Meet the #ExRe2022 cohort

Santini x Austin

  • Santini spends most of his time running Andthen, a team of designers that do research — mostly about what the future could or should look like. Here, he works with organisations in the early stages of creating new things (from new products to new jobs). He also sometimes teaches at the Glasgow School of Art and hosts the @futures_glasgow meetup.

  • Futures x Design / The Futures School / 2021

    Austin is an interdisciplinary marketing strategist perpetually looking to understand the “why” in order to speculate on preferable futures. He is dedicated to nurturing sincere relationships and leading with compassion to transform how we engage with each other.

“It was incredibly rewarding to support someone who was exploring a similar journey to my own, and while it gave me a great sense of where my advice can provide value for others, it also highlighted areas where I'm excited to be challenged and surprised!”

Santini Basra #ExRe2022

Zara x Sharp&Sour

  • Sharp & Sour is a multidisciplinary design studio focused on the futures of food.

    “We think one of the coolest parts of being a mentor is the possibility to interchange our knowledge and ideas with someone else. Debating and having deep conversations is one of the things that as a studio has given us with most of our ideas for self-innaiciated projects. And we really hope that this type of dynamic can benefit someone else too.”

  • BDes Industrial Design | Emily Carr University Art and Design | 2017-2021

    For Zara, design is more than projects and outcomes – design must also focus on the context a project resides in. Her work seeks to disrupt the preconceived, systemic notions which underlie our everyday lives.

“These kind of initiatives are incredibly valuable not only for the mentees, but for the mentors as well.”

Sharp & Sour #ExRe2022

LMNO x Janfer

  • LMNO is a collision of wisdom produced through the bodies of three shapeshifters on the earthly realm who manifest as Ankita Trivedi, Ishita Jain and Thomas Mical.

    “We traverse across academia and industry to craft our narrative projects. Through this journey, parts of hidden worlds are revealed, and other obvious worlds often are taken for granted. For early career professionals and researchers this often means forms of disenchantment and disillusionment. Over the last year, we have been actively crafting practices of hope, care and re-enchantment through narrative world-building as part of our professional and academic practices. It is this ethos of transformation and churning that we want to share with any of the incoming mentees, over and above any inputs with regards to the toolkits and ethics of speculative world-building.”

  • MA Fine Arts and Design | Critical Enquiry Lab | Design Academy Eindhoven, NL | 2020-2022

    “I am a MA student from Critical Inquiry Lab, Design Academy Eindhoven, with study focusing on design curating and writing. I am aspire to be a writer/ artist. In my current research, I am interrogating the relation between history, memories and freedom, and how to look at these notions in todays digital realm.”

“Thank you so much for designing and organising this thoughtful mentorship program. In the 6 months, my mentors Living Midnight (Ishita and Ankita) helped me to develop my artistic practices further and taught me to articulate my works in a way that is more communicative and effective. I treasure this mentor-mentee relationships a lot.”

Janfer Chung #ExRe2022

“ExRe has ended up becoming a space of generosity, curiosity and experimentation for students and practitioners of speculative design and research for which there isn’t a user’s manual. LMNO has come to rely on the presence of this community to know that there are more of us out there.”

LMNO #ExRe2022

Lauren x Ollie

  • Dr Olivier Cotsaftis is a post-disciplinary designer navigating the spaces between presents, futures, fictions, and realities. At RMIT University School of Design, his research addresses climate resilience and social innovation in more-than-human and circular heterotopias. He has a keen interest in next-gen biopolymers and their application in biophilic architecture and urban design to create regenerative and equitable cities. Before joining RMIT, Ollie spent 10 years in industry, working with start-ups, non-for-profits, governments, and blue-chip companies. He was a design lead at Fjord Design and Innovation, the founder and creative director of future ensemble studio, and the co-founder of Melbourne Speculative Futures—the Melbourne Chapter of The Design Futures Initiative.

    “As I mentor I hope to strengthening ties with the wider community and pay forward the knowledge I have accumulated over the years.”

  • BDes, Major in Industrial Design | Minor in Curatorial Practice | Emily Carr University of Art + Design | 2021

    Her work focuses on research and critical engagement with sustainability, technology, and storytelling. Her work and writing has been published by Plurality U+ and Onomatopee, and most recently was the recipient of the DESIS Radical Sustainability Award.

“My mentorship with #ExRe2022 was so lovely! My mentor was an incredible match, our discussions pushed my thinking and the experience clarified my scope of practice.”

Lauren Thu #ExRe2022

Nella x Fred

  • Fred Wordie is a Berlin based critical designer who’s work explores how we engage with technology and each other.

    “The kind of speculative design I love and would try to foster with a mentee, is the kind that deals with the mundane, that primary critiques the present, aims to challenge existing power, meets people where they are and is as critical as it is playful. In this pursuit, I believe I would be well placed to help a mentee take research and insights, and turn them into artefacts that are understandable, provocative and full of character.”

  • Nella is a designer, researcher and cyberwitch studying systems of human interaction, anthropological futures and socio-technical imaginaries. Her focus lies in creating poetic, introspective and ritualistic work, which touches upon the themes of faith, impermanence, and the infinite search for a sense of self.

“We need more spaces like ExRe, where critical and speculative designers can regularly come together to talk about their values and visions within the discipline; where they grow, inspire and challenge one another rather than work solely scattered around the world.”

Nella Piatek #ExRe2022

Pranshu x Agnes

  • “I am a creative technologist and a playful futurist. As a designer and researcher, my interest lies in the areas of technology and creative, non-intrusive applications, focusing on the critical discussion of technology and its impact on society. Actively involved in combining physical computing tools with storytelling methods.

    I have 5 years of experience working in the field with speculative design practice and interactive installations. Having worked with researchers, startups, museums, corporates, theatre, residencies and also personal passion projects, I now have a better understanding of how to balance technology, fiction, realism, and use that to identify our interests and map them to build a world.”

  • Physical Computing and Critical Theory of Technology | School for Poetic Computation | 2018

    Agnes says “I am a writer, researcher, and digital product strategist with a focus on the environment. Currently, I build products for people to visualize our changing environment with satellite imagery at Planet Labs. My happy place is mapping out systems and finding patterns and I’m excited to explore biopunk futures.”

Eun Sun x Akash

  • Akash is a NIFT, Delhi Fashion & Apparel Design alum with a decade of multidisciplinary experience in lifestyle design, speculative & futures research, strategy development and visual communications with education at crux.

    He specializes in foresight-led processes in cross-connecting socio-cultural macrotrends to potential innovations, in order to generate industrially viable and beyond-human-centred holistic designs. He has been involved in design education continuously while consulting and collaborating with a diverse spectrum of the creative industry, spearheading independent speculative & futures strategy, research and specialized projects for clients.

    Akash leads MeWeStudioX, a newly-formed think tank and strategic design consultancy studio aimed at providing holistic and glocal solutions and is a faculty & course lead for Speculative & Futures Lab at ISDI, Mumbai - in collaboration with Parsons School of Design, New York.

  • PhD student at Yonsei University in South Korea.

    “My research area is experimenting with design approaches such as speculative prototyping, critical design, material research, and co-creation for future world-making. My professional experiences in architecture, retail and industrial design have inspired me to pursue studies in sustainable design practices.”

    See her work.

Veeksha x Clarice

  • Clarice Garcia has a background in design and trend forecasting. As a professional trend forecaster she worked for different industry sectors, such as fashion, design, food and beverage, education. She is a doctoral researcher at RMIT University passionate about how fashion as culture might be transformed by speculative design towards more sustainable futures.

  • BA Architecture | School of Planning + Architecture | Vijayawada, India | 2019-2022

    “I am a final year architecture student from India curious about the multidisciplinary scopes of architecture. I have interned with a leading wayfinding consultancy firm in New Delhi, amalgamating visual communication and space-navigational cues. I seek to experiment with immersive environments to shape experiences that educate, interact, and orient the user.”

“The #ExRe programme is a fruitful space for disruptive ideas and knowledge sharing. I strongly recommend anyone interested in testing and prototyping ideas and thoughts in the field of Design Futures to apply."

Clarice Garcia #ExRe2022

Nikola x Ania

  • Ania Molenda is an independent Rotterdam-based researcher, curator, and writer. She is a co-founder and director of research and publishing platform Amateur Cities. In her work, Ania focuses on the socio-cultural dimension of spatial practices. She is interested in developing new forms of debate that bring different disciplines together. She has been involved in various publishing experiments and continues to develop her own. Since 2017, she has been involved in research on technical and cultural aspects of dealing with complex digital archives. Before starting an independent career, Ania worked as a researcher and design teacher at TU Delft Faculty of Architecture (The Why Factory) as well as an architect at MVRDV, Powerhouse Company, and SVESMI. In 2019 she was a finalist of the Geert Bekaert Award for architectural criticism and in 2018 a co-recipient of the Dutch Design Award in Design Research for Amateur Cities and New Generations.

  • Bachelor of Architectural Studies | University of Waterloo | 2012-2017

    Master of Architecture | Architectural Association, London | 2019-2021

    Nikola is an intern architect and multi-media artist. He graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in Architectural Studies, and from the Architectural Association with a Master of Architecture. He has collaborated with artists working in contemporary sculpture, experimental architecture, and photography/film.

“My #ExRe mentorship was very productive, engaging, and a wonderful opportunity to learn directly from Ania how to kickstart my career in the direction I want to take it. The conversations were open and inspiring, and I can say with confidence that I am significantly closer to what I was trying to achieve before this mentorship.”

Nikola Miloradivic #ExRe2022

“Pushing the boundaries of design practices should be a collective not an individual effort. We need more spaces like Experimental Realism where such collective forms of re-imagining the future of design-related disciplines and their role in society can take place.”

Ania Molenda #ExRe2022

Shruthi x Viraj

  • Viraj is a designer, technologist, and futurist, who produces design outputs and fiction with great affinity towards our technological futures.

    His work explores physical-digital interactions, speculative design and futures, and emerging technology, and has received several international accolades, including an exhibition at the Science Museum, London; and another with the United Nations DPPA.

    He works at Fjord, London after spending time at Fjord, Stockholm. He is also a visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art for Speculative and Interaction Design. He has graduated from Royal College of Art (MA), and Imperial College, London (MSc) in 2018.

  • MA Design for Interaction | TU Delft, Netherlands | 2021-22

    Shruthi a design master’s student from India, studying in Delft. She is a designer and a researcher. “I enjoy exploring the spaces of AI, technology, and design from a socio-economic lens. In my current work, I am trying to focus on tangible device interactions situated in the future.”

“Quote”

Name #ExRe2022

Theo x Saphia

  • Theo is a design sociologist and speculative accelerationist. Co-lead of Speculative Futures Amsterdam. Using speculative design to explore the accelerating world and to tackle macro challenges. Interested in the effect of telling positive stories about the future and alternative realities by embracing the emancipating aspects of new technologies.

    “I’d like to share my knowledge and practices. With Studio Hyperspace and Speculative Futures, I did a range of different projects with speculative design as a core attitude. Also, I have experience in setting up strategies for new companies and integrating speculative design in businesses.”

  • Saphia says “Having recently graduated from Greenwich university for my MArch, I have progressed to a new role at Haptic Architects and currently working on several National and London based projects. Throughout it all I have maintained my curiosity to producing projects via a craft and design led approach that subvert historical themes to produce a critique on contemporary issues.”

“Teaming up with Theo during my ExRe course truly helped me reevaluate my project goals, gain valuable alternative perspectives and grow my work to further satisfying conclusions.”

Saphia #ExRe2022

Rosa x James

  • James Estrada is an innovation director at The Sound, a consumer exploration and product innovation agency. He is also the founder of Dreaming Collective, an art and research studio dedicated to the development of alternative modes of design thinking in the pursuit of liberatory imagination. His methods rely on conversation and intimacy with strangers, family members, and other artists through interviews, micro-commissions, and collaborative social programming. He also maintains an art and painting practice which invites viewers to consider how sacred objects, dreams, migration, and technology affect our sense of place and feelings of belonging.

  • BA Interior Architecture | University of Brighton, UK | 2018-2021

    Rosa says “I am a material innovator, spatial designer, and researcher raised in Aotearoa, now based in England. Having graduated last year, I now work at a Biophilic Design studio within their research team. I split my time between working on material futures and collaborating with my research collective on diversifying spatial education.”

“ExRe's curatable and non-prescriptive format allowed our partnership the space and time to daydream, resulting in less constrained idea sharing and concept creation.”

Rosa Isaacs #ExRe2022

“ExRe was an incredibly valuable playground to dream with someone equally as willing to speculate as I am, and the time we spend together is valuable, generative, and fulfilling.”

James Estrada #ExRe2022

Martina x Jocelyn

  • “I believe knowledge transfer serves my community and the generation after me, and it helps me understand how I can get better at making space for those entering our profession. We will offer our speculative design method as it will exist in its toolkit and futures design form as well as an experience in finding their own speculative design researcher method. Our mentee will have absolute freedom to explore How they would like to explore the spaces or themes we propose, based in their skillset (both in what they're experts and novices at).”

  • BA Design | Goldsmiths University of London | 2017-2020

    Martina is a multi-disciplinary designer based in London. Her work critically engages with social, cultural, and political issues. She is currently analysing the implications of outer space exploration in relation to communication geography, nationhood, and power structures.