New Delhi — January 08, 2025
What Design Can Do (WDCD) will host its first-ever event in South Asia with WDCD Live Delhi 2025. On March 08, 2025, a dynamic crowd of designers, innovators and changemakers will gather at the vibrant cultural complex of India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. At the heart of the one-day festival is a packed programme of talks, exhibitions and workshops that address urgent issues in South Asia today, using creativity and design.
In partnership with Unbox Cultural Futures, Quicksand, and The Design Village, WDCD Live Delhi 2025 will explore innovative and regenerative solutions for a better world, and empower those who dare to build it.
Join us on 8 March 2025 for WDCD Live Delhi 2025!
For more information and to register, visit What Design Can Do, Delhi
Leading the conversation is a line-up of creative forces, from foundation heads, industry leads, design innovators, to social design practitioners — working across policy, material innovation, community engagement etc: Deepali Khanna, Head of The Rockefeller Foundation’s Asia Regional Office (IN) and a leading voice for climate action in the region; Somnath Ray, innovator, serial entrepreneur & CEO of CLIP (US); the visionary, Shashank Mani, Member of Parliament & Founder of Jagriti Yatra (IN); the innovative architect and founder of Ant Studio, Monish Siripurapu (IN); Kailash Nadh CTO of Zerodha and Founder of Rainmatter Foundation— a philanthropic initiative that works on climate change projects (IN); fashion designer, trend forecaster and waste textile artist, Femke van Gemert (NL); and Depanshu Gola and Abhimanyu Singhal from Breathe Easy (IND) to combat air pollution.
Joining the dynamic line-up are also Emma Van Der Leest, Bio Designer and Researcher (NL) who creates crossovers with craft, scientific research and new production techniques and Thomas Rau, Architect (NL), known for his innovative ideas including Light as a Service, Material as a Service, the Material Passport and the Turnaround Terminal; and more to be announced soon.
A CALL FOR URGENCY AND OPTIMISM
With each passing year, it becomes clearer that all of humanity’s most pressing problems are deeply interconnected. Fortunately, the same holds true for the best of our solutions.
“This is a must-attend event for anyone passionate about using design as a tool for good, and we are confident our program will provide the knowledge and inspiration needed to drive real-world change”, explains WDCD co-founder and creative director Richard van der Laken.
“What Design Can Do Delhi 2025 will be a powerful convergence of minds—designers, activists, funders, and policymakers—uniting to confront climate challenges with creative solutions that center people’s lived experiences of climate change. We are proud to bring this conversation to South Asia and to rally for designers & creative change-makers to have a seat at the table”, said Ayush Chauhan, Co-Founder — Unbox Cultural Futures.
“This festival is an opportunity to put our heads together, to discover fresh co-operations and foster existing ones, reinforcing design’s role for social impact”, said Mridu Sahai Patnaik, Co-Founder, The Design Village.
To explore the full range of creatives’ capabilities, the festival will dive into some of the greatest ecological and social issues of our time, as well as the threads that connect them:
Circular Planet: Rethinking design, production, and consumption through nature-inspired cycles.
The Power of Community: Radical collaboration across sectors to deliver impactful solutions.
Rethinking Technology: Exploring emerging technologies for social and environmental change.
A DAY DESIGNED FOR IMPACT
In a nutshell, here are the main components of WDCD Live Delhi 2025:
● A main stage programme featuring illuminating talks by thought-leaders in the creative industries.
● A parallel programme that invites visitors to dive deeper; featuring exhibitions, panel discussions, project showcases, immersive experiences and workshops & labs, on themes like circularity, radical community solutions and technology.
● The chance to collaborate and grow your own impact in a range of interactive workshops, breakout sessions and networking sessions.
● An after hours for visitors to raise a glass together and close the festivities in style, curated by Eyemyth Festival bringing Audio Visual experiences by D-fuse, a UK based art collective and performances.