Circular Seeing
A learning resource for designing circular futures
See differently before designing differently.
How might we design circular futures by rethinking our relationship with materials, value, care and community?
Designed for individual reflection or collaborative exploration, Circular Seeing supports designers in connecting circular principles to their own practice and identifying local levers for change. It offers a way to move from abstract sustainability ambitions towards context-sensitive questions, new possibilities and more thoughtful design decisions.
Circular Seeing is a reflective learning resource developed as part of the Design Council’s Design for Planet programme. It invites designers to look beyond conventional approaches to circularity and explore how design can support more relational, resourceful and regenerative ways of living.
Through storytelling, reflection and design challenges, the toolkit guides designers through an exploratory process to question assumptions, uncover overlooked value and imagine alternative possibilities. Rather than beginning with the question of what needs to be redesigned, it encourages participants to consider what already exists, which relationships sustain it, and where opportunities for change might emerge.
The resource is grounded in five interconnected principles:
Everything Has a Story: explore the histories, meanings and journeys of the things around us.
Care Is a Form of Design: recognise the role of maintenance, attention and stewardship in sustaining value.
Relationships Are Infrastructure: consider the networks of people, materials, knowledge and resources that make circular practices possible.
The Future Is a Stakeholder: bring long-term ecological and social consequences into present-day design decisions.
Not Everything Needs to Be Redesigned: question the impulse to produce something new and explore the potential of what already exists.
Role: Researcher, Designer & Facilitator
Led the research, design and development of the framework, synthesising research across circular design, systems thinking, participatory design and storytelling into a practical learning resource. Through workshops, iterative testing and qualitative feedback, refined the toolkit to support reflection, dialogue and application across different design disciplines.
Developed for: Design Council — Design/Skills for Planet programm
Approach: Research synthesis, storytelling, participatory workshops and iterative development
Focus: Circular design, systems thinking, regenerative practice, reflective learning and design for sustainability
Outputs: Toolkit • Learning Resource
Themes: Circular Design • Systems Thinking • Learning Design • Participatory Design • Storytelling and Material Culture • Regenerative Design
Location: London
Year: 2026