All Together Now
Chloë Leen and Eva Feldkamp (image: Theresa Marx).
Cutting corners when it comes to design is typically a false economy. The people who would benefit most from expert creative and technical input often find that it falls outside their shoestring budgets, resulting in greater expense further down the line. This, in a nutshell, is the Boots Theory of socioeconomic inequality, as set out by Captain Sam Vimes.
First explained in Terry Pratchett’s 1993 Discworld novel Men at Arms, the Boots Theory encapsulates how expensive it is to be strapped for cash through the metaphor of footwear design. A significant initial outlay, for example, will get you a pair of well-made boots that lasts a decade, while those who can only afford the cheapest option are cursed to keep replacing them, racking up costs over time and paying for the indignity of discomfort. “A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time,” reasons Vimes, captain of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, “while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.”
“I had always volunteered on the side, but I was trying to figure out how to connect this to my professional life.”
The Boots Theory shows something important. Beyond aesthetics, design can be essential. You shouldn’t have to fall within a certain tax bracket to enjoy a light-filled and inspiring place to live, work, study, play or relax, for example. But professional creative services have remained a luxury that few charities, non-profits and community groups can afford – until now. All in Awe is a new design initiative built around altruism, which wants to reframe design as an affordable necessity. Its international network of creatives – currently 50-strong and growing – are united by a shared goal of making their skills and expertise accessible. Just because a small, grassroots organisation may not have access to the funds that would usually be required to obtain its members’ services doesn’t mean that it doesn’t deserve them, argues All in Awe. If you believe that good design has the power to change lives, everyone should be able to benefit from it.
All in Awe is a social enterprise and a self-described hybrid agency/co-operative/studio that is dedicated to pairing creative studios with worthy causes. It functions like a design emergency hotline: when a charity or non-profit with a creative challenge reaches out, an invitation is shared across All in Awe’s network for studios and practitioners who can get that need met. The services offered may range from telephone consultations and workshops through to full project management, while its members include architects, artists, developers and designers of all kinds, as well as writers, strategists and curators, all of whom share a desire to use their expertise to help others. All in Awe aims to match the diverse skill sets of its members with projects that support communities or campaign for communal good, sharing design knowledge that is often siloed or exists only behind the paywalls of vocational education and agency fees.
Eva Feldkamp, the founder of All in Awe.
The network was formed in October 2020 by designer Eva Feldkamp after she quit her job to pursue a life more orientated towards her personal goal of giving back. A furniture and product designer by training, Feldkamp was leading the interior design team at Tom Dixon when she decided to make her side hustle her main hustle. “I had always volunteered on the side,” she explains. “I was the mentor of a young person and we’d meet every weekend; I call an elderly person through a formal programme every week; and I volunteer at a food bank. But I was trying to figure out how to connect this to my professional life. I just wanted to use the majority of my time to connect with society.” But when Feldkamp reached out to her own creative network for advice on how to make the change, she uncovered an untapped aquifer of desire to give back – one that currently had no outlet. “All these creatives I know said: ‘I want to do the same, but I don’t know how,’” she recalls. “That made me start All in Awe.”
All in Awe, which incorporated as a Community Interest Company (CIC) in April 2021, has already helped a number of cooperatives and community groups. Its largest project to date is the Peterborough Pop Up, executed as part of the Future Libraries Initiative pioneered by social enterprise Civic. Occupying a vacant unit on Peterborough high street, east England, Civic wanted a welcoming temporary space that could host a wide variety of activities for the local community: from lightsaber handling lessons for children to a school uniform swap. After being contacted by Civic and attending a site visit, Feldkamp put out a call in mid-July last year for All in Awe members to deliver a kit-of-parts design solution for the space. “We had eight collaborators just jumping in, co-ordinating how to solve problems,” says Feldkamp. “Three weeks later, they opened with a space that was really flexible, thanks to this system of curtains on tracks, with custom products to tie the space together.” Pup Architects designed the venue, with bespoke furniture by CPWH and Matteo Fogale, web design and a poster campaign from Sophie Azaïs, Modern Design Review providing consultancy services, and photography by Max Creasy and Carlos Jiménez. As creative lead, All in Awe won sponsorship for the project from design brands Kvadrat and Larusi. The pop-up acted as a pilot for Civic and All in Awe is now set to develop more spaces for the Future Libraries Initiative.
“Creativity is not exclusive. It is a fundamental human attribute that should be accessible to all, and especially to those who need it most.”
The pipeline of other upcoming projects is testament to the wide variety of non-profits that can benefit from affordable design input: graphic design for a pandemic-prevention charity in the UK; web design for an NGO working with animal-advocacy organisations in African countries; a community hub for an AI-safety charity; interior design for a co-working hub for a group of charities in the US; graphic design and branding for a mental-health charity in Latin America; and an events-space interior for a group of NGOs based in Germany, including ones focused on malaria eradication, existential-risk research, and global-disaster mitigation. In working so widely, All in Awe aims to rectify the situation in which creative services are often financially out of reach for charity and community-led projects. “Creativity is not exclusive,” reads the initiative’s mission statement. “It is a fundamental human attribute that should be accessible to all, and especially to those who need it most.”
This framework of design equity extends to the way in which the network itself is organised. Members agree to abide by a carefully worded code of conduct that contains All in Awe’s core values: openness, integrity, care, courage and joy. Centring these values is key to the network’s shared goal of “championing creativity for the common good”. When an inquiry comes in, an email goes out asking who can offer assistance. While members can choose to give their time for free, the standard is for everyone to be paid a market rate so as to enable those who may want to help, but cannot afford to do so pro bono, to offer their time.
“We are a non-profit ourselves, so we’re basically in the same boat of applying for funding for our projects,” explains Feldkamp. “When we’re talking to different organisations, for example, we can say, ‘Hey, shall we apply [for funding] together? Then we can help all the other charities in your group.’” In addition to its work with non-profits and charities, All in Awe also functions as a social-support network for its members, with an active group chat, virtual meet-ups, and Feldkamp hosting regular in-person gatherings at her east London flat. Some members have been referred to the network by friends or former colleagues, while others have found it through social media.
To learn more about All in Awe, Disegno hosted a roundtable that brought together a selection of its members to discuss designing altruistically and the challenges the initiative has faced to date. With the group gathered in Feldkamp’s flat, All in Awe’s informal headquarters, one thing became clear. Rather than being about feeling virtuous, the designers’ altruism meets a need to produce work that is more closely aligned with their own values – a need that may be hard to satisfy in more conventional design studios.
The panel is:
Carlos Jiménez is a photographer and filmmaker, formerly in-house for the Victoria & Albert Museum, covering the art, architecture and design sectors.
Chloë Leen is one of the directors of Pup Architects, a multidisciplinary practice working on projects that have a cultural and social impact.
Eva Feldkamp is a furniture and product designer by training, who transitioned into interior design before leaving her role at Tom Dixon to found All in Awe.
Ilaria Ventriglia Burke is a creative strategist and communications expert working with designers.
Jeremy Bonney is an aspiring tech entrepreneur looking to build a social media platform that “prioritises kindness, listening and vulnerability”.
Margot Lombaert is creative director of lombaert studio, a graphic-design practice with a focus on sustainability that creates campaigns, exhibitions and visual identities for organisations in the cultural sector.
India Block Do you think that people have an innate drive to help? Not just to feel good about “helping the needy”, but having a need to give back?
Eva Feldkamp Volunteering, for me, has nothing to do with being a generous person who gives up time. I’m gaining as much as the other person, or even more. It’s humans connecting with one another and opening up your world for others by doing whatever you’re good at – feeling how good it feels to be connected to the world. Building a community is a big part of All in Awe. There’s the creative aspect, of course, but it’s also how creators can feel like part of something – that we’re together and we nourish each other.
Carlos Jiménez Interacting with the Peterborough project, for example, was very different from a lot of the work we might normally do. It was refreshing. Charity is great because it’s full of good intentions, but it’s also hard work and it presents you with a mirror – sometimes the reflection you see is not pleasant. It asks where you’re putting your energy and It gives you a wider perspective of what you’re doing with your life, as well as the choices you’re making.
Ilaria Ventriglia Burke I arrived to All in Awe after a long period of searching for something where creativity was still a driving force but with a bigger meaning. Working with designers and creatives, you understand that they have a special sort of mind. It’s such an optimistic discipline and this kind of mind can be an incredible asset. I worked for a Dutch company that was trying to make an impact in a Moroccan community of weavers, for instance, practically empowering a group of women with the tools to start a business that could be self-sufficient. It was so emotional to feel that you’re making a difference. Then, afterwards, you’re like, “OK, so now what do we do? A lamp, or another stool that looks good?”
The All in Awe code of conduct.
India Your Code of Conduct is unusual for a design collective, in that it reads more like an activist manifesto than marketing material. When did you write it for All in Awe, and why?
Eva Someone who joined All in Awe quite early on was [writer, curator and consultant] Hugo Macdonald. He got in touch when he saw the website and said: “I’d love to help you bring whatever you are thinking of doing into words.” I had lots of conversations with him and we developed the Code of Conduct together. It’s the things that are important to me, personally, combined with all the outcomes we’re trying to achieve. We did it to have something to look back on. When people join, they have to read it and say, “Yes, I agree. I want to do this.” It’s like a moral compass.
“The All in Awe code is not about saying we’re going to save the world, but that every person can have positive impacts.”
Jeremy Bonney There are many companies that have codes of conducts and then you see that the actual behaviour of the company may represent something slightly different. Often what happens is there’s behaviour creep – there’s one person there who doesn’t quite subscribe to it. I’m curious – have you come across any people you’ve worked with through All in Awe who you’re not sure if this really fits them?
Eva No, actually. I am often impressed that people do follow [the code]. For example, we had a few calls with different architects, who don’t normally share their knowledge because they’re competitors in the commercial market. But we were figuring out a particular issue and talking about how we could do it better, together. Everyone joined in and shared what they knew. I would have expected that some people would maybe hold back, but the people who really believe in this are the ones stepping up.
Ilaria The mission is very structured and clear. It’s a fresh approach. What this agency brings to the table are relationships and technology.
Margot Lombaert of graphic design agency lombaert studio.
Margot Lombaert The All in Awe code resonated for me because it’s not about saying we’re going to save the world but that every person can have positive impacts. The more you collaborate, the more you create a sense of community and can give back and inspire others as well. The idea of integrity and care is really important to me, because when you have low budgets, people are often forced to make shortcuts. And those shortcuts sometimes mean you don’t carry sustainability all the way through. Our role is to make sure that we integrate this through the entire process of design. The code implements this at every stage of the collaboration with the community, the client, the audience and, eventually, for the good of everybody.
Chloë Leen It’s great to have a set of values and think more closely about what we’re doing and how it’s being done. In the design world, I’ve never really seen that before. There’s such a disconnect between design education and design practice in terms of values. When you’re studying, what you’re being asked to produce is often about social impact. Then when you start practising, you work to what other people are asking you to do.
Ilaria Our cultural upbringing has been very selfishly oriented. For my generation, it’s never been, “You are also part of the human race.” Now, with sustainability, you lose your mind trying to figure out what’s the best choice, while corporations are still free to produce.
Margot They confuse consumers on purpose. But what really matters is to say: “We can do great things together.” We can create great projects that have great impact. We’re not powerless in front of big companies and corporations. People can really make a difference.
Carlos Jiménez, a freelance photographer and filmmaker.
Jeremy As a society, we’ve been on this capitalistic tear for most of the century and the negative consequences of that are obvious. There are people who are really suffering while three people hold, like, hundreds of billions of dollars. Projects like All in Awe show that it’s not just about working from the goodness of our own hearts – it’s actually work that creates value for those who need it.
Eva What’s interesting for creators is being exposed to real communities. With All in Awe, you’re not designing for an imagined consumer – you’re working with people who have real requirements and needs. With lower budgets you need to do a good job and use that budget well. One thing we’re developing right now is how we measure impact. We have a debriefing process where we talk to everyone who worked on a project and understand how it went and what could go better. We’re trying to figure out how to measure impact in different ways. There’s one way, which is visitor numbers: how many more donations did this organisation get? Then there’s another metric of how much money they saved on fees, and what were the donations from suppliers and other money-saving aspects. So these are the key parameters that we use right now. But there are all these unmeasurable impacts that are really hard to quantify, but which are very tangible.
India In the mission statement you say that creative services should be a necessity, not a luxury. How can creativity become an access route to social justice?
Carlos It’s tricky. I produce images and there is this friction. We are so used to certain types of projects, certain types of faces, and this [focus on] sexiness that we’re producing for a client, that we sometimes forget there is another part of the spectrum. Everyone should have access to good design and pictures. But there are all these gatekeepers of taste and presentation.
Ilaria Ventriglia Burke, a creative strategist and communications expert.
Eva We’ve done quite a few projects, but not all of them are easy to represent in a visual way. Sometimes we’re just helping people and the outcome doesn’t look incredible, but it really helps them. There are things that are beautiful, and that’s great, but I love the other projects as much: where someone just needs to understand how to figure out a spatial problem and we help them do that. We’re all trying to use our skills that we perhaps acquired in a high-end setting, but apply them to really basic needs. Sometimes someone just needs a one-hour conversation. If that helps them, we’ve done our job.
Ilaria You do projects that you can’t put on Instagram because they don’t look good, but sentimentally, conceptually and practically, that project may be much more powerful than its picture would suggest.
Margot Pretty design and good design are not the same thing. Good design is something that has a use and fills a need. Anyone can do something pretty. What we do may sometimes not be as beautiful as it could be, but it actually fits the needs of people. And that’s what matters.
Chloë Design is really just problem solving. That disconnect between solving problems and making pretty objects, furniture or buildings, is perhaps why a lot of charity clients and those with smaller budgets don’t think of design as something that can help their organisation – whether that’s branding that’s going to help with their identity, or a website that’s super functional and allows you to get the information you need. It can be as simple as a space that works really well, even if it’s very basic. Design thinking can help solve all of those things. I think lots of charity clients would be really surprised what you can do with the right approach and a small budget. Designers really thrive on those constraints.
Jeremy Bonney, a tech entrepreneur.
Eva We want to give beauty to the world. It doesn’t have to be in every little project, but it’s one of the tools. We can do something really practical and help people fix the thing they need fixed, but we can also give them beauty and wonder. That’s another way of enriching someone’s experience.
Margot Beauty creates a desire to use a space together. It brings happiness, and feeling happy is a pretty good mission.
Jeremy When we talk about beauty, we’re all so moved by these very emotional stories of the human spirit and community. One of my favourite things is that when everyone around us is dwelling on superficial things such as money or aesthetics, someone can put out a story and say, “Hey, we built this thing. It looks very basic, but it fulfils a need.” Those stories can be really powerful.
Eva We still have to develop the tools to tell these stories in a different way when they’re more abstract. For example, we had someone calling about a poster campaign for a cooperative in Hackney. They had a hoarding going up for a building site and wanted to attach posters to it, but they didn’t know how big the posters needed to be. They knew the text they wanted to put on the posters, but they didn’t know how to make it fit. So we did a PDF for them, which took 20 minutes and solved their problems. It really helped, but you’d have to engineer that story [to post it online].
Chloë Leen, a director of Pup Architects.
India With more traditional clients, you probably speak the same language of design. Is it different with non-profits? Have you had to adjust the way you communicate about design?
Eva It’s a big part of All in Awe – we have to do it all the time. Not just developing the brief, but translating between the client and the creative. Right now, I’m the client representative for a project where I’m in meetings translating design language to the client, then translating the client’s mission and vision back to the creatives.
Chloë I’ve done a few projects with charities as clients and the priorities are different. There’s more [to do] on our side, and more listening involved. There are really specific requirements sometimes. From a design perspective, it’s translating from a design language to something that they can see the benefit of. They can come under scrutiny for doing something that is seen as too frivolous. They’re accountable for what they’re spending money on. Like, “Why are you spending money doing a great fit-out for your office when you could be doing XYZ?” But working with the end-users directly is so much more fulfilling. You can understand how a space is going to be used to really benefit an organisation.
Carlos When I photographed the Peterborough project, I was able to apply my experience from years of work. OK, so a brief [from a client like that] may not have a lot of detail, but I know that they’re going to need portraits, they’re going to need details, they’re going to need all of these things. That’s a package that I know they’re going to need because of my experience.
“Lots of charities would be really surprised what you can do with the right approach and a small budget.”
Chloë Funding is something that’s key to all of this. Often in early stage conversations with charity clients, their concerns are that they just don’t have the money to do it. So it’s about helping them apply for funding, and also working on these projects in a way that suits the phasing that comes alongside getting grants or access to different pots of money, which is often not very straightforward. Working with those constraints is a big part of strategically working with these types of organisations to make things happen. You have to bring an element of ambition.
Margot When there’s no money and no budget, you need to be optimistic.
Chloë It’s super collaborative – nobody can do these things on their own.
Carlos We can give our time and experience, which is a kind of richness.
Eva In the very beginning, we were thinking of just having people volunteer. Then we hacked that and said, “Let’s get people to volunteer with the stuff that they do all day already.” Because that’s going to multiply the outcome and the impact that we can have. It’s also much easier, so you can get more people doing something incredible.
Jeremy What I love about All in Awe is that it’s got this altruistic intent, but it’s not just about funding projects. It’s about asking, “What are your talents? What are your skills? Where can we match those with someone who doesn’t have them?” It’s taking people who have abilities and bringing them closer to those needs.
Introduction India Block
Photographs Theresa Marx
This article was originally published in Disegno #33. To buy the issue, or subscribe to the journal, please visit the online shop.