Design Indaba

Central Saint Martins graduate, Megan Turtle, has been awarded the Cambridge Consultants Associate Prize for Breakthrough Design at New Designers 2026 for her innovation EyeCapture device. EyeCapture uses smartphone technology to help people with diabetes capture images of their eyes at home, supporting retinal health monitoring making screening more accessible. The concept was designed in response to a significant challenge in preventative healthcare.

The Whale, a cultural centre in Andenes, on the island of Andøya, is set to open in June 2027. Set on a remote coastline in Norway and designed by Danish architect Dorte Mandrup, the landmark is dedicated to the whales that inhabit the surrounding Arctic coastline. Mandrup’s design is conceived as a continuation of the coastline, with a sweeping concrete roof that rises gradually from the rocky terrain, evoking the form of the curved back of a whale emerging from the sea.

Presented with the Cadbury-Mondelz International Consumer Design Award, Wing-See Yau, a Brunel University graduate’s digital reading companion is a small handheld device, inspired by the Tamagotchi, designed to encourage childhood reading. Developed during Yau’s final year at Brunel University, the device named ‘Yomi’ transforms reading time into a game in which children nurture a digital animal.

Pentagram designed, the Silver Linings report turns Raiany Romanni-Klein’s complex longevity research  into  an interactive digital experience that highlights the possible futures of increased healthspan. Created by Pentagram partner Giorgia Lupi, the project translates hundreds of pages of scientific, economic and demographic research into a data-driven visual narrative.

WasteLand Climate Action Park, a former contaminated industrial site, is the home to a pink lithium crystal sauna designed by Swedish duo Bigert & Bergström. The Lithium Crystal Sauna is a fully functional public sauna, that takes the form of an enormous, asymmetrical pink crystal, a deliberate reference to one of the minerals driving the global transition towards electric vehicles, batteries and renewable energy storage.

An interactive installation by designer Michal Rinott and the Kadar Design and Technology Center, encouraging children to discover the connection between movement, nature and wellbeing through a guided yoga experience.

Elle Turner, Australian designer, has used her experience during Australia’s drought periods and intense water restrictions to develop a shower water saver to make every water conservation habits practical. Growing up during the Millennium drought, small water saving hacks were employed such as using buckets in the shower to capture water wastage while waiting for the shower to heat up.

Stella Juva, developed by students from Eindhoven University of Technology, is an ambulance that can travel to communities without reliable access to fuel, electricity or charging infrastructure. Described as the world’s first solar-powered ambulance, the vehicle uses electric mobility with an onboard renewable energy system capable of supporting medical equipment. Stella Juva functions as a mobile healthcare station with a climate controlled medical cabin.

German designer, Aaron Mooser, has developed the Symbios buoy system for sustainable seaweed cultivation and farming. Originally conceptualised as a bachelor’s thesis at Bauhaus University Weimar, the project aimed to explored how product design can help create a more resilient and ecologically sensitive form of ocean farming. The resulting design, Symbios, is a system of interconnected buoys that regulates the depth at which seaweed grows.

Snøhetta has unveiled the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota, a cultural institution conceived as a home for history and living biological repository. Designed to honour the American president whose time in the Badlands shaped his lifelong commitment to conservation, the project invites visitors to experience the landscape that inspired Roosevelt while actively contributing to its restoration.