The National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad is pleased to announce its top 10 finalists in the global Terra Carta Design Lab competition, a competition to discover student-led, high-impact solutions to the climate crisis.
The competition was launched by His Majesty King Charles III, then the Prince of Wales, and Sir Jony Ive in 2021 in partnership with the Royal College of Art. This year the competition took its search to a global stage, with one of the partners being NID Ahmedabad, along with the Rhode Island School of Design, USA and Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation, UAE.
NID’s approach for this competition is driven by three foundational ideas,
1. Creating integrated solutions for environmental and social challenges, that emphasise justice and fairness, especially for the Global South
2. Embracing traditional wisdom and indigenous knowledge systems in design solutions; and
3. Fostering cultural exchange and understanding to address climate change, while promoting global dialogue and cross-cultural engagement for effective, context-specific climate action.
The NID finalists’ work showcases the following innovations and solutions:
- Statement Denim is an emerging denim brand that rescues and repurposes post-production denim waste to create affordable fashion.
Team: Sakshi Kumari (Apparel Design) - Aabhaa aims to address gender disparity, inform decision-making, and champion environmental conservation through a holistic approach to menstrual well-being.
Team: Devashree Jadeja, Khushboo Verma (Furniture and Interior Design) - Eco-Terra aims to make the construction industry more circular and energy-efficient by using recycled terracotta and rice husk ash.
Team: Shubhashree Ingale (Ceramic and Glass Design) - FiberMatters is a material consultancy specialising in linking waste materials from one industry to applications in another.
Team: Amogh Jadav (Product Design) - GlassYard transforms waste glass into valuable resources through upcycling, thus leveraging its potential to build circularity and livelihood opportunities.
Team: Nehmat Mongia (Ceramic and Glass Design) - Poop Loop transforms human waste into protein-rich additives for bioproducts, to decentralize waste processing.
Team: Joseph Francis, Javed Ali, Krishna Gilda (Product Design) - Reimagine.co provides a network for service providers and consumers of the building industry, tackles the issue of construction debris.
Team: Arundathi Rajan, Pooja Bhide (Exhibition Design) - SiRCLE is service project that aims to build a centralised recycling facility for solar panels, for high-value material recovery.
Team: Yatin Seth (Product Design) - Plant Museum is a digital platform that aims to reshape the climate change narrative by grounding it in the local context.
Team: Harshi Lal (Exhibition Design) - Wild Watch is an innovative design solution aimed at reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions.
Team: Chinmay Karan (Information Design), Tanmay Karan (Digital Game Design), Dharshini Vaishnav (Universal Design)
In the next stage, two winners will be chosen through a Global Jury led by Sir Jony Ive, Chancellor of The Royal College of Art, and Jennifer Jordan-Saifi, Sustainable Markets Initiative CEO and will be announced in September this year. They will receive funding and mentorship to scale their projects to be taken to the market.
Explore More: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B1GxgzD3gMiL9GlQtXqHmpl05O-1Co7-9wgt-OJXAuo/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (spreadsheet with finalists' details)