DesignKind 2022

The 2022 DesignKind programme pairs 8 emerging designers and design collectives of colour from South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and the UK who are working across a range of design disciplines (fashion, craft, materials, print, architecture, graphics and technology) into 4 cross-cultural collaborations over a 6 week period. Each pair has been invited to create a piece of interdisciplinary work that nurtures cross-cultural relationships, spans across countries and explores the intersection of racial justice and the climate crisis.

Through research, critical dialogue and the use of technology and collaboration tools, these pairs explore a variety of topics around the intersections of race and the climate crisis:


Topics:
– The stories of climate-refugee people
– Cross-comparative climate-experiences, both past and present
– Mapping racial and climate history
– And more


Disciplines:
– Creative coding
– Materials and textiles
– Language, and oral storytelling
– Machine learning

– And more

Showcase Outcomes:
– Nurturing cross-cultural relations
– Championing emerging talent
– Cross-disciplinary experiments
– Decolonising cultural-creativity

– And more

This programme and showcase was designed by British Council in partnership with Do the Green Thing and Pentagram. The partners designed and nominated a Selection Committee process who were experts in the area of design, climate, and creativity. These people were from the networks of British Council, Do the Green Thing and Pentagram to choose the final 8 designers. The committee was made up of 4 very inspiring and established creatives:




- Ailbhe Larkin
- Anupama Kundoo

- Sunny Dolat 

- Parvinder Marwaha

Through a series of deliberation workshops and voting rounds, the Selection Committee narrowed down 8 successful participants from a long-list of 24 brilliant designers and design collectives. These 8 designers and design collectives include:

Arda Awais and Savena Surana (Identity 2.0) - London
Bisila Noha - London
Bubu Ogisi (IAMSIGO) - Kenya, Ghana
Lokesh Saini - London
Neba Sere, Sanaa Shaikh and Umi Lovecraft BP (decosm) - London
Nifemi Marcus-Bello (Nmbello Studio) - Nigeria
Shehzil Malik - Pakistan
Shubhi Sachan (Material Library of India) - India

The designers and design collectives met in an Inception Workshop, where they were briefed on the programme and paired with their collaborations.

Each collaboration was paired at random, and the only parameter being they were cross-disciplinary and were made up of one representative from South Asia or Sub-Saharan Africa and one representative from the United Kingdom.

The collective met on a weekly basis with the project team over a 6 week period to discuss the programme, review the work and collaborate on research and ideas.

The programme ended after the 6 week period with outstanding results of excellent international collaboration in action and worked closely with the project team to prepare their final outputs for the official showcase launched across Google Arts and Culture, The Colour of the Climate Crisis exhibition site, and pushed out through social media and press coverage.