Earth Month 25: Cultures of Action - Circular Design II

Circular Design is the innovative approach transforming industries and paving the way for a sustainable future. Sustainable design practices form a crucial element in eliminating waste and pollution and creating products and services sustainable for the environment. This Earth Month 2025 event will bring together experts, artists, and activists to share their expertise on best practices on strengthening long-lasting and sustainable production.

Join us for part two of the discussion with expert John Thorne, sustainability coordinator at Glasgow School of Art, and Kate V Robertson, visual artist and Co-Founder of Sculpture Placement Group, Circular Arts Network, and Arts Resource Management Scotland, as they explore how circular design principles can revolutionise the way we create, consume, and coexist.

Introduction by Justine Laurent (video), Managing Director of Circulab

Our Guests and Speakers:

John Thorne, Sustainability Coordinator at Glasgow School of Art

With over 20 years’ experience in environmental roles, John Thorne joined the Glasgow School of Art as its Sustainability Coordinator in 2013. There is no better place than an art school to both develop circular design principles and to discover practical applications, and John Thorne’s work roves across the GSA’s Design, Fine Art, Architecture and Innovation and Technology schools. Key to our development is the psychology behind our social and economic decisions, and our emotional attachment to ourselves, each other and wider Nature. John Thorne integrates this by supporting the wellbeing of students. and through their projects, how we can connect the environment with social justice issues to transform our society. Art is critical in this process, forming an emotional link to areas such as race, gender and class, and how they are intertwined with our history, culture and how we design future systems.

Kate V Robertson, visual artist and Co-Founder of Sculpture Placement Group, Circular Arts Network, and Arts Resource Management Scotland.
Kate is specifficaly interested in organisations dealing with second life, sustainability, and sharing. Sculpture Placement Group have recently been added to Creative Scotland’s multi year funded organisation portfolio, and they referred to SPG as "sector leaders in environmental sustainability, a future focussed organisation with a strong creative vision working towards a clear set of high quality outcomes that address gaps within the visual arts sector in Scotland.” Based in Glasgow, Kate's art and research is preoccupied with reuse and changing the way art is made, shown and commissioned. Recently, Kate has been working in cast bronze and aluminium, and has been developing a zero waste practice using almost entirely recycled materials and utilising all offcuts and leftovers.

Justine Laurent, Managing Director of Circulab

Specialist in creativity and new business models, Justine is a graduate in international management and innovation (Chile and Spain) and Managing Director of Circulab, a strategy and design agency dedicated to the circular and regenerative economy.

She has co-designed the circular design method and tools of Circulab that she applies as consultant with clients such as Plastic Omnium Environnement, HEC Executive Education, Communauté d'Agglomération Seine-Eure, CTCN-UNIDO or the City of Paris. Justine is also a teacher and trainer on innovation and circular economy. She is a regular lecturer for the design school ENSCI-Les ateliers and co-designed the diploma "Collective Intelligence for a Circular Economy" offered by University of Paris-Saclay. She is the educational coordinator of the Global Circular Economy Chair at ESSEC Business School.