Dear Subscriber First Name,

It feels like more than ever, we are living in between worlds. We are witnessing the world and the systems we used to know and trust - collapsing. Then again, especially in nature or in a space of heart-to-heart connection and hope, we can hear the new world whispering. We may even find ourselves living in this new world from time to time. And the new world is not fixed, of course, it is created by ALL of us living on this planet. 

How are you creating and/or experiencing this new world today?

This month, we’re excited to share:

🍊 Our fruit trees: Huone 2050 and the Futures prototyping project

🌱 Our new shoots: Futures and Resilient Leadership project with the Latvian government’s Innovation Laboratory and welcoming two new collaborators

🌰 Sowing seeds: Transition Design Trainings and Decolonising Service Design in Government

🌞 Sunshine: Alvar Aalto Design Seminar 2025

We see this newsletter as a catalyst for conversations, relationships and collaborations - so we’d love to hear from you! If anything resonates with you, don’t hesitate to drop us an email at collective@falayconsulting.com

Fruit trees: Room 2050 and the Futures prototyping project

Ideas, projects and practices that are active and already fruitful with learnings and impact.

As an outcome of our Futures Prototyping project funded by the Finnish Prime Minister´s Office, we have created an experiential exhibition space, room 2050, with the Finnish Expert Panel for Sustainable Development. The room is a part of Panel’s future-oriented work, where the aim is to create positive images of futures to help various societal actors imagine and pursue desirable sustainability transformation. The room is based on three positive images of futures developed in collaboration with Demos Helsinki: “True-cost Economy”, “Planetary Rules”, and “Sustainability Awareness Revolution”. “Room 2050” is the Panel’s invitation to citizens to seek and create new ideas for building a positive and sustainable future. Below, you can read more about the project in our recently published case study.

Experience Room 2050 this weekend!

📅 25–26 May

🕛 12:00–19:00

📍 Oodi Library, Kuutio (2nd floor), Helsinki

New shoots: Futures and Resilient Leadership - a new programme for senior leaders with the Latvian government’s Innovation Laboratory

Emerging work that’s inspiring us, or that we are beginning to nurture

We're thrilled to share that one of our core team members, Anni Leppänen, is leading an exciting new initiative with the Latvia’s State Chancellery’s Innovation Laboratory. The Future-oriented Design Leadership Programme for 75 of Latvia’s top civil servants equips senior leaders with the tools to navigate the complexity of societal challenges and lead transformation to hopeful long-term visions in uncertain futures. 

Through two powerful modules focused on Futures and Resilient Leadership, this programme supports leaders to:

• Build long-term strategic visions for Latvia 2050

• Champion design-led innovation across government

• Develop capabilities to lead with care in uncertain times

The programme is developed by a team of international experts on futures and leadership, including our very own Savannah Vize and Eloise Smith-Foster co-designing the Futures module and collective imagination components, as well as Zeynep Falay von Flittner bringing to life the qualities and potential of inner leadership, alongside Janne Pulkkinen and Experio Lab’s Kalle Pettersson co-creating the Leadership module.

Are you interested in developing Leadership and Futures capabilities for the challenges of the 21st century?

Bonus new shoots: Welcoming new collaborators Angelos Arnis and Kaisa Roover

Angelos is a strategic designer building systems and conditions that drive meaningful impact, encourage radical collaboration, and promote intentional change. He is using design to create more equitable conditions for the planet and its people.

Kaisa is a sustainability transition designer with a background in the audiovisual industry and expertise in the Blue Economy, terrestrial bias in decision-making, justice in sustainability transformations and multi-species sustainability. She uses sustainability science, foresight, stakeholder engagement, design approaches, and creative methods in her work for the societal transformation discourse, especially related to the Baltic Sea.

Sowing seeds: Transition Design Trainings

We recently added 3 new dates for our transition design tools and applications training:

• June 25th

• July 16th

• August 19th

Join us for a 2.5-hours online workshop where we'll introduce you to Transition Design, Systems Thinking and Futures Thinking, share our Transition Design toolbox and guide you in applying it.

Bonus sowing seeds: Decolonising Service Design in Government

Earlier this month Eloise Smith-Foster, Sonia Turcotte and Clara Greo (Teoh) co-hosted an open inquiry on Decolonising service design in government. It was a beautiful session full of rich insight and reflections on shared challenges, as well as active hope and ideas for gesturing towards more decolonial practices.

“I advocate for small change start from ourselves acting. Sometimes it makes people feel uncomfortable even just talk about it. What might it be possible to generate some progressive small steps?” - Chiachi Ming, event participant

Sunshine: A dose of energy, uplift and hope

Something to nurture our hopefulness and balance the doom and gloom of the world.

• How do we carry design heritage forward with care in an age shaped by AI? What does authenticity feel like in a world of generative tools?

• At the 10th International Alvar Aalto Design Seminar – Checkpoint, we pause to reflect on the evolving nature of design through the lenses of Authenticity, Cohabitation, and Evolution. 

• Zeynep Falay von Flittner joins the Evolution theme, inviting us to explore how designers can help envision what meaningful everyday life could look like—lives lived within planetary boundaries, where all beings can thrive.

Let’s build a better future together.