'We’re on the cusp of massive change and craft could accelerate it' says the CEO of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation

23 November 2021

Andrew Morlet, Chief Executive of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Big industry wants to transform, and makers have an important role to play in inspiring innovation, according to Andrew Morlet, Chief Executive of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

Speaking to us at the end of the Climate Change Conference he said that ‘COP26’s biggest success isn’t Net Zero targets – it’s the momentum for change it is driving in all areas.’ He added that, while more ambitious energy targets are clearly needed in some countries to keep the 1.5 degrees climate target alive, we now have key industrial sectors that are ready to change and the world’s biggest investors are signalling they will channel capital into green innovations. ‘Craft and art can play a role in shifting mindsets - they have an influence that is hard to quantify on a spreadsheet,’ he said.

Morlet, who took on the role of Chair of the Trustees for the Crafts Council in July and who co-founded a textiles printing studio in Sydney in his 20s, also spoke about how an appreciation for craft encourages people to have a different relationship to materials and objects, which is vital for stemming the tide of consumption. ‘We need fewer and better objects and products that we will repair and treasure, which is where craft and design come in,’ he said. ‘By eliminating waste and creating products that can be in use for far longer – that can be repaired, upgraded and manufactured, and ultimately returned to the ecosystem, rather than discarded as landfill – we will ensure we get a much higher return on materials value and invested energy.’

While he predicts we’ll see ‘massive change in the next five to ten years', we shouldn’t expect it to happen in the immediate aftermath of COP26. ‘It’s one frame of the movie, not the movie itself.’

Read on for the full interview…

How successful do you think COP26 has been?

Andrew Morlet: The transition to renewable energy and improving energy efficiency are only part of the change needed, but they are hugely important. I believe we are making good progress but COP26’s biggest success isn’t just Net Zero targets – it’s the momentum for change it is driving in all areas. COP has encouraged other people, organisations and sectors to set their own milestones and deadlines for improving their environmental impact and to discuss the issues publicly. The tsunami of activity is as important as the banner moments.

We do need more ambitious objectives from many countries and sectors, but the trajectory is positive – particularly the involvement of the finance sector in COP for the first time, which made it clear that money is available. We now need to identify the right data to ensure the capital is allocated in a way that accelerates that agenda, and to create transparency around it. Some of the world's largest investors are making very positive signals about channelling that towards innovation. Clearly, much more needs to be done but we’re making progress on this journey.

We need fewer and better products and objects that we will repair and treasure, which is where craft and design come in
Andrew Morlet

What’s the place of craft in this conversation?

Switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy is about 55% of the solution to achieving the 1.5% climate target – the other 45% comes from the way we make and use things, including food. By eliminating waste and pollution, and creating products that can be in use for far longer – that can be repaired, upgraded and manufactured, and ultimately recycled as a high quality material feedstock, rather than discarded as landfill – we will ensure we get a much higher return on invested energy. We need less, and better products and objects that we will repair and treasure, which is where craft comes in.

Felicity Irons gathering bulrushes on the River Ouse in Bedfordshire. The Rushmatters’ founder creates 100% natural homewares using this renewable local material. Photo: CPRE, courtesy the artist

Why did you put yourself forward for the role of chair of the trustees for the Crafts Council?

I was a fine art fabric printer in my 20s – my work is in the permanent collection of the National Gallery in Australia – so I've always had a fascination with different craft forms. People who appreciate craft have a unique relationship with objects. They’re interested in their story: the provenance, the makers, the techniques, the materials and the beauty. This kind of thinking is very relevant to my work with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which focuses on promoting a circular economy, a model for the future that challenges people to think about their connection to objects and how we make and use things. I think crafts have an important role to play in shifting mindsets and inspiring and informing people.

To achieve real change after COP26, do we need to move away from GDP as a measure of national success, and create new economic models that reward re-use and repair, and encompass a country’s natural assets?

The measures of GDP are based on throughput – they’re measures of a linear economy, not a circular and regenerative one. Our economy is based on throughput and is massively wasteful, and polluting. We have effectively normalised 'disposability' and short product life across all sectors – for example, we now buy more clothing than ever but use any garment less than ever before discarding it to landfill or incineration. Focusing on GDP growth rewards this activity. There's a big effort underway to establish alternative measures that reward regenerative agriculture and other economic practices that are nature positive and build natural capital.

Craft and art have a role to play shifting mindsets and inspiring and informing people – they have an influence that is hard to quantify on a spreadsheet

This research is now happening. It's easy to be critical about COP26 and say we’re not doing enough – and the press does need to keep the pressure on – but we must recognise that we are on the cusp of a massive change. For many decades we’ve extracted an overwhelming amount of value from the planet which has been wasteful, polluting and damaging to ecosystems but now we're starting to have real conversations about new forms of economic value creation that could make the world a fundamentally different place. We shouldn’t expect the world to change immediately after COP. It’s one frame of the movie, not the movie itself. But I do think we’ll see a massive shift in the next five to ten years.

The circular economy isn’t just about reducing our energy footprint, it’s about regenerating natural systems. What implications could regenerative agriculture have on the craft world and vice versa?

I won’t name specific makers, but many textile artists, basket-makers and woodworkers use materials farmed or forested in regenerative ways – made from heritage plants or crops that don’t require pesticides or irrigation and improve soil quality. In the UK food industry, we’re also seeing examples of artisanal bakeries who are making their bread from diverse heritage grains grown by a network of smallholder farmers. And for some of these businesses, it's not about making expensive loaves for hipsters, rather they’re aiming to challenge systems and to get their products into the mainstream. To make meaningful change, we need to ask questions like, how craft can influence design? And how can design influence the way we live in the world?

Thanks to organisations like Wildfarmed, bakers are now making their bread from diverse heritage grains grown by a network of smallholder farmers. Morlet says that makers are increasingly doing the same, working with materials from heritage crops
The regenerative farming movement is being pioneered by organisations such as Wildfarmed, which aims to make agriculture a 'solution to our biodiversity and climate crises rather than a contributor'

Makers often work alone or as part of small studios. How can we encourage greater connections between craftspeople themselves to foster innovation, and with larger industry, to help radical ideas become mainstream?

I think digital communication has a really important role in the future of craft. Today you can see makers connecting in ways they’ve never done before. Being able to share ideas, find a community, perhaps even collaborate and have access to a wider range of information is transformative and exciting. Added to this, we now have an industrial sector that wants to transform – I know this from the many CEOs I’m in contact with through the foundation. They are aware that it’s as much about shifting mindsets as it is about technical solutions. Craft and art have a role to play shifting those mindsets and inspiring and informing people – they have an influence that is hard to quantify on a spreadsheet, but we know intuitively that tactile and visual examples can be more compelling and persuasive than analytics and logic alone. The digital exchange of craft ideas can have a profound impact on the public and industrial actors, engineers and designers, and this exchange has become more fluid than ever during the pandemic.