About

DesignKind is a series of collaborations between emerging designers from South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and the United Kingdom curated by British Council, Do the Green Thing and Pentagram exploring the relationship between racial and climate justice.

The DesignKind programme paired eight emerging designers and design collectives (11 designers in total) from South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and the United Kingdom working across a range of design disciplines into four cross-cultural collaborations over a six-week period.

Through a process of research and critical dialogue - and with the help of innovative digital collaboration tools - each pair of designers has created a piece of interdisciplinary work exploring the intersection of racial justice and climate justice.The designers explored mediums and themes including climate migration storytelling, comparative climate experiences in the oral tradition, the mapping of colonial and climate histories through materials, machine learning and creative coding.

Google Arts and Culture will also feature the work along with further contributions from the designers documenting and describing their interdisciplinary, cross-cultural collaborative process. The showcase will also be celebrated throughout the year with physical exhibitions in London and with potential evolutions with British Council overseas partners in India, Ghana, Nigeria and more.

DesignKind is a pilot that evolved out of British Council’s 10x10 emerging designer programme and Do The Green Thing’s The Colour of the Climate Crisis with the production and facilitation of Pentagram Design.

The eight emerging designers and design collectives were selected from a shortlist by an international selection committee including architect Anupama Kundoo, fashion stylist and creative director Sunny Dolat, British Council design lead Parvinder Marwaha and art director Ailbhe Larkin.

We are grateful to our hosting partners Google Arts and Culture and Good Praxis. We are also grateful to our supporters Disegno, Creative Boom, Earthrise, Azeema Mag, Eye on Design, What Design Can Do, Print Mag, Eye Mag.

• Parvinder Marwaha, Programme Manager
• Naresh Ramchandani, Creative Director
• Shona Slemon, Producer and Project Manager
• Isla Wickham, Assistant Producer and Project Manager
• Violet Wilson, Art Director and Social Media Manager
• Ailbhe Larkin, Art Director
• Ashley Johnson, Writer
• Robyn Cusworth, Writer
• Gute Immelman, Project coordinator

Curated by:

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Art has always helped us to interpret the world and get closer to its truths.

The Colour of the Climate Crisis grapples with one of those truths: that we are facing a crisis of climate and nature, and that the people most affected, most at risk and least responsible for it are people of colour.

We know that racialised and minoritised communities are already on the frontlines of climate change. Their experiences, ideas and leadership must be central to the global response to it.

As world leaders meet at COP26 to discuss the climate crisis, this exhibition offers them an opportunity: to be quiet, and listen. To be humble, and learn. To be brave, and commit to meaningful action.

This is an opportunity for us all to acknowledge the truth that racial injustice is climate injustice, and to begin to change it.

The Colour of the Climate Crisis is a project by Do The Green Thing, an environmental social initiative that uses creativity to combat the climate crisis. Come say hi.

We are grateful to our headline sponsor, Google, and to our supporters and partners including Greenpeace, University of the Arts London, D&AD, Good Praxis, Pentagram Design, The Guardian, It’s Nice That, The Pipe Factory and The Necessary Space.