Newtopia Manifesto

Created at ENSAD Nancy, France in 2018-2019



This project was created for the development of a personal manifesto about design that will shape future projects. Without an ideal, how can one work towards a positive goal?

Most visions available of possible futures are techno centric and devoid of passion and fun. Worlds where technologies are the saviours of man’s mistakes but nowhere is there a change in behaviour.

In a way it seems like people want to transform our society not to be better, but to create solutions so that we continue being how we are without ~dying~.

In this project, I am trying to understand what is good design and what design deserves to be part of our future. In our current day and age, environmental issues are key and that is why as a creator, I wanted to reduce my carbon footprint as much as possible. After taking a simple test online, it was evident I consumed far more than my share of available resources on our planet which led to the question:

What are we allowed as 1/8 000 000 000 of the Earth?











It is important to take the time to slow down.

It is important to take the time to read, talk, think, eat, sleep.

It is important to love.

It is important to be honest.

It is important to remember that important things are not rules. Simply important elements.

It is important to take the time to know what is happening in the world. (“Good design expresses the Zeitgeist”)

It is important to take the time to know what has happened in the world. (History is key, without history all is simply styling/embrace of the new)

It is important to remember where we are and what surrounds us.

It is important to care.

It is important to act.

















Opinions are free.

Everything is simple, nothing is too serious.

I must use a fair share of ressources. To be allowed ressources, I should participate in their creation might that be their growth or the funding and support of people who make them.

Objects that I own at the moment are accepted, all objects to be acquired from here on out, must be thought out and analyzed.

I am important. I must remember that other people are important as well.

I must take into consideration what the effect of my action might be.

I must strive to spread joy.

I am a designer, I must design my surroundings.

Take yourself seriously.

Don’t take yourself seriously.












Utopia performance







Once the manifesto was created a performance was prepared and 30 students from the school were invited to this secret gathering to talk about our shared future.

From that point on, they were presented with the idea of our responsability as creators and ten people were asked to volunteer to be the first to pass a test.

Aiming to be a hippocratic oath of design in  a way, it asked if these 10 volunteers were ready to pay extra attention to their impact on the world.










Tools used in the elaboration of this project:

InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, Silkscreening, Sewing (to make the clothes worn during the performance)
and of course, a lot of inspiration from the Italian Radicals!