If there’s one thing designer Borre Akkersdijk wants us to do, it’s to “stop making sh*t that nobody needs.” Instead, the co-founder of ByBorre calls on the creative community to consume less by “learning from the past, building upon others, and open-sourcing what you’ve done.” Akkersdijk’s sentiment is echoed by activist Amanda Costa and curator Paola Antonelli in a bold new video series for the Redesign Everything Challenge.
Filmed in Amsterdam, São Paulo and New York, the series explores how three leading thinkers and makers are working to spark change in their respective industries. All three conversations are now available to view full on the Redesign Everything Challenge platform, which will remain open for applications until 20 March 2024.
“To redesign everything, we need everyone,” explains WDCD co-founder and creative director Richard van der Laken. “As we enter the last days of this year’s open call, we hope this campaign encourages people to harness the power of creativity to navigate towards a more sustainable and fair future.”
Reducing consumption
“We have mass overconsumption on everything,” says Borre Akkersdijk in his video. “In 10 years we will look back at the time we are living in for the textile and product industry and we will wonder: what were we thinking?”
Finding imaginative and collaborative ways to eliminate excess is what drives Borre’s work at ByBorre, a textile brand and online design platform encouraging makers to take responsibility for the sourcing and impact of their materials. In Borre’s vision for the future of the textile industry, sustainability and creativity go hand-in-hand.
Reconnecting with nature
There are few people in the world who know design as intimately as Paola Antonelli. As senior curator for New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), she has spent the better part of thirty years investigating design’s impact on everyday life and how it interacts with other fields like technology, biology and pop culture.
In her video, Paola zeroes in on the broken systems and disconnected masses at the root of the climate crisis. “I think that a reconnection with nature is what is most urgent at this point. Not just to be bucolic and romantic, but really to survive.”
Reimagining climate justice
For climate activist Amanda Costa, building a better future means understanding the many ways in which climate action is linked to social justice. Speaking to us from the Alma Preta headquarters in São Paulo, Amanda emphasized the need to address environmental racism and incorporate more diverse perspectives into design solutions.
“Redesigning the world can’t leave people behind,” she asserts. “We can’t forget people who live in marginalised areas. We need to put Black and Indigenous people at the centre.”
What’s next
The Redesign Everything Challenge closes for applications on 20 March 2024. In May, at least 10 of the most promising projects will enter an international accelerator programme to strengthen and scale their impact. Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to follow along as the competition progresses, and check out our Instagram, X or Facebook to take part in conversations about design and circularity.