Designing for Transition: Transforming Design(ers) for a Sustainable Future
Session 2 "Designing for Transition: Transforming Design(ers) for a Sustainable Future"
Jeffrey T.K. Valino Koh (Centre Head & Associate professor of Design Factory @ Singapore Institute of Technology)
This talk examines the urgent need for a paradigm shift in design education and practice to address the pressing sustainability challenges of our time.
The presentation will:
Challenge the prevailing anthropocentric worldview in design, advocating for a more holistic approach that considers the interconnectedness of human and natural systems. This shift necessitates moving beyond human-centred design to encompass the needs of all stakeholders, including non-human actors and future generations.
Deconstruct the myth of the designer as a singular saviour, emphasizing the importance of collaboration, co-creation, and knowledge sharing across disciplines and sectors. Designers must transition from problem solvers to enablers, empowering communities to participate in the design process and fostering collective ownership of solutions.
Highlight the critical need to move beyond short-term, profit-driven design solutions that prioritize immediate gains over long-term sustainability. The talk encourages designers to embrace circular economy principles, particularly the often-overlooked strategy of "refuse," questioning the necessity of new designs and prioritizing reduction, reuse, and regeneration.
Explore the expanding role of design beyond traditional boundaries, encompassing not only objects and interfaces but also experiences, services, and systems. The speaker argues that designers, with their unique ability to articulate problems and translate ideas into tangible outputs, are well-positioned to facilitate transformative change across diverse fields.
Through compelling examples and practical insights, this talk aims to inspire a design renaissance, urging designers to embrace their agency as changemakers and contribute to building a more just and sustainable future.
Jeffrey T.K. Valino Koh Centre Head & Associate professor of Design Factory @ Singapore Institute of Technology Jeffrey, a transdisciplinary experiential designer, has spent most of his life in Toronto, Canada but has had the opportunity to live, work, and study in numerous global cities such as Sydney, Zurich, London, Rotterdam, Berlin, Seoul, Singapore, and Tokyo. With his diverse background and expertise, Jeffrey has worked on a range of projects including catwalk and fashion show designs for PRADA, advertising and gallery curation for KesselsKramer, and architecture and exhibition design for the Office for Metropolitan Architecture / Rem Koolhaas. As a practising artist, Jeffrey has showcased his work in prestigious venues such as the Barbican and Southbank Centre in London, the Singapore Design Festival, and in galleries located in Munster, Berlin, Vienna, Crete, Tokyo, among other world-class venues. Jeffrey has studied Semiotics and Fashion Photography and obtained his BFA in Monumental Kunst from the Aki Academy of Art and Design (ArtEZ) in Enschede, the Netherlands, as well as an MA in Creative Practice for Narrative Environments from Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design in London, United Kingdom. He also earned a d.MBA in business design in 2021. Moreover, Jeffrey’s research interests have focused on various topics related to HCI, HRI, interactivity, and transdisciplinary experimental creative practice. He obtained his PhD from the National University of Singapore and was a visiting research scholar at Keio University in Japan. Previously, Jeffrey served as the UX Lead at the National Gallery Singapore, a Peer of the Australia Council for the Arts, a faculty Lecturer at UNSW, Vice President of Transmedia at Villains, and a Partner at Chemistry. He currently serves as an Advisory Board Member at Chemistry, as well as Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s School of Design, is a founding member of the World Economic Forum Singapore Chapter, and is an Associate Professor at SIT, focusing on regenerative design and the circular economy. |
