Future

Throughout my development, I felt the need to pursue my passion for working alongside and with the sea. Conservation efforts and the perspective of a designer in these kept me engaged. As a part of these large and complex systems with a multitude of human and non-human stakeholders and a myriad of challenges, I feel at home. I started with a material driven design approach and went deeper into exploring the possibilities of conservation and habitat design in the context of marine change. Through my approach and skillset as a designer, I believe that my work can contribute to highlighting environmental problems but also provide opportunities for targeted implementation. Because my work is based on collaboration and situated knowledge of the site conditions, the focus is on the holistic assessment of the site context.

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My work is grounded in a direct and hands-on approach that brings me together with the environments for and in which I design. In doing so, I discover the intersection where design can work hand in hand with different disciplines such as biology, ecology and industry. For now, my focus is on continuing to explore design in the context of sustainability and conservation, as well as developing and working with materials such as oyster shells. In this context, I will continue my collaboration with the oyster farmers of the Yerseke oyster region to carry out further testing of my prototypes.

By showing my work at events such as DIS 2024, Dutch design Week or the TU/e Demo-Day, I have been given further opportunities to exhibit my work in the future and thus spark conversations and draw attention to these topics.

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Looking forward, I am honored, that together with a group of researchers from the University of Twente and some industry partners, I have been invited to work on a three-year international research project (Netherlands and Indonesia) as an expert in the creation of habitat structures and oyster shells. The project deals with marine debris recycling and focuses on the sustainable use of raw materials from, for example, the shellfish industry. My focus is on working with waste mussels and oyster shells and how these could possibly be used to produce fish aggregation devices (artificial habitats in the sea) and thus replace the use of plastic waste and car tires.

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In this context, I am currently also involved in the development of an app that allows oyster and mussel farmers to track live data on the state of the sea and their own areas, document the development of the spread of invasive species and document their work processes. At the same time, I am also aiming for benefits for conservation efforts and research, where data sets can be retrieved remotely and species can be documented on site, for example for the implementation of habitat structures.

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The intersection between research and the actual development of actionable solutions is where I feel most inspired. I aim to continue working on these complex projects with a variety of stakeholders in the future and use my expertise as a designer to tackle pressing ecological challenges.

In the long term, I aspire to pass on the knowledge I have gained to the next generation of ecologically driven designers in a teaching context. First, however, I want to build a strong foundation of experience in navigating these complex circumstances of sustainability and conservation design.