We are your
partner in
circular design
and strategy,
together shaping a
better way forward.
As an impact-driven organisation, we act on a deep-rooted belief that environmental impact can be designed out.
Taking our inspiration from the natural world’s ability to move in diverse, systematic circular flows.
Where in nature, there is no waste.
Attempting this in reality for your business can be complex and often overwhelming.
Simply put, that’s why we are here.
We help you to work with nature, not against it and unlock new ways of doing business.
What if everything we did, consumed and created, enriched the living systems we rely on – the land, water, air and the energy we all share?
An economy measured by the health of our living systems – both human and planetary – to not only survive, but thrive. By designing the circular flows of materials, products and resources through our hands, homes, industries and cities where waste is designed out and carnon reaches drawdown. The time is now.
We invest and incentivise innovation across the full system towards this future state. Worth up to $4.5 trillion dollars in wasted resources globally to address the 45% of emissions generated by how we produce and make products.
Enabling products to become services and our materials flow through circular systems to enable recovery, reuse, repair and remanufacture.
So that, ultimately - our businesses, households and communities thrive.
Circularity was ‘created’ by our founder Louise Nash as part of a Master of Technological Futures in 2018.
Her Masters was focused on understanding the environmental impact caused by everything we make, create, use and consume. Known as the linear economy, it uses the Earth's ecological resources and returns them as pollution.
She explored how businesses could unlock new ways of working that reduce their impact by regenerating, restoring and recirculating resources. To lighten their impact on the natural world. The Master’s program provided the scaffolding around how Louise might develop the tools, processes and approaches that would help businesses accelerate the shift from linear to circular ways of operating. She launched Circularity and the Circular by Design methods as key artefacts for her Masters.
Circularity's journey -
By working directly with businesses to understand and validate the best ‘tools’ to unlock mindset, build capability and unearth solutions, we have been able to rapidly accelerate our impact and reach. For each new project we continually refine our approach, selecting what works best for each business, to increase our impact and the challenge we need to solve. From waste, emissions, apathy or sometimes just lack of awareness of the issues or even just finding the right solution for the job.
We have had the opportunity to contribute to reports such as Rethinking plastics in Aotearoa New Zealand, Hosting events at Techweek - working with clients like Cardrona, APL, launching a global waterless skincare brand and designing with biomaterials made by 4D printers with our friends at Scion... In 2020 we brought this body of work together to deliver XLabs, NZ’s first circular economy lab. Over a 9 week design sprint 17 businesses came together to develop solutions for the environmental challenges using circular principles through a te ao Māori world view.
This year we launched our podcast called The Redesign of Everything, so that we might share the work of the changemakers and the practitioners around the world to inspire others to do the same. In February next year, we are thrilled to be representing NZ at the World Expo in Dubai to share our NZ perspective on how we might tackle the global food waste challenge.
In 2021, we formed a strategic partnership with the Ministry for the Environment to bring XLabs back in 2021/22 - Aotearoa's circular economy lab where businesses can design solutions to an enviromental challenge facing their business. See XLabs.nz.
Find out more about our journey on our podcast here.
Louise Nash
Founder and CEO of Circularity and XLabs — Aotearoas's first circular economy lab.
Louise Nash holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics, a Masters of Commercial Law, Masters of Applied Technological Futures and an IDEO Certificate in Business Design. Her experience spans 20+ years in global strategic brand development, human-centered design thinking facilitation and emerging disruptive technology. Her strategy work has covered the depth and breadth of government, business, goods and services, across Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Singapore. She has been recognised as a creative innovator at the Global Cannes awards, Festival of Media awards of Singapore and has collected over 50 Gold and Best in Show awards for her work.
Bree Asmus
Design Strategist
A thoughtful and thorough practitioner, Bree brings over ten years experience in design, strategy and storytelling. Originally trained as a product designer, Bree is a highly regarded, empathic strategist well versed in a wide range of industries and across some of Aotearoa's leading businesses & brands.
Benji Lines
Impact & Insights Analyst
Benji grounds Circularity’s work in impact - he loves to redesign systems for better and coach people in business to build capability themselves. In his work he has seen many people who are motivated to change but just don't know how to start. This is what drives him to show how we can reimagine value for individual roles, business and the environment. Benji has a Bachelor’s degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics and a Master’s degree in Sustainable Business, which included research in circular policy for soft plastic packaging.
Mia Henderson
Network Activator
Mia’s background in production, graphic design and slow and circular fashion practices lend well to her passion of transitioning the world around her to be more regenerative and resilient. Having completed a Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Fashion Design, this has provided Mia an understanding for materials, systems and communicating a case for change. Mia uses these skills to help inform research, communication and design resources to create positive impact for our clients and community.
We are part of a growing community around the world that is shaping the economy towards regenerative outcomes.
We work openly with this global coalition of the willing, bringing together leading knowledge, insights and tools from across oceans, industries and expertise as and when our work benefits from it.
Our approach is inspired by the organisations, communities, and people who seek a better future and are working to make it possible. Taking learnings from those who have come before, and together, leading a better way forward.
Ma mua ka kite a muri, ma muri ka ora a mua. Those who lead give sight to those who follow. Those who follow give life to those who lead.
As our partners, you can be part of this global movement, this new narrative for innovation. Together, we’ll shape a better way forward that’s Circular by Design. Creating closed-loop systems, exploring circular business models, innovating with smarter materials, regenerative behaviours, and embedding solutions with technology — these are some of the proven methods we will use to tackle the challenges we face today.
In one of the first media interviews, our Founder talks to Jesse Mulligan about the circular economy opportunity
Yvon Chouinard, Founder Patagonia.
