Design has always been a man’s world. A white cis-man’s world to be precise. Thankfully, there have always been gifted and inspiring exceptions who have overcome the obstacles to make important contributions to design. This episode of the Design Emergency podcast celebrates some of the incredible women who have done so, as our co-founders, Paola Antonelli and Alice Rawsthorn pay tribute to the Hidden Heroines of Design. . In this episode you’ll hear the stories of seven exceptionally talented...

Paola Antonelli interviews Sissel Tolaas, the Berlin-based Norwegian artist, chemist, and researcher who has dedicated her life to exploring smell in all its facets and expressions. With a background in chemistry and linguistics, Tolaas has developed an interdisciplinary practice that spans the fields of art, science, and technology, with a particular focus on olfactory communication and the role of smell in human experience. Over the course of her career, Tolaas has conducted extensive...

In this episode, Alice Rawsthorn interviews Nifemi Marcus-Bello, the Nigerian designer who is at the forefront of the dynamic new design culture now emerging in West Africa. Nifemi describes how he draws on his research into West African design and making – past and present – to develop new objects that reflect the region’s cultural identity. . Born in Nigeria, Nifemi was brought up there and in Zambia, before moving to the UK to study industrial design in Leeds. After completing his master’s...

Formafantasma is a design studio founded in 2009 by Simone Farresin and Andrea Trimarchi, with offices in Milan and in Rotterdam. Their practice is based on research, and their deep investigations into the ecological, historical, political, and social forces shaping the discipline of design today inform not only their critical and influential exhibitions and academic inquiry, but also the exquisite objects they have produced for commercial manufacturers of global renown. In this episode,...

In this episode, Alice Rawsthorn interviews Fabrizio Urettini, the Italian art director, who has devoted the last six years to designing and delivering a remarkably imaginative and effective response to one of our biggest global challenges - the escalating refugee crisis. Helped by friends and fellow designers, Fabrizio has founded and run the Talking Hands workshops in the northern Italian city of Treviso where asylum seekers and migrants living temporarily in the area can learn design and...

Totaling several billions of tons a year worldwide, agricultural waste––produced by raising plants and animals, and including stalks, husks, hulls, and manure––is both a problem and an opportunity. In this interview with Design Emergency co-founder Paola Antonelli, Ghanaian-Filipino architectural scientist, designer, and entrepreneur Mae-ling Lokko discusses the many effective and elegant ways she has devised to transform agrowaste into building materials that continue the cycle of life as...

One of design’s most important – and inspiring – roles throughout history has been to champion human rights. At a time when those rights are under threat in so many parts of our planet, we – Design Emergency’s co-founders, design curator Paola Antonelli and design critic Alice Rawsthorn – decided to host a special episode to discuss design’s record in helping to defend and strengthen human rights, and to prevent abuses of them.   We’ve searched for design interventions in diverse areas of...

We’re off! Our very special interviewee for this first episode of the Design Emergency podcast is the brilliant Ghanaian-British architect, David Adjaye. As well as designing some of the most compelling buildings of recent years, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C., David is at the forefront of the development of Africa’s dynamic architecture scene. In this interview with Design Emergency’s co-founder, Alice Rawsthorn, he discusses the...

Design Emergency is a collaboration between the curator, Paola Antonelli, and writer, Alice Rawsthorn, to explore design’s potential to help us to build a better future. On this podcast, you will hear from the designers, architects, engineers, and others, who, we believe, are at the forefront of innovation in using design to forge positive change. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.