Innovation Showcases
Featured Design Thinking in Creative Cutting to Reduce Waste and Increase Usability
Innovation Showcase Simrita Dass
This research explores current practices within the fashion industry that are contributing to changes in the relationship between consumers and their clothing. Although there have been significant efforts towards establishing more sustainable practices, there is more that can be accomplished. Through an exploration of theoretical and practical methods of making, I argue that more informed fashion practises and habits of construction are required to initiate a shift in the way we produce and consume fashion. I propose and practice integration of design thinking at the early conceptualisation stages of garment making. I aim to provoke new ways of careful creative pattern cutting to produce outcomes that offer suitable alternatives to wasteful production, taking into consideration emotional fit, adaptability and multifunctionality. In this way, I hope to encourage more conscious garment consumption with reduced waste and increased usability.
Solarpunk: Designing a Better Tomorrow?
Innovation Showcase Juliette Mac Donald
Solarpunk is a movement which aims to replace society’s apocalyptic and dystopian views of climate change with an alternative more optimistic vision of what the world might look like in the near future. Emerging in 2008, Solarpunk has been described as an eco-futurist movement which encourages us to avoid catastrophe by imaging a future that people would like to live in, rather than avoid. Such powerful utopian ideas arguably have their roots in William Morris, News From Nowhere, and Buckminster Fuller’s beliefs that things can't be changed by fighting reality but rather by creating a new model. I believe Solarpunk is an ideal catalyst for the design community in that it provides an invitation to us all to put our imaginations to work to seek practical actions and interactions. The Gardens by the Bay in Singapore (2012) the Beijing City Library, created by Snøhetta (2018-2023) are wonderful examples of what can be achieved when design balances nature and technology. Through interpretive research methods this paper explores the design affordances and solutions which might emerge from a solarpunk rewilding of our imagination.
Signs of Decolonization: Processes for Change Making by Brave and Kind Designers
Innovation Showcase Susan Mavor
This study considers means of addressing decolonization—one sign design at a time. It will show how to create positive social change in practical ways through the design of simple wayfinding and interpretive signage. This highly visual presentation will share practical lessons learned through collaborative projects where, in addition to designing signage form, the designer shapes teams and processes. Ideas shared are the distillation of on-going autoethnographical design research which is embedded in professional design projects. The imperatives of design business market economics are explored in delicate balance with higher order ethical goals of intercultural reconciliation. The presenter is a professional design entrepreneur, mentor, and current PhD scholar with thirty years of experience working to support marginalized communities in putting their language and stories back on the land. It shows the power of making small changes to address the power imbalance of colonialism in relation to Indigenous peoples. Examples shared in the address come from the designer’s experience working with Indigenous communities and government within Canada. Learning outcomes include de-centering the designer, active listening, empathy, discovering shared values, connection to the land, personal empowerment, and deepening psycho-spiritual growth.
