Today’s session started with a lecture by Freida Bischoff, co-founder of Renée Materials. A platform that rethinks how we deal with waste by turning industrial offcuts and leftover materials into creative resources. Her talk really resonated with our Rotation 02 theme: “Beyond Green: Systems, Circularity & Sustainable Cultures.”
Freida shared how Renée began from observing everyday waste within creative industries and built a new system around reuse rather than recycling. What stood out to me was how she positioned Renée not just as a materials provider, but as part of a circular ecosystem connecting businesses, designers, and makers. It was a great example of how design can close loops, shift mindsets, and create economic as well as environmental value.
After the lecture, our group discussed how this idea of systems and regeneration could guide our own project. We explored the Regeneration.org / Nexus website, which lists a range of real-world climate solutions from energy and materials to food systems. The platform helped us think about sustainability beyond just “green visuals,” towards more systemic change.
After the group discussion, our tutor assigned us to Group 11, which focuses on the theme of Energy. Within this broad category, we were given several potential directions to explore including Agrivoltaics, Biogas, Energy Efficiency, Electrify Everything, Energy Storage, Geothermal, and Green Hydrogen. Each of these topics offers a unique perspective on how energy systems can become more circular and regenerative. For example, Agrivoltaics combines agriculture with solar power, while Biogas transforms organic waste into renewable fuel. Together, these subtopics encourage us to look beyond traditional energy generation and consider how design, technology, and community action can work together to build more sustainable energy cultures.
During the discussion, different ideas came up some of us were drawn to insects as a topic, while others preferred urban farming or energy-related systems. We compared how each could connect to people emotionally and work within our chosen methodology, Branding in the Open.
In the end, we realised that what inspired us about Renée Materials was not only the sustainability message, but the participatory system behind it the way people become part of the process. So, we wanted to find a topic that could offer that same kind of human connection. That’s why Urban Farming felt so strong: it’s about community, participation, and creating a living system inside the city.
For me, this transition from hearing Freida’s talk about material reuse to exploring systemic regeneration through Regeneration website helped me see how design can act as a bridge between environmental action and social engagement. It’s not only about creating sustainable visuals or branding, but about designing relationships between people, materials, and systems.