Secrid Talent Podium

Industrial Evolution

Secrid believes in the power of design. Look around you. Everything is designed. From the clothes you are wearing, to the phone in your pocket and the building you are in. All these products shape our society and impact our ecosystems.

Since the Industrial Revolution and the relocation of factories to low-wage countries, mass production of low-price and short-lifespan products has become the norm. This development has brought prosperity to some, but also social inequality, depleted raw materials, environmental pollution, declining biodiversity and a climate crisis.

Industry cannot be stopped, but it can be changed. We see a leading role for designers within that transition. The general guideline is simple: every new product must be better than its predecessors. We call this: Industrial Evolution.

During Dutch Design Week we put the spotlight on 7 talented designers. Creatives who boost the evolution of their industry with an innovative approach. In addition, we offer each designer coaching and an award of €7,777: a reference to our 7 design principles for holistic product design.

Design for impact

In collaboration with Dutch Design Foundation and What Design Can Do, the following designers have been selected for the 2025 edition:

Floris Schoonderbeek | Circle Farming
Regenerative farming with circular fields where technology, nature, and people converge.

Chloe So & Barna Soma Biro | PulpaTronics
Recyclable RFID tags from paper that replace disposable labels with metal.

Auke Bleij | Respyre
Low-maintenance green façades with moss concrete that purifies the air, cools, and supports urban biodiversity.

Itika Gupta | Studio Carbon & Dungse Labs
From cow dung to high-quality biodegradable building material as an alternative to wood and plastic.

Marjan van Aubel | Ra
The transition from solar technology to solar design, where the energy source becomes a seamlessly integrated part of our daily lives.

Sarmīte Poļakova & Mel van Dijk | (un)woven
From reclaimed textiles to circular biomaterial for the built environment.

Elizabeth Lee, Eden Harrison & Ori Blich | Carbon Cell
A compostable, carbon-negative foam for packaging as a replacement for polystyrene.

Intellectual Property: sustainable choices and dilemmas

During Dutch Design Week 2025, the Secrid Talent Podium will focus on Intellectual Property. Intellectual property is not just about legal frameworks—it also involves ethics, ownership, and the impact of design. Copyrights, design rights, and patents go beyond protecting designs from being copied; they also raise questions about designers’ social responsibility.

Designers sooner or later face questions such as: what does it mean to call something ‘yours’? And how do you handle the rights and responsibilities that come with a design? During DDW, Secrid will share experiences from its own practice, including the more than 1,000 product copies of the Cardprotector—a breakthrough invention that changed the traditional wallet market forever. The Secrid Talent Podium invites designers to reflect on the choices and dilemmas that arise when protecting creativity in a world full of ideas.