Following the launch of the Terra Carta in January this year, the Sustainable Markets Initiative has today announced that HRH The Prince of Wales and Sir Jony Ive have collaborated with the Royal College of Art (RCA) to launch the Terra Carta Design Lab, to create small designs that can make a big impact for the world’s transition to a sustainable future.
The Terra Carta Design Lab will invite some of the world’s most talented design students to design high-impact, low-cost solutions for Nature, People and Planet. Young and emerging architects, designers, scientists, engineers, historians, writers, and artists will be tasked with addressing the damage being done to our planet and creating solutions that align with the aims of the Terra Carta; drawing inspiration from, and giving back to, Nature.
Through the Terra Carta Design Lab, students will have the opportunity to explore this link using local initiatives to restore biodiversity, reduce greenhouse gases, support developing countries and catalyse a new economic and social model that realigns people with their environment.
“I’m incredibly proud to be part of the Terra Carta Design Lab founded by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. It’s a visionary and imaginative way of helping address the world’s increasingly urgent environmental problems. Often the biggest challenges demand the most ingenious, most creative thinking, which is why I’m so excited about the work that the RCA students will be able to contribute through this collaboration. I know that their creativity and inventiveness will develop truly powerful solutions. I’m delighted to be able to support this work both as a supporter of the Terra Carta, and in my role as Chancellor of the Royal College of Art.”
Sir Jony Ive, Chancellor of the Royal College of Art
The RCA has a highly successful record of developing projects from ideas into reality, with students and alumni creating solutions with the potential to transform how we live, but it can take a long time for these solutions to be supported into production. Two recent innovations from RCA graduates include The Tyre Collective – a unique collaboration of specialists tackling the emissions caused by tyre wear – and ZELP – an innovative device worn by cattle to reduce the amount of methane released into the atmosphere.
The Terra Carta Design Lab will harness that expertise, with inspiration from the Terra Carta and support from its private sector partners that are part of HRH’s Sustainable Markets Initiative to catalyse new climate solutions with the potential for scale at a pivotal moment in the fight against climate change, biodiversity loss and a just transition, as nations come together at COP26 to agree sustainable ways forward, including for the Green Recovery from the pandemic.
“Small ideas can have a big impact if they are supported with the right design, science and engineering and that is the key idea behind today’s Terra Carta Design Lab. We only have 100 days until COP26, the big UN conference in Glasgow to tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis, and we will all need to play our part, old and young, if we are to change how we look after the Earth, making it sustainable for Nature, People and Planet.”
His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales
Over 2,300 RCA students with an average age of 27, drawn from over 70 different countries, will be invited to collaborate in multidisciplinary teams drawn from the College’s four schools; Architecture, Arts & Humanities, Communication and Design. They will be joined by recent alumni of the RCA (from 2011-2021) who will bring real-world perspective and experience.
Initial expressions of interest from the RCA community will be carefully assessed by a panel of senior academic staff from the College, which will progress a selection of projects based on their feasibility, measurable impact and potential to present engaging and inspiring solutions to urgent problems. In November, a final shortlist of up to 16 concepts will be assessed by a jury including HRH The Prince of Wales, Sir Jony Ive and Dr Paul Thompson, RCA Vice Chancellor, as well as representatives of the Terra Carta Design Lab supporting partners, and strategic partners of the Sustainable Markets Initiative: Octopus Energy, the Islamic Development Bank and Amazon. The shortlist will be announced during the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP26, in November, and in 2022 the winning designs will be chosen and supported in its development.
The final selection of designs will have the opportunity to be mentored by Sir Jony Ive and introduced to the industry leads of HRH’s Sustainable Markets Initiative to help further develop their ideas and make them a reality, as well as receiving financial support.
“The combination of curiosity, creativity and technical skill is hugely potent and our students and alumni are testament to that. The climate and biodiversity crises we face are a truly existential threat to our planet and I’m delighted that the College’s Royal Visitor, HRH The Prince of Wales, and our Chancellor, Sir Jony Ive, are together inviting our community to contribute their talents to developing solutions to these problems. This initiative is a fantastic manifestation of what the Royal College of Art does best and I look forward to seeing the results in November.”
Dr Paul Thompson, Vice-Chancellor of the Royal College of Art, commented:
About the Terra Carta
Launched by His Royal Highness at the One Planet Summit in January 2021, the Terra Carta provides a practical roadmap for acceleration towards an ambitious and sustainable future; one that will harness the power of Nature combined with the transformative power, innovation and resources of the private sector. The Terra Carta serves as the mandate for the Sustainable Markets Initiative. Currently there are over 300 CEO-level supporter supporters, including the first C40 city of Athens, Greece.
HRH is appealing to public, private and philanthropic leaders around the world to join this endeavour as part of the ‘Coalition of the Willing’. Read more: www.sustainable-markets.org/terra-carta
About the Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art is the world’s leading university of art and design. Specialising in teaching and research, the RCA offers degrees of MA, MPhil, MRes and PhD across the disciplines of architecture, arts & humanities, design and communications.
A small, specialist and research-intensive postgraduate university based in the heart of London, the RCA provides 2000 students with unrivalled opportunities to deliver art and design projects that transform the world. The RCA’s approach is founded on the premise that art, design, creative thinking, science, engineering and technology must all collaborate to solve today’s global challenges.
The University employs around 1000 professionals from around the world – professors, researchers, art and design practitioners, advisers and visiting lecturers – to teach and develop students in 30 academic programmes. RCA students are exposed to new knowledge in a way that encourages them to experiment. The RCA runs joint courses with Imperial College London and the Victoria & Albert Museum.
InnovationRCA, the university’s centre for enterprise, entrepreneurship, incubation and business support, has helped over 70 RCA business ideas become a reality that has led to the creation of over 750 UK jobs.
Alumni include David Adjaye, Christopher Bailey, Monster Chetwynd, David Hockney, Tracey Emin, Thomas Heatherwick, Lubaina Himid, Clare Waight Keller and Rose Wylie. The RCA was named the world’s leading university of art and design in the QS World Rankings 2021 for the seventh consecutive year. Read more: www.rca.ac.uk
About Sir Jony Ive
Sir Jony Ive KBE is a designer based in San Francisco. In 2019 he gathered the creative collective LoveFrom, which includes Apple and Airbnb amongst its first collaborators. In his previous role as chief design officer of Apple, Jony was responsible for all hardware, user interface and packaging design, as well as the major architectural projects Apple Park and Apple’s retail stores. He joined Apple in 1992, where co- founder Steve Jobs subsequently referred to him as his creative partner. The designer of the iMac, PowerBook, MacBook, iBook, iPod, iPhone, iPad, AppleWatch, AirPods and HomePod, the team Jony led for more than two decades created products that are widely regarded as being intuitive, simple, beautiful and profoundly influential. He holds more than 12,000 patents.
