Over the past few weeks, my group members and I from the Morning Studio (a Social Design direction at the Design Academy Eindhoven) have been working on our final presentation/exhibition called Into the Field, where we showcased three different projects. These projects all revolve around the relationship between people and nature—how we can reconnect, collaborate, and co-evolve with the natural world.
The Bigger Picture: Four Seasons
“Design is a balancing act with time. Apart from material, socio-economical and environmental considerations and their interactions, time is a (often overlooked) decisive element in the design of sustainable proposals. The world changes. Things change. Life changes, the weather changes, the seasons change, the climate changes, cultures change... What is useful one day may not be the next.” – Theresa and Archibald, tutors Four Seasons Assignment
Everything in our world follows a natural cycle, but in our modern context, this partnership with nature can get lost. Into the Field brings that conversation back to nature, challenges human actions, and showcases fresh possibilities. The three projects we presented aim to illustrate the synergy between people and the environment, revealing how both can benefit when we pay real attention.
This idea is at the core of our Four Seasons assignment. The challenge was to create something—be it a garment or a tool—entirely derived from our research site, and then to see how it might flow back into the ecosystem. We asked ourselves: What steps can we take to ensure care and attention, and how might these small steps ripple outwards into our everyday world?
Our Collaborations: Smissenbroek & TimeLab
Smissenbroek
Located just outside of Ghent, Belgium, Smissenbroek is a large estate that functions like a miniature world—there’s farming, gardening, forests, and fields, all centered on biodiversity. It’s also an educational space where you can taste, learn, pick, and enjoy everything nature has to offer. For our projects, Smissenbroek became the perfect context to test out new ideas and see how they might work on a smaller, local scale—while still staying connected to bigger global questions.
TimeLab
Another essential collaborator was TimeLab, a studio in Ghent that pushes social design and environmental development to new heights. They’re all about creating time, space, and reflection for a society on the move, translating complex topics like water usage and material consumption into real, tangible prototypes. Their open-source ethos meant that everything we discovered or created could be shared and expanded upon by the wider community.
Behind the Scenes: Collective Research
Before diving into our individual concepts, we did a collective research phase that mapped out the heartbeat of Smissenbroek. We started with a simple hand-drawn map and quickly branched into interviews, photography, sketching, and video. All of this data lived in an online archive—organized in Notion, documented in Google Drive, and even pinned to specific locations on Google Maps. This growing repository helped us uncover the layers and stories of the place, shaping each group and individual project.
Individual Projects: Habit & Uncertainty
Life is always moving, and design has to move with it. We explored how habits shape us—and what happens when we try to change them. Some projects were practical, focusing on everyday actions like harvesting or crafting; others were more conceptual, examining how we adapt when everything around us is in flux.
The question that ties them all together is: Can design bridge the gap between what we know and what we don’t? Each project tackled this from a different angle—some leaning towards hands-on solutions, others leaning towards research or visual storytelling. But together, they open up a dialogue about how we engage with a rapidly changing environment and how we might design for the unknown.
Come With Us, Into the Field
Ultimately, Into the Field isn’t just an exhibition—it’s an invitation. We’re inviting you to step into this world where nature and design collaborate, where big questions about time and change are met with experimental, open-minded solutions. We hope our journey sparks your curiosity and inspires you to explore your own connection with the environment around you.
Stay tuned for more updates, and thanks for joining us on this adventure into the field!
—Ward
