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E1: Speculative Design with Eleonore Eisath

This is a transcript of the first episode of Cognitive Snap. Listen on your favourite podcast app →

Understanding Design Beyond User-Centricity

"Design" has become such a ubiquitous term that its meaning has become elastic and unclear. In contemporary industry practice, design typically means understanding users and their needs, then solving problems through available technology.

Yet design can transcend this user-centric framework. It serves as a vehicle for reflection, discussion, and exploration of possibilities beyond immediate utility.

"Speculative design is a really common tool to show different versions of the future."

Eleonore Eisath offers insight into this expanded conception of design. For her thesis work, Ele designed a biotic recycling system for plastic waste using wax worms capable of decomposing plastics—a fascinating intersection of biology and design thinking.

Defining Speculative Design

Designer J. Paul Neeley provides a useful framework:

"A discipline looking to design future products and services as a way to understand the social, cultural and ethical implications of emerging technologies..."

In their book Speculative Everything, Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby argue that inspiration comes from "cinema, literature, science, ethics, politics, and art" rather than from traditional design methodology alone.

The Futuro House and Design Speculation

In 1968, Finnish architect Matti Suuronen designed the Futuro House, a spacecraft-like ski cabin made from fiberglass-reinforced plastic. The structure was modular, mobile, and utterly futuristic—yet in 1968, nobody actually needed it. This wasn't market-driven design; it was speculation about emerging futures.

The Futuro 50|50 Exhibition

Nearly two years ago, 26 students from the Technical University of Munich created an installation at the Pinakothek der Moderne commemorating the Futuro House's 50th anniversary. The exhibition asked: what does the world hold in 2068, and what do we hold for it?

Ele's team imagined floating islands constructed from collected ocean plastic—a speculative solution that introduced her to wax worms.

Meeting the Wax Worms

Wax worms earned their name from infiltrating beehives and consuming them from inside. In 2017, scientists discovered these worms could digest plastic. Ele decided to pursue this in her master thesis, examining the technology's broader implications.

The Beworm Speculative Future

To ground her research in compelling narrative, Ele constructed a scenario: by 2040, fossil fuel depletion forces governments to ban virgin plastic production. She imagined a startup called Beworm that would recycle polyethylene using worms, producing nylon thread for textile manufacturers.

The speculative company needed a website. Rather than adopting sterile scientific language, Ele used simple illustrations, rounded typography, and gentle animations to make complex biotechnology accessible.

"What is visualised is understood, and what's understood is supported."

From Speculation to Reality

What began as thesis work evolved into genuine startup activity. Ele obtained funding and began serious implementation with multiple biologists conducting deeper microbiome research.

"Sometimes I wake up and I think, 'you're founding a biotechnology start-up. How did we get to this point...'"

Negotiating the Future

Science fiction and speculative design function as opening offers in humanity's negotiation with its future. The initial pitch matters profoundly—it establishes negotiating boundaries and determines whether society aims toward hopeful, dystopian, or merely mediocre futures.

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