Circular design is emerging as a powerful force in both the creative industries and the business world. It goes hand in hand with creative thinking: approaching challenges from new perspectives and discovering fresh values. In this article, we speak with two international experts, Inka Mäkiö and Natalia Moreira. Inka Mäkiö is a service designer at Turku UAS, while Natalia Moreira is a lecturer with a PhD in sustainability from the University of Manchester. Both bring more than 15 years of experience in this growing field. They share their views on the current opportunities and challenges in circular design, and how they translate these into practice for (future) designers through an intensive course.
In collaboration with Utrecht and Turku Universities of Applied Sciences, in the Netherlands and Finland respectively, Fundamentals organized a Summer School Utrecht course on how to make circular product innovation economically viable. Together with Fundamentals’ Jens Gijbels, Inka and Natalia spent a week working intensively with participants. Natalia explains: “We work with people who already know what sustainability and circularity are, but haven’t really engaged with it yet. This course gives them a solid foundation to understand what circularity is and how to actually put it into practice”.
Participants worked in groups of three on a small project. The concepts developed may not have been unique, but they required real depth: research, presenting insights, and learning from each other’s work. “I think this is the easiest way to teach circularity in just five days”, Inka says.
The changing role of the designer
When Inka started working in circularity (specifically circular textiles) in 2007, many fashion designers were already open to the idea, but money still drove most decisions: “It always had to be the cheapest option”. That is starting to change, she explains: “Designers now have a bit more power, but also the responsibility to be aware of the many options. A lot more is possible today, not only with materials, but also how to design items suitable for circular business models”.
It’s about what we see as valuable
While products and materials no longer have to be the cheapest option, many traditional companies still operate on the principle of profit maximization. How can circular business models challenge this? Inka points to regulation: “If the rules say that 25% of a product must be made from recycled materials, then it has to be. It’s that simple. Right now, such regulation is still rare, but it’s coming (for example through the Circular Economy Act). Companies will need to prepare by finding new materials and partners. That will change the game somewhat”. Here, designers also have a role to play, by understanding regulations and ensuring they are implemented.
Consumers also need to shift how they define value. Natalia explains: “You could see a second-hand garment as a cheaper and therefore less valuable product. But you could also see it as something that has already been loved, with a story behind it. That’s a completely different sense of value. Not just financial, but also emotional”.
The value of different perspectives
The course brought together participants from different disciplines and nationalities. That diversity itself was valuable, says Natalia: “Everyone comes in with their own idea of what circularity or sustainability means. Having to explain it to others opens up so many doors. I mean, when you’re doing your bachelor’s degree, you don’t really understand the wider world, you mostly understand your own. So I think the international character of this program really enriched the learning experience”.
Not all education systems are the same, either. In some countries, classrooms are more hierarchical, with students mainly listening. “In this course, we kept things very equal. We started in a circle and ended in a circle, and everyone could share. For some students, it was a real eye-opener that you can learn this way, and sometimes even better, than in the traditional approach”, Inka adds. This approach also reflects an important principle of circularity: equality. After all, circular business models depend on equal collaboration across the entire value chain.
Picture: The 2025 group of the summer course, including Natalia & Inka (7th & 8th from the right)
Navigating challenges
The group was relatively small (about 20 students), and circularity still tends to attract only specific audiences. That’s a big challenge, says Natalia: “What about all the people who don’t (want to) know anything about circularity? How do you bring the wider public along? The average person needs to be involved, and that’s not easy”.
Inka sees traditional organizational culture as another challenge: “To build the kinds of partnerships companies now need, you require transparency, openness, and trust. That’s not yet the norm in business. It means companies need to be more open about processes that are usually kept private”. Effective collaboration requires being able to discuss these things not only with your supply chain, but also with competitors.
But there’s already a lot that works well
Inka: “Many companies are already adopting circular business models while still operating within the linear system. This way, they can gradually shift toward a more circular approach”. Sometimes, business logic itself needs to be rethought.
She points to Rolls-Royce as an example. The company builds airplane engines but doesn’t sell them, airlines lease them instead. This is partly a circular business model, and a profitable one at that. If Rolls-Royce makes the best engine in the world, it’s still their property, so it pays off to make it last as long as possible. This model, known as products as a service (PaaS), is already an inspiring thought experiment for many organizations and designers: what if use, rather than ownership, was at the center?
There are also great examples of fully circular projects and organizations. In textiles, for instance, the European T-REX project and the T-extended project. Or the Finnish clothing brand Reima, which has been making durable clothing since the 1940s, garments that can be repaired in-store and passed down for generations.
Love and zero waste
So, what mindset do (future) designers need to make circularity succeed? “Love”, says Inka. “They need to be truly engaged with what they design, and that happens when you put love into it”. Natalia adds with a laugh: “And a zero-waste mindset, also not unimportant!”.
Circular product innovation demands more than knowledge or technical skill. It requires creative thinking, collaboration on equal terms, and a rethinking of value, not just financial, but emotional too. For designers, that means both an opportunity and a responsibility: to make circularity not only possible, but meaningful.
Fundamentals specializes in designing open learning environments. Would you like your team, organization, or program to learn about circular design? We love collaborations. Get in touch.
