Issue 16 Autumn 2012 - Brunel University

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iNTervieW :: sTUdeNT ANd GrAdUATe NeWs :: eXPRess MAGAZINe 20 Made in Brunel 2012: ellen MacArthur praises Brunel as a national “design hub” Before taking part in the Made in Brunel pecha Kucha event, in which she explained some of the principles behind the work of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Dame Ellen spoke to Express about the development of her interest in design and her bold ambitions for a sustainable future. How and when did your passion for sailing evolve into a passion for design? Design has been a theme in my life ever since I was a kid. I got really passionate about sailing after I first sailed when I was four years old – I used to save my school dinner money for boats. From the ages of eight to seventeen I went through three different boats, but I never had much money so everything I needed to improve them I made myself. I spent all my time designing bits for boats – on the bus going to and from school I’d be there with a notepad designing things. I spent all my time in my dad’s garage working with wood and glass fibre, and putting things together with screws and joints. When I left school at 17 I sailed round Britain with a little boat that I’d done a lot of work on. It worked! It didn’t look that beautiful, but it worked – and it’s still working now. As the sailing project progressed I got involved in the design of the boats themselves. I worked with the boat designer to plan the layout and how things would work, and I’d be messing around with CAD drawings for 12 hours at a time! I still love making things. I even built a house three years ago which I designed with my partner, and it was really interesting. I’m fascinated by design. Were you concerned with sustainability when you started sailing? No, not at all. I was involved in the design of boats in their entirety, from the electrical system, computer system and autopilot system right through to the form, layout and sail plan of the boat, but all these aspects had only one object, which was to break a record or win a race. When you sail round the world, you take with you everything you need to survive. You have all the food you need and all the diesel you need for the generator, and if you run out of something you’re 2,500 miles away from the nearest town. There’s no more, and you learn what ‘finite’ means. I had never translated that to life on land, but at the end of the second trip round the world I started to think about the nature of the resources that we have available to us. About six years ago I started to do some research and collect evidence from educators, scientists, CEOs, farmers and designers, to understand how we use resources. I have always been passionate about design but now I absolutely believe that design is the key to the future. We have finite materials and we need to design business models, systems and manufacturing processes to establish a whole system for the biological and technical cycle of nutrients. [See the information box on the Circular Economy, right.] What do you think is the role of students and young designers, like the students exhibiting at Made in Brunel, in creating a sustainable future? It’s absolutely key. Walking round the exhibition you see all the stages of the product – it’s a journey of evolution, but right from the beginning when that first prototype was made, when that first line was put on a piece of paper, the designers knew exactly what they were trying to achieve. When you see a student or young person have an idea and then follow it through, it’s so inspirational. Your long voyages were very individual endeavours but now you focus on joined-up thinking and collaboration. How do you balance individual aspirations with team thinking? I wouldn’t say that the sailing projects were individual at all! Physically on the boat I was on my own, but I spent a year and a half working closely with
the designers and builders. It is very much team-driven, and when I think back to my last round the world race, the strongest memory I have is the amazing team that worked together to make it happen. Sailing is all about systems thinking. You have to think about keeping the boat running, keeping the batteries charged, rationing food, keeping the boat the right way up in the water, keeping the boat going as fast as possible. Every single decision you make is vital – if your batteries ran flat you would be upside down in five minutes. Then as well as managing the boat system you’re also connected to a system that is much bigger all around you: the weather, the elements, the water temperature, the icebergs. This whole bigger system affects the smaller system that you are managing. And that’s exactly how the economy works. The economy is about our system within a much bigger system. iNTervieW :: sTUdeNT ANd GrAdUATe NeWs :: eXPRess MAGAZINe This year’s Made in Brunel is inspired by journeys and you’ve had a long and interesting one to get to where you are now. do you have any advice for our graduating students on reaching their goals? Just believe that anything is possible. When I first sailed when I was four years old, I knew there and then that I wanted to sail around the world, but I never thought I would be doing what I am doing today. You don’t always end up at the destination you intended but you’re still on a journey. What’s your greatest achievement – your sailing records, or this project? I believe that your greatest achievement is always in front of you. The Foundation brought out an economic report in January this year that we worked on with our founding partners and with 21 the management consultants McKinsey and Company, which highlighted a huge economic opportunity of $630bn for Europe through transition to the circular economy. By September next year we’re aiming to get to 2,200 secondary schools in the UK with the materials we’ve been writing, piloting and testing for the last 18 months. In universities have developed a postgraduate certificate which is now running at Bradford University, and we’ll have a MBA next year. The idea is to train up as many people as possible with the idea of the circular economy and spread it as quickly as possible. That’s why I’m here at Made in Brunel. Brunel is such an amazing design hub university in the UK – ‘university’ is almost not a broad enough word these days, because it’s just a mass of energy and ideas, a creative centre. To bring the circular economy in here and challenge a few people’s thought process – that’s what I want to do. The Circular Economy The circular economy is a generic term for an industrial economy that is, by design or intention, restorative. In this model, there are two types of material flows: biological nutrients, which are designed to re-enter the biosphere safely; and technical nutrients, which are designed to circulate at high quality without entering the biosphere. The circular economy is characterised by a shift from selling goods to selling performance, and towards renewables and recognising the value of diversity and whole system design. Find out more at www.thecirculareconomy.org Ellen MacArthur was speaking to Express editor Rachel Turvey
Page 1 and 2: AUTUMN 2012 :: Issue 16 Made in Bru
Page 3 and 4: NSS 2012: Brunel Students’ Union
Page 5 and 6: Torch Relay brings crowds to campus
Page 7 and 8: What’s on Highlights for the Autu
Page 9 and 10: Graduation 2012 The 2012 Graduation
Page 11 and 12: MAiN FeATUre :: LATesT NeWs :: eXPR
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Page 15 and 16: Photo Feature: eastern Gateway Buil
Page 17 and 18: Hard rock band Terminal Gods, led b
Page 19: …the most detailed designs ever m
Page 23 and 24: starters and Leavers Express says g
Page 25 and 26: “The computer itself becomes the
Page 27 and 28: international Pathways and Language

Issue 16 Autumn 2012 - Brunel University

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