What Live Design Is Capable Of A significant milestone will be reached in 2025 when Delhi hosts its first festival in South Asia, which sells out the India Habitat Centre.
New Delhi — March 10, 2025: On March 8, 2025, the renowned India Habitat Centre hosted the inaugural 19th edition of What Design Can Do (WDCD) Live Delhi 2025, which included an immersive program of discussions, seminars, and exhibitions on design and climate justice. To learn how design can help restructure lives in the face of a planetary crisis, 450 designers, innovators, and changemakers packed the sold-out venue. WDCD Live Delhi 2025 investigated creative and regenerative solutions for a more equitable and resilient future in collaboration with Unbox Cultural Futures, Quicksand, and The Design Village. Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Arts Council, the Netherlands Embassy, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Global Methane Hub all provided assistance for the event.
More than thirty of the best changemakers in the world, from the Netherlands, the UK, the USA, Mexico, and India, led the discussion with a powerful blend of urgency and hope. Insightfully, Richard van der Laken, co-founder and creative director of What Design Can Do (WDCD), put it this way: “Despite the variety of viewpoints, one message stood out: creativity can provide an optimistic path forward during trying times. The innovators at WDCD Live Delhi 2025 taught us that design can be a potent tool for disruption, and they are all setting the standard for the future.
“WDCD Live Delhi 2025 made it abundantly clear that change will only come when we challenge the dominant ways of working and thinking,” stated Ayush Chauhan, co-founder of Unbox Cultural Futures and Quicksand. In addition to designers and innovative changemakers who showcased their ability to disrupt unsustainable economic models, representatives from the domains of technology, philanthropy, and policy also presented ideas on how the design community should address the particular issues facing our people and area. When a new vision is found and new partnerships are made, a restless creative spirit is created in the room, and WDCD Live Delhi provided us with both.”
“We at The Design Village believe that community is everything, and at WDCD Live Delhi 2025, we really saw that in action,” stated Sourabh Gupta, co-founder of The Design Village. An amazing attendance, amazing workshops, and speakers made for an uplifting and motivational day.
Design that Inspires Transformation
The Subko Speciality Coffee Roasters’ Coffee Brewing Workshop, which aimed to improve coffee knowledge and competence for connoisseurs, aspiring baristas and everybody who enjoys a freshly prepared cup, started off the festival. Moderators Sheena Khalid (Theatre Director, Actor & Writer) and Richard Van Der Laken (Co-Founder, What Design Can Do) welcomed the audience. The first person to take the yellow stage was Sandeep Virmani from the Hunnarshala Foundation, who showed how nature is the ultimate designer and how low-carbon materials and technology can be used to create sustainable homes throughout South Asia.
Popular speaker María Conejo (Pussypedia.net) discussed the value of easily accessible online information about the female body and the idea that knowledge is power. Her talk was especially timely, as it took place on International Women’s Day 2025. Thomas Rau, an architect, brought a fresh perspective to the conversation by addressing the necessity of changing the current system and embracing circularity while highlighting the fact that we are all visitors on Earth.
COMMUNITY AND PEOPLE’S POWER
The significance of community was clarified by Deepali Khanna, Head of The Rockefeller Foundation’s Asia Regional Office, who pointed out that communities are the keepers of indigenous knowledge and wisdom. She underlined how important it is to use this knowledge to the crucial choices we make about climate action. She also looked at what the rest of the world, especially South Asia, can learn about addressing climate change.
Additionally, WDCD Past Challenge winners Monish Siripurapu (Ant Studio—Beehive) spoke about art, nature, and technology; Depanshu Gola (BreathEasy) discussed how traditional knowledge and technology can be integrated in India; and Namita Bhatnagar (BioSoothe) discussed the health and well-being benefits of photosynthesis. Experts who joined them offered insightful comments on their projects: Emma van der Leest shared her thoughts on BioSoothe, Bulbul Chaudhary offered suggestions on BreathEasy, and Mrinalini Ghadiok reviewed Beehive. Each specialist offered guidance on partnerships, finance, and scalability.
Apart from showcasing instances of how design might tackle societal issues, the presenters also delineated a tactical plan of action, stressing the procedures that need to be implemented to enhance the influence of imaginative endeavours. Three main subjects were covered by Shashank Mani (Jagriti Yatra): bringing stakeholders together, pursuing sustainable goals, and creating for the middle class worldwide. Mexican artist Pedro Reyes discussed the use of large-scale art projects to address social and political issues, stressing the importance of communication, humour, and creativity in bringing about change. He also highlighted Mexico’s biodiversity, the value of conserving traditional knowledge, and the role that creativity and community play in promoting hope and constructive change during trying times.
Whether addressing air pollution, raising body awareness, or emphasising the importance of ecological practices, the presenters on this fascinating morning discussed how they had used creative design to create elegant and practical solutions to the problems they faced.
Additionally, there were sold-out workshops in the second portion of the day, such as:
Workshop on Systems Design by Sensing Local // Sobia
Visualising Climate Impact: Revisual Labs Creates Data-Driven Storylines for Action // Gurman Bhatia
Femke van Gemert’s Waste Textile Lab (NL)
WDCD CHALLENGE DESIGN JAM by Mudita Pasari and Lara Snatager
Dr. Kit Braybrooke (Swiss) is calling on all hackers and manufacturers to support climate change.
In his explanation of how climate change is the main issue, Kailash Nadh of the Rainmatter Foundation emphasised how our own wastefulness has called into question the idea that people have a special place in the universe. “We need to adopt sustainability as a mental model,” implying that sustainability ought to be a fundamental way of thinking and living rather than merely an outward practice or a collection of laws. In his discussion on the necessity of democratising urban mobility, Som Ray (CLIP) emphasised the shortcomings of existing designs and the significance of developing workable and straightforward methods.
Fashion designer Carla Fernandez gave a presentation at the festival’s end, sharing her ideas about alternative fashion systems and declaring, “Another fashion system is possible.” She talked about her work with Mexican artists, emphasising the adaptability of making unique apparel. She declared that handmade fashion is the way of the future and underlined the need of creating a communal movement.
Throughout the day, guests looked around the Godrej Design Lab-sponsored Project Showcase, which featured creative answers to pressing climate issues. Super Pollutants, The Power of Community, Rethinking Technology, and Circular Planet were among the topics discussed in the displays.
In light of this, the 19th edition of WDCD Live in New Delhi came to an end. At the British Council’s After Hours, all guests, staff and volunteers gathered on stage to raise a glass with the speakers. Highlights were Avinash’s Elsewhere in India and D-fuse’s Nine Earths, an interactive multimedia piece examining humanity’s need for the planet’s resources. Kumar & DJ Murthy: an investigation of digital technology, cultural legacy, and futuristic speculation. As the audience discussed the day’s motivational lessons, there was a spirit of unity at the After Hours. The obstacles that lie ahead are definitely difficult, as one guest stated.However, she went on to say, “I am still motivated by the tenacity and ingenuity of those striving to upend the system and bring about meaningful change.”