The New London Commons: Circular Hubs for Fashion and Construction

Seth is currently a director at RESOLVE Collective, a UK-based interdisciplinary design practice who combine architecture, engineering, technology and art to address social challenges. He has delivered many projects, workshops, publications, and talks across the UK and Europe. Through RESOLVE, much of his work aims to provide platforms for the production of new knowledge and ideas, whilst collaborating and organising to help build resilience in communities.

Summer is an architect and co-director of Material Cultures, an architecture and research practice founded to bring together design, material research and strategic thinking to make meaningful progress towards a regenerative built environment. Her work investigates the political ecology of construction materials, with a focus on the environmental implications of scaling the use of regenerative materials. Material Cultures is one of three founding partners of climate futures centre Tipping Point East, alongside Yes Make and RESOLVE.

Thami is an Amsterdam-based impact leader, driven to repair the broken apparel industry and build true circularity that enables people and planet to thrive. With a background of building social initiatives in Africa and Europe, he founded United Repair Centre in 2022, in partnership with Patagonia and the Amsterdam Economic Board. Providing high quality, technical repairs for over 35 brands, the social impact company employs over 50 tailors, most of whom have been refugees and tailors in their previous countries.

Janice is Head of Curatorial Programme of Future Observatory at the Design Museum. She recently curated The Cult of Beauty and Thirst at the Wellcome Collection. Previously at the V&A, she contributed to V&A East and Fashioned from Nature. Her practice explores the intersections of art, design, science through the lens of ecology and intersectionality, realised internationally from MoMu Antwerp to London Design Biennale. She lectures on interdisciplinary research at institutions such as Royal College of Art and Columbia University.

Future Observatory is the Design Museum’s national research programme for the green transition, based at the museum and coordinated in partnership with UKRI’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Future Observatory curates exhibitions, programmes events and funds and publishes new research, all with the aim of championing new design thinking on environmental issues.

UKRI’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funds internationally outstanding independent researchers across the whole range of the arts and humanities: history, archaeology, digital content, philosophy, languages and literature, design, heritage, area studies, the creative and performing arts, and much more. The quality and range of research supported by AHRC works for the good of UK society and culture and contributes both to UK economic success and to the culture and welfare of societies across the globe.