Meet the #ExRe2021 alumni

Phil Balagtas x Adrian Stapfer

  • founder of the Design Futures Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to Speculative Design and Futures Thinking, with over 20 years of experience in the design industry.

  • a Design Strategist from Switzerland, a graduate from Master of Design in Design Strategies at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University

  • "The Experimental Realism mentorship program is a great way to work with leaders in all fields of Futures, get intimate guidance and perspectives, and help shape new projects and initiative for those who are either just discovering the field or want to hone their practice. Gem Barton has done an excellent job of selecting some of the most creative and progressive minds in the business so you are really getting exposure to leaders in the field.”

    Phil Balagtas, 2021

Theo Ploeg x Phoebe Walton

  • founder of Studio Hyperspace in Amsterdam, a media and design sociology studio.

  • graduate of MA Architecture, Royal College of Art, 2021 whose work focuses on the climate crisis, issues surrounding anthropocentrism and conceptions of nature.

  • “Phoebe wanted to start her own speculative design studio within specific conditions, and it was really interesting to explore the steps to take together. I used my experience in both design and setting up and helping starting entrepreneurs. It worked really well and I learned a lot too. We met monthly online, sometimes even after two weeks to discuss the steps. We talked for multiple hours each sessions. The outcome is really cool: a blueprint of Phoebe’s (and Gabriel, the partner that she is setting up her business with) studio/businesss. Quite detailed and ready to start.”

    Theo Ploeg, 2021

Mansi Parikh x Francesca Coppola

  • founder of Future Tense Inc working to bring Speculative design into Foresight work and also using it to question current narratives.

  • a current student on the Narrative Environments MA at Central St. Martins, UAL, London. Her current work is asking questions like... How the idea of human nature will change? How will biotechnologies heal and transform the human body?

  • "ExRe mentorship program was vital in the development of Lifecode Project's narrative and concept. Lifecode has now taken a more global outlook and my mentor helped me to put together a kick-ass proposal for potential investors and collaborators”

    Francesca Coppola, 2021

Lydia Caldana x Marisa Musing

  • a brand strategist and forecaster, decolonizing futures @future.resources, senior consultant at WGSN and part of the SexTech Lab at The New School.

  • an artist, designer and studying architect from Tkaronto, Canada, whose masters work at the RCA explores AI and contemporary theories of female digital identity.

  • “The #ExRe2021 program was one of the best opportunities I had this year. I was very happy with my match with Lydia Caldana, she and I worked incredibly well together. We both had interests in related fields of online identity, identity politics, queerness, and digital spheres. We set up bi-weekly meetings to develop my thesis project, Lydia would help bring up relevant pieces of writing, project references and provided helpful new outlooks and questions to further my topic. I was even able to meet Lydia in person in New York at one point to chat and draw and write things out together.

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    My expectation from the program was to define my thesis proposal into a strong and clear topic, which is what we were able to do together. Moreso, I found new interesting points of discussion and new fields of interest that pushed my topic into a new and better area. I am overall extremely grateful and happy with the program and really appreciative of the mentorship platform, Lydia is someone who I know I can continue to speak to in the future as a mentor and colleague.”

    Marisa Musing, 2021

Viraj Joshi x Martin Perez Comisso

  • designs curious objects and fiction with great affinity towards our technological and social futures. His work spans speculative design, experience design, emerging technology, and physical-digital interactions.

  • a graduate in Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology at Arizona State University. Martin is currently working on a Ph.D. in technology studies, with a focus on the ways in which technology and futures are connected.

  • “ExRe was a fantastic way for me to be a part of a global speculative design community! The chats I had were all thought provoking and helped push my thinking in alternative tangents – a must have for speculative design.

    Martin [Perez Comisso] and I really enjoyed our chats. We managed to meet every once a month, and sometimes slightly more frequently, they were fruitful, engaging, and thought provoking. We also managed to write some fiction together - ‘Postcard from the Future'. Martin invited me to be at a panel discussion at 4S (Society for Social Studies of Science) on 8th of October, for "Situating, transforming, and decentering images of futures" with him as the host.”

    Viraj Joshi, 2021

LMNO x Unsee the Known

  • Ankita & Ishita, co-founders of Living Midnight Narrative Outfit, women-owned narrative-based design and research think tank co-located in India.

  • Katrina, co-founder of Futures Probes (a platform collecting and visualising desirable futures images), strategic designer at Ellery Studio and part of Heart Chor (an experimental, choral and queer-feminist performance collective).

  • “The ExRe mentorship scheme triangulated by our active mentees ‘Unsee the Known’, our ongoing research project on indie-futurisms and Gem Barton’s ethos of care, has been a space for contemplation, reflection and solidarity for us, almost like a dipping well, an immersion from where we could find much strength + curiosity to pursue our own speculative work.”

    Ankita Trivedi & Ishita Jain, 2021

Radha Mistry x Swarna Manjari

  • Foresight Practice Leader at Autodesk and part-time faculty member on the MFA Transdisciplinary Design program at The New School (Parsons).

  • a Bachelor of Design (Fashion Communication) graduate from National Institute of Fashion Technology, Bangalore, and a communication designer with an interest in the impacts of future policy and legislations

  • “Honestly, I feel like the mentorship opportunity was one of the best things that happened to me in 2021. I had also tried to personally reach out to some practitioners, but I feel that this platform that you've created and so generously put your time in to host, has formalised this sort of connection and brought in commitment to the whole equation.

    I was super grateful when I found out about Radha, since I could connect with her on multiple aspects. I've been able to ask her a lot of questions pertaining to my generalist practice and my cultural values integrated with design to which her answers have been very insightful.”

    Swarna Manjari, 2021

Elliott P Montgomery x Caio Sato Schwantes

  • Assistant Professor at The New School in New York and co-founder of the Extrapolation Factory.

  • a master’s degree student at the Graduate Program in Visual Arts at the University of Brasília (Brasil), whose current research is about contemporary art methodologies for fictionalizing the world

Jason Tester x Najeeba Ahmed

  • founder of ‘Queer the Future’ initiative and research affiliate at the Institute for the Future.

  • a graduate student, research assistant coordinator and product designer at Carleton University. In conjunction with their studies in the Masters of Design program, they are currently part of the core team for the Gendered Design in STEAM project as well as a researcher for the Unveiling Co-Design Research Group

Dhruv Saxena x Shawn Harris

  • co-founder of ‘A4. Achaar’ a collective that forays into discursive design methods and futures thinking, and a Professor of Industrial Design.

  • a graduate of Georgia Tech’s Masters of Industrial Design Program, an instructor of a community-design service project course, and a member of The Hue Collective (a non-profit which looks to continually create and enhance space dedicated to/for Black designers)

Sharp & Sour x Thanos Tsiousis

  • Maria and Mario founders of Sharp & Sour, a design studio that works around the futures of food through speculative design.

  • a graduate of the Integrated Product Design & Innovation (2020) at the University of the Aegean, Greece. His current speculative work focuses on senses and sensory perception.

Florian Sol x Mishell Orta

  • of Undisciplined Sopaces, a London based spatial theorist and practitioner.

  • self-proclaimed “phygital” designer, and graduate of UNAM (Architecture), Escola Massana, Mexico (Post-Inertia), and currently undergoing Product, Service System Design MSc at Politecnico di Milano.

Lucia Ciranova x Sharena Rice

  • a Business Designer with focus on future thinking, strategic storytelling and designing purposeful brands. She’s currently working as a Content Lead for Fjord Trends and freelancing with Space 10 exploring the future of living with IKEA.

  • a PhD candidate in neuroscience at the University of Michigan. After which she will working with closed-loop early stage artificial intelligence start-ups.

Zahara Chetty x Chantal Eyong

  • founder of the African Futures Academy.

  • a media producer and writer based in California, who as part of her Doctoral studies is exploring different aspects of the African Diaspora that receive limited representation in media.

Marie-Michele Larivee x Wan-Jou Angelique Lee

  • a trend, strategy and foresight consultant. Full-time entrepreneur, part-time University lecturer. She is also a contributor to numerous trend and innovation units around the world, reporting from her beloved Montreal.

  • Senior Design Strategy Consultant at Ernst & Young working at the intersection of design and the future of business

Rachelle Bugeaud x Mani I

  • a design strategist and futurist, founder of design studio ‘Avenear’ based in Toronto, specialising in experiential futures and innovation consulting.

  • a UX Service designer based in London, currently studying on the d.MBA business design course, recently graduated from a 12-week intensive UX course at General Assembly, and the Future Laboratory trend forecasting and foresight course.

Sabine Winters x Henry Haoyu Wang

  • founder of Future Based, an interdisciplinary philosophy platform.

  • who completed Art and Technology at undergrad in 2018, and is a current graduate student in the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU