity. Under the theme “Design for Human Future”, this special edition will focus on Creative Resilience, the concept that will guide the reflections and activities of BDW 2025.

Creative Resilience is the ability to face adversity with intelligence and creativity, aiming to improve and transform our environment with an optimistic outlook on the future. This edition will explore how creativity can become a key tool in fostering resilience in an increasingly complex and ever-changing world, where global challenges demand creative and sustainable solutions.

To tackle these challenges, we embrace informed optimism: the belief that, despite the obstacles ahead, creativity and design can be a powerful force for resilience, reinvention, and regeneration.

Join us this October as Barcelona Design Week 2024 sets the stage for a future where design is a powerful force for resilience and positive change.

See the PROGRAM HERE