Spirit of Design

Ep. #18 - Reflections on Race and Privilege with Ania & Amie

Date: 16th June, 2020.

In today’s episode we come together and reflections amongst us about the current racial issues happening within our world. These are musings from our own current experiences, where we chat about race, privilege, the importance of self-reflection at this time, shame and guilt, and we finish off by posing some questions that may help us imagine more inclusive and diverse futures.

As always, this comes from our own personal experiences, where we believe that there exist multiple truths. Take what you want and leave the rest.

Lots of love,

Amie & Ania.

Resources + Mentions:

This week our guest is Bandana Tewari. She is a lifestyle editor, bad-ass sustainable activist and formerly held the prestigious position of editor-at-large, as well as the fashion features director of Vogue India. She now writes for Business of Fashion, and speaks internationally on India’s fashion craft traditions, the lessons of Ghandi and the place of consciousness in fashion.

In this episode we talk about everything from spirituality and fashion, to the Western world's long history of appropriation and extractive relationships with Indian and other cultures, the impacts  of colonization and capitalism, and importance of culture and diversity moving forward.

Its a rich and deep conversation and I hope you get as much out of it as I did.

We chat about:

-The lessons of Ghandi and the khadi movement

-Cultural appropriation and extractive relationships with ‘developing’ nations

-The importance of cultural diversity

-Spirituality and sustainability

-Ancient wisdom of Vedanta

Resources + mentions:

Todays episode is actually the audio from the very first guest interview we ever did, back before Spirit of Design podcast existed when we were doing our weekly Instagram live chats. 

This conversation still stands as one of the most potent and powerful we’ve had so far. 

Todays episode is with our beautiful friend Makenzie Marzluff. 

Makenzie is a social entrepreneur who believes in the powerful impact that products, brands and conscious business practices have on both humanity and the planet.

Makenzie has had 4 startups, graduated from the highly acclaimed incubator SEEDSPOT, has featured on Shark Tank and has a genuine passion and expertise for food concepts. Has grown a multi-million dollar a year Dessert Hummus company which began out the back of her van. She is also the founder of Kakao Drinking Chocolate and was hugely instrumental in bringing ceremonial kakao to the modern world.

Makenzie is one of the most courageous women we know, she leads from a heart centered paradigm that is profoundly different from the traditional way of doing business and in doing so has experienced miracle after miracle. Makenzie is a wise woman when it comes to heart centered business and we don’t use the word wise lightly.

This episode is super expansive and explores the possibilities for business when we look beyond the current accepted paradigm.

We hope that this episode really challenges you and invites you to look at business differently than what is considered normal.

Resources + links:

Delighted By Hummus: The Original Dessert Hummus™

www.delightedbyhummus.com

KAKAO Ceremonial Drinking Chocolate

Date: 28th Jan 2020.

Today’s episode is with Will Bull and Amy Foster-Taylor, the founders of London based sustainability consultancy ‘and beyond’.

Created last year, and beyond run workshops with schools, brands, and more, to empower people to create a better world. Their work focuses on creating spaces for you to tap into your intrinsic values and harness your imagination in order to come up with meaningful solutions for a connected and sustainable future.

In this episode we explore;

• Will and Amy’s journey to creating a values-based business.
  
• The importance of tapping into our intrinsic values and the possible outcomes this can have on ourselves, our work, relationships and the earth.
  
• How and beyond create spaces that activate intrinsic values with both students and established businesses.
  
• The power of imagination and taking time to envision alternative sustainable futures.
  
• How to then translate values and visioning into actionable steps.
  
• How connecting with values and imagination can impact design.
  
• and beyond’s future visions for their work + loads more.
  

This was such a juicy episode that shed a lot of light on the direction that we need to be going in for our world. and beyond’s work is so inspiring and so needed at this time and we hope you enjoy our convo with them.

Resources + mentions:

Date: 14th Jan 2020. 

Today’s episode is with Beto Bina, and is centered around his work in regenerative textile systems and agroforestry. Beto has been working at the intersection of Strategy, Innovation and Sustainability for over 14 years, helping clients such as Nike, Samsung, Verizon and J&J to grow through products, services and communications. His career in the creative industry has given him awards such as Cannes Young Lions, Effies Awards and he has been recognized on Medium as a top writer in Sustainability and as a mentor at SxSW. 

His latest venture is called FARFARM, a start-up that is developing a Textile Agroforestry in the Brazilian Amazon. Most recently, he has joined the team of VEJA, coordinating sourcing and looking for responsible materials throughout Latin America. 

In this episode we explore; 

- Beto’s journey from leaving a high profile New York job to working on a purpose-driven start-up in the Amazon. 

- Agroforestry farming methods and how its processes can assist us in addressing the challenges of climate imbalances, help regenerate the planet, and provide sustainable development to communities. 

- How Farfarm has started creating textiles grown in these regenerative ways and what they are hoping to achieve through this. 

- How the term ‘sustainability’ has become vulgarised, and new stories that we can tell in our work toward a more equitable future. 

- Nature as a foundation and as an ultimate KPI (key performance indicator), the new marker for success. 

- Beto’s role at Veja, and the innovative and responsible work that they are doing on a massive scale. 

- Future visions for both Farfarm and Veja, + loads more. 

This was such an eye-opening episode to record, where we learnt a whole lot. We hope you do too! 

Resources + mentions: 

Date: 31st Dec 2019.

In this episode, we talk you through a series of prompts that reflect on the past year and decade, celebrating, releasing, and calling in new dreams, desires and goals for the year to come.

Grab your favourite pen and journal, and put some time aside to reflect on what was and what you would like to call in.

This process is also available for pdf download - follow the link below.

Have a beautiful new year everyone!

xx Ania & Amie

Resources:

Date: 17th Dec 2019.

Today’s conversation is with creative Dörte de Jesus.

Dorte worked as an art director for boutique design studios and magazines such as ELLE Germany, before she launched the independent, mindful fashion publication Lissome Magazine in spring 2016. Since then, Lissome has organically grown into a core team in Berlin, and a wider international community of writers, photographers and stylists. Its first annual print edition was launched in December this year (2019), and presents a new holistic vision on what sustainable fashion could be.

We chat about:

• Dorte’s creative journey.
  
• What holistic beauty looks like, and the role it can play in the transition to a more sustainable world.
  
• Why Dorte decided to turn the Lissome Magazine into a physical print edition.
  
• Why we shouldn’t completely cease producing and buying fashion and other products.
  
• What content the Lissome print magazine presents that makes it different to any other sustainable fashion and design magazine currently out there.
  
• How designers can include elements of beauty within what they create, but still be responsible and mindful toward the Earth and people.
  
• Plus loads more...
  

We are so excited to bring this conversation to you today. Enjoy!

Resources + links:

In this episode, we explore alternative design and production rhythms that re-examine current making practices and their fast and growth orientated speeds and scales.

We dive into:

• Aligning with Mother Nature’s rhythms for design and what these could look like in practice.
  
• The importance of new definitions for success as based upon tapping into individual rhythms for design and sustainability.
  
• How we can listen to our intuition and how we want to feel as wayfinders for how to create.
  
• De-growth rhythms for design.
  
• Examples of alternative rhythms in contemporary design practice and business.
  

This is a short but sweet episode that touches upon a lot, and it’s definitely a conversation we will keep building upon!

Resources + mentions:

In this episode, we explore the intersections of fashion and patriarchy.

We ask some deep questions around what does the dismantling of patriarchy look like for design, and is destroying the patriarchy the best way forward?

We dive deep into:

• The connection between the oppression of Mother Earth and the oppression of the feminine in all life.
• How women's reproductive rights are affected by fashion.
• Self-love as a powerful form of disruption.
• The importance of pleasure in sustainability + so much more.
  

This is one juicy conversation that we can’t wait for you to experience.

Resources + mentions:

In this first episode, we introduce ourselves and share our backgrounds and the path that has led us to this moment that we share with you right now. We share how Sustainability 5.0 and the Spirit of Design podcast emerged and offer a sneak peek into the conversations to come, the topics we’ll explore, and more.

Resources: