World Industrial Design Day (WIDD), celebrated annually on 29 June, highlights the problem-solving capacities of design by also emphasizing one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined by the United Nations. This year, the SDG in focus is SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.
The Design Center of the Philippines will address SDG 12 by highlighting the circular economy. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the circular economy, also known as circularity, is characterized by three principles: designing out waste and pollution, Deskeeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems. Circularity represents a systemic shift from the linear and excessive “take-make-dispose” model to a more economical and regenerative approach to resources.
Design Center’s celebration of WIDD will also be under the agency’s newest design promotions platform, IDx, which provides a venue for creative voices to explore new concepts and issues related to design.
“IDx is Design Center’s latest effort to introduce new ways of thinking and new ways of looking at design,” Design Center Executive Director Rhea Matute explained. “Through IDx, creatives and designers will have a new platform to envision and explore a better world through design,” she added.
The maiden edition of IDx will be co-presented by Altum. The circular design studio will co-facilitate with Design Center a series of thought-provoking discussions on how the country can successfully transition into a circular economy.
IDx will include an introductory lecture on the circular economy and a workshop on “circular strategies” which explores how everyday objects can be designed to contribute toward closing the current loop, characterized by a “take-make-dispose” model. IDx will also feature a roundtable discussion with the leading voices on sustainability in the Philippines: Angela Chen of East Circular, Celia Elumba of the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Textile Research Institute (DOST-PTRI), Jeanne Lasch of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) – Sustainable Diner, Richard Lemen of Envirotech Waste Recycling Inc., and the Design Center’s very own Rolyn Lomocso.
Lomocso will be discussing on behalf of Design Center one of the agency’s initiatives geared toward transforming agricultural waste into high-value products, Pinyapel.
“We are facing unprecedented resource challenges. A circular economy, in which growth is gradually decoupled from the consumption of finite resources, offers a response,” Carlo Delantar, co-founder of Altum, explained.
Design together with different creative voices to realize a shared vision of a better world on 29 June at 1PM in _Gallery, ASPACE Greenbelt!Â
