Lien De Ruyck

How do we move out of this uncomfortable tech-for-tech phase into the Purpose Built Era? The Purpose Built Era is born out of discomfort, restlessness and our innate drive to always ask for more.

That act of industrial design is a natural skill that is innate in Indigenous creatives and designers and passing this knowledge on to future generations is grounded in who we are. 

The goal of the show is to inform more humans about the path ahead and inspire people to play a role in our collective future. Guests will be from a wide range of scientists, leaders, activists, thinkers, and doers.

WHAT IF YOU COULD EASILY MOVE YOUR HOUSE TO A NEW COUNTRY? WHAT IF ENTIRE COMMUNITIES COULD POP-UP OR BE EASILY RELOCATED WHEN NEED BE? WHAT IF MORE BUILDINGS WERE DESIGNED TO BE FULLY MOBILE?

Instead of making things that add value back to a system, our current linear economic model extracts and processes raw materials from nature, produces pollution and returns negative externalities back to the planet in the form of waste — which then affects all living things in negative ways. Externalities are things not accounted for in the current... See more

The Circular Economy—Designing for longevity and reuse of materials beyond the first use

We get trapped in thinking about utopias and dystopias as a binary rather than two ends of a spectrum. Both extremes present static images of the future that capture a distinct point in time. When we reframe them as a spectrum, we open up new possibilities for stories that lie in between. Not only does that allow for more nuanced and blended... See more

It is time for designers to set our sights beyond sustainability and consider regeneration. Sustainability is an important concept in a time of widespread environmental destruction. It has made us aware that our planet’s resources are finite, and helped us envisage practices to sustain our current resources. But on its own it does not fix what is... See more