As we reflected upon the topic of “co-living” following the World Design Talk™ in Izmir, we came across a fascinating project led by young designers from WDO Member Instituto Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in Puebla, Mexico: Dominik Bini, José Luis Galindo and Denisse Ojeda.
Rise is a smart carpet that seeks not only to improve people’s life but also to empower refugees to grow and harvest their own food throughout an intelligent carpet made of 100% natural materials.
We asked Dominik Bini to tell us the story of Rise and how, as Industrial Designers, he and his team aimed at using their expertise to help refugees and people in general, live better lives in cities.
The beginnings
Rise started as a school project that came to life after seven months of research and development, looking at the current refugee situation and the huge humanitarian crisis that surrounds it. The team decided to take Syria as a starting point. Along the way, more problems needed to be addressed such as infertile soil, security, life quality and lack of nutrients. This led the team to realize that all these concepts could be merged into something unique. That was the beginning of Rise.