Space Talks: Recent Episodes
SpaceAvailable.tv
A podcast which connects the dots to build a better world. The SPACE AVAILABLE founder, Daniel Mitchell talks to leading minds and creative visionaries who care deeply about Making Space for a Sustainable Future. This is SPACE TALKS.
Space Talks #017 : Dr. Lawrence Blair on Nature’s Systems, Ring of Fire and his Great Explorations
Dr. Lawrence Blair is an explorer, author and film-maker who has spent much of the last 40 years based in Indonesia. He has appeared widely on international tv and radio, discussing his field of psycho anthropology, strange creatures and tribal mysticism.
Educated in Britain, France and Mexico, Lawrence earned his doctorate at Lancaster University’s Department of Comparative Religion, England. His doctoral thesis, which explored and defined the field of psycho anthropology, was subsequently published as a widely successful book Rhythms of Vision – the Changing Patterns of Belief.
Lawrence is the creator (with his late brother, Lorne) of the Emmy award-winning TV series Ring of Fire (PBS in the US, and BBC in the UK) which helped awaken the world to Indonesia’s existence in the 1980’s and 90’s. He is also author of the companion book Ring of Fire, chronicling his and his brother’s ten years of adventure filming in Indonesia – a book which remained for ten weeks on the top-ten, non-fiction best-seller list in the UK.
Lawrence is also the writer and presenter of Sky TV UK’s TV series Myths, Magic and Monsters, which explores the stranger sides of both nature and the human mind. In addition to having been Visiting Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Southern California, Lawrence has written, produced and presented numerous adventure documentaries for international TV, including Omnimax/Eyemax feature documentaries such as Baraka, and Ring of Fire – Volcanoes of the Pacific Rim. More recently he produced and presented the film Bali – Island of the Dogs. Lawrence is much in demand as a public speaker for both corporations and expeditionary vessels.
Space Talks #016 : The Radical World of Bamboo Architecture and Sustainable Design with Orin Hardy
Orin Hardy is a husband, educator, and social entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of The Kul Kul Farm and Bamboo U, two globally recognised “hands-on” education enterprises based in Bali. Orin dedicates his time to creating spaces and opening up new possibilities for people to learn how to incorporate sustainability into their lives. Combining his international expertise with local knowledge, Orin facilitates and teaches courses related to hands-on living, permaculture design, gardening, and bamboo construction.
Orin was raised in a Balinese village, surrounded by rivers and jungle, he then moved to North America where he witnessed the disconnect between humans and nature in the modern world. He now spends his time devoted to reconnecting people to nature. Orin has just returned from India where he was a guest speaker at INK2019, a conference that provides a collaborative platform for innovation, focused on cultivating leaders from diverse disciplines. On this week’s episode, Orin is with me to share his journey, experiences, challenges, and hopes for the future.
Space Talks #015 : Sustainable Sneakers and Radical Recycling with Helen Kirkum
Helen Kirkum is a London-based artist and designer. Kirkum’s artisanship has garnered international acclaim, it is her ability to tell stories through her designs that sets her work apart. Each pair of sneakers she makes is unique, weaving together the memories of the components that make it, allowing the owner to own something inherently personal and one-of-a-kind. She is widely considered a pioneer of the hacked and deconstructed aesthetic within the sneaker industry, and in the vanguard of the sustainable footwear movement. Kirkum graduated from London’s Royal College of Art in 2016, through her practice, Kirkum challenges us to rethink the meaning of consumption and the way we interact with the products we own.
Space Talks #014 : Katie Treggiden on Waste Reimagined, Shifting to the Circular Economy and Zero Waste Living
Katie Treggiden is a purpose-driven writer and keynote speaker championing a circular approach to design – because Planet Earth needs better stories.
She is currently exploring the question ‘can craft save the world?’ through an emerging body of work that includes her fifth book, Wasted: When Trash Becomes Treasure (Ludion, 2020), and a podcast, Circular with Katie Treggiden.
With 20 years’ experience in the creative industries, she regularly contributes to publications such as The Guardian, Crafts Magazine, Design Milk and Monocle24. She has launched, edited and published an award-winning design blog and an independent print magazine.
Space Talks #013 : Rhythms of Nature with Cok Ibah and Maya Kerthyasa
Father and daughter Cok Ibah and Maya Kerthyasa, are royal descendants of the Ubudian Kingdom in Bali, Indonesia. They give insights from their vast knowledge of the unique culture that exists on the island. A culture deeply rooted in Nature, duality and daily ritual.
Space Talks #012 : Nicole McLaughlin on Upcycling and Sustainable Design
New York-based designer Nicole McLaughlin’s career began in 2018 as a hobby, making clothes out of highly unusual found objects. From old volleyballs turned into slippers, camera bags made into bralettes, board shorts sewn from packets of Haribo, and egg boxes used as straps in pool sliders, McLaughlin could see the potential in almost any surplus material. “I started with limited knowledge and resources,” she says. “But I didn’t want to be deterred by obstacles that I believed could be easily remedied.”
Today, her work highlights the importance of upcycling, and her tongue-in-cheek designs are a unique way of getting the sustainable fashion message across. ”I create out of passion and hope it gives power to my purpose; one that will help change people’s perception of waste and sustainable design,” she continues.
Space Talks #011 : Linyee Yuan on the Future of Food, Ecology and Sustainable Farming
LinYee Yuan is the founder and editor of MOLD. Through original reporting, MOLD explores how designers can address the coming food crisis by creating products and systems that will help feed 9 billion people by the year 2050. In addition to the website and a self-published bi-annual print magazine, MOLD hosts events and exhibitions, works with next generation food brands, and commissions products from emerging designers. LinYee was previously the entrepreneur in residence for QZ.com and an editor for Core77, T: The New York Times Style Magazine and Theme Magazine.
Space Talks #010 : Julia Watson on Indigenous Technologies and Lo Tek Sustainable Design
Architect, design activist and academic Julia Watson is a leading expert on Indigenous technologies and author of Lo-TEK, Design by Radical Indigenism. She teaches urban design at Harvard and Columbia while leading her eponymous experiential, landscape and urban design studio.
Watson approaches design as rewilding, by bringing the language of botany and biodiversity back to our cities. Inspired by Indigenous knowledge and plants, her portfolio of projects includes the Rockefeller Center Summer Gardens, Bali’s first UNESCO World Heritage site, the Gateway to the City of El Segundo at LAX and private estates for the owners of PACE Galleries and the artist Rashid Johnson.
Space Talks #009 : Dr Lawrence Blair on Nature’s Systems, Meditation and Ring of Fire Adventures with The Beatles
Dr. Lawrence Blair is an explorer, author and film-maker who has spent much of the last 40 years based in Indonesia. He has appeared widely on international tv and radio, discussing his field of psycho anthropology, strange creatures and tribal mysticism.
Educated in Britain, France and Mexico, Lawrence earned his doctorate at Lancaster University’s Department of Comparative Religion, England. His doctoral thesis, which explored and defined the field of psycho anthropology, was subsequently published as a widely successful book Rhythms of Vision – the Changing Patterns of Belief.
Lawrence is the creator (with his late brother, Lorne) of the Emmy award-winning TV series Ring of Fire (PBS in the US, and BBC in the UK) which helped awaken the world to Indonesia’s existence in the 1980’s and 90’s. He is also author of the companion book Ring of Fire, chronicling his and his brother’s ten years of adventure filming in Indonesia – a book which remained for ten weeks on the top-ten, non-fiction best-seller list in the UK.
Lawrence is also the writer and presenter of Sky TV UK’s TV series Myths, Magic and Monsters, which explores the stranger sides of both nature and the human mind. In addition to having been Visiting Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Southern California, Lawrence has written, produced and presented numerous adventure documentaries for international TV, including Omnimax/Eyemax feature documentaries such as Baraka, and Ring of Fire – Volcanoes of the Pacific Rim. More recently he produced and presented the film Bali – Island of the Dogs. Lawrence is much in demand as a public speaker for both corporations and expeditionary vessels.
Space Talks #008 : Elora Hardy on Bamboo Architecture and Nature’s Teachings
Elora is the Founder and Creative Director of IBUKU. Raised in Bali, Elora was inspired by the highly skilled local craftsmen as well as her parents’ talented jewelry designs. She spent 14 years of her young adult life in the United States, where she received a degree in fine arts and went on to New York City to design prints for Donna Karan that would walk the world’s runways.
In 2010, Elora left her successful career in the fashion world to carry on the incredible work of the design-build team that created the world-renowned Green School in Bali, founded by her father John Hardy. She reconnected with the culture and landscape that she loves and today continues to cultivate Balinese artisans alongside innovative designers and architects with the goal of making Bali a global center for sustainable design and bringing those designs to the rest of the world.