Story of Design

Rizvi Hassan together with the community built the Hindupara Rohingya Refugee Camp. The Bangladeshi architect thought that this celebratory event of "building" does not only empower the community, but also let them to take ownership of the space, build trust, and develop themselves further.

Mortier is a young company started by two young individuals, Mendy Laoda and Irene Kusuma, with a mission to amplify sustainable lifestyle through the celebration of materials. This episode of Story of Design we will talk about steps to start upcycling and practice a greener lifestyle. 

Antoinette Jackson is the CEO of Superbee, a social enterprise that produces everyday products that support green, sustainable lifestyle. They are famous for their beeswax wraps, but what is really fascinating is how Antoinette puts so much focus on the people in the company. She expresses how paying attention to the workers' happiness is key to producing good products and a lasting company.

Rafiq Azam, the principal of Shatotto, a leading architecture firm in Dhaka, talks about how his practice is inspired by Dhaka. Azam goes in deep about his approach to architecture "in the green", not just green architecture. It is essential that he puts soul and life into the buildings he creates.

Fruitleather Rotterdam is a company that transforms leftover fruits into durable, leather-like material. Hugo de Boom and Koen Meerkerk founded Fruitleather with the vision to not only spread awareness of food waste issue, but also to show how waste in general can be used in a positive way. We are very curious about how they problem-solve from a design perspective, so let's hear it!

Emma Cogné is a textile designer who explores such creation in the context of interior and exterior spaces. Her lens exposes issues with regard to architecture and humanity, and her textile innovations try to find mediation in them. Turborama is an example where she tries solving housing crisis through the use of textile in space.

Arqlite is a Special Purpose Corporation with the technology to recycle all types of plastic. In this episode we converse with Sebastian Sajoux, the CEO of Arqlite, about how he envisions creating this systemic loop for plastic because it is the only way to save the world from all this plastic waste we have accumulated for more than a hundred years.

Delution talks about incorporating elements green architecture into their works, triggering behaviors through design, and a residential project they won awards for in 2019.

Circular Union is a cross-industry, multi-disciplinary collective focused on the future of sustainable materials and design. Mariah Wright always had a vision of an infinite, regenerative design model, so through Circular Union, she provides insights to trends and innovation opportunities in hopes to help more and more people and companies expand their sustainability reach and also adopt this futu...

German-born, Bali-based multidisciplinary architect Alexis Dornier discusses that architecture is more about the process than the outcome. He sees having good, mutual communication between the different collaborators is key to creating a successful result that is driven by task-specific solutions. The same case applies to trying to achieve sustainability, because it is a result of joint effort bet...

Livable is a design and research platform with a mission to envision a future-proof approach between people, environment and society. It is through t his platform that Sep Verboom invites all of us to see the beautiful merge of tradition, modernity, social, and ecological engagements that all seem to blend under the umbrella of “Design”. Livable manages to connect with traditional communities, ind...

Tony Sofian, an Indonesia-based architect and designer, talks about having sensibility in architectural practice towards materials and towards immateriality. From his experience studying and working with wood, he discusses how materials can go beyond the tangible and how it is crucial to direct things that are intangible as well that play well to our senses.

Budiman Ong of Ong Cen Kuang Designs on Injecting Soul and Identity through Crafts into Lighting Designs. In this episode, he tells how his upbringing, passion, and practice are inspired by nature, nurture, and culture, and how he, through his works, contribute back to them and to the society.