education
Carbon Literacy
Putney School of Art
Central Saint Martins
Oxford University
London College of Communications
Chartered Institute of Marketing
Institute of Direct Marketing
About Katie Treggiden
Founder and director of Making Design Circular, Katie Treggiden, speaks and writes about defiant hope and the role that crafts and making can play in tackling the environmental crisis –– for creative organisations and publications who want to make a difference.
With an international network of designers, makers, artists and craftspeople as well as 20 years’ experience in the creative industries, six books, a podcast and countless newspaper and magazine articles to her name, Katie is an engaging and thought-provoking speaker and writer.
Backstory
Born in Manchester, the home of the Industrial Revolution, Katie grew up in Cornwall, surrounded by the natural world. As a child, she took for granted that you could catch mackerel for the barbeque from a day boat, find grasshoppers between molehills on the lawn, and watch bats catching insects at dusk.
Like so many young people who grow up in rural areas, she headed for the bright city lights as soon as she hit 18, reading biology and marketing management at Oxford Brookes University, deepening her understanding of environmental issues while honing her communication skills, before embarking on a successful 12-year career in advertising, marketing and brand strategy in London.
In 2010, seeking more purpose, she became a craft and design journalist, focusing on creativity as a positive agent for social change. Having written four books, established an award-winning blog and an independent magazine, as well as contributing to publications such as The Guardian, Crafts Magazine and Elle Decoration, she moved back to Cornwall. It was not the county she remembered.
There were no longer enough mackerel for it to be worth taking a day boat out fishing – and as for molehills, grasshoppers and bats? Nowhere to be seen. In fact, we have lost 50% of the world’s biodiversity in Katie’s lifetime alone.
With a renewed sense of purpose, she undertook a Master’s degree in the History of Design at the University of Oxford, setting herself an informal question to guide her research: ‘can craft save the world?’
She graduated in 2019 with, not only a distinction and papers on bio-facture, repair and the plastics crisis, but an answer to the question that has become the ‘North Star’ for an emerging body of work exploring the role that craft and design can play in a just transition to a more circular economy.
It was during her time at Oxford that she laid the groundwork for her fifth and sixth books, Wasted: When Trash Becomes Treasure (Ludion, 2020) and Broken: Mending and Repair in a Throwaway World (Ludion, 2023), and her podcast Circular with Katie Treggiden.
She wanted to start making a more direct impact, so she founded Making Design Circular, an international membership community and online learning platform for environmentally conscious designers, makers, artists and craftspeople, in 2021.
Katie was the founder and first president of women’s network Bloom and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a non-executive director at Krowji, Cornwall’s largest creative hub.
Photo credit Emma Oakes
A potted history
Writing Broken: Mending & Repair in a Throwaway World (Ludion) // Launching Season 03 of the podcast, Making Design Circular with Katie Treggiden // Covering Milan Design Week, London Design Fair & Dutch Design Week for Design Milk // Launching new courses and workshops within Making Design Circular.
2023
Delivering the closing keynote for Vancouver Zero Waste conference in person // Writing for The Observer & Crafts Magazine // Writing a column for both Dezeen and Design Milk // Heading up the sustainability awards judging panel for a second year // Covering Milan Design Week for Design Milk.
2022
Launching Making Design Circular // Graduating from the University of Oxford after a COVID minute // Being awarded Eco Champion – Thought Leader by Homes & Gardens, the first time a non-designer has received the award // Heading up the Dezeen Sustainability Awards judging panel // Supporting Surfers Against Sewage // Writing for The Observer & Crafts Magazine
2021
WritingWasted: When Trash Becomes Treasure (Ludion, 2020) with a foreword by Glenn Adamson // Launching the podcast Making Design Circular with Katie Treggiden // Delivering the closing keynote for the Vancouver Zero Waste conference remotely // Covering Paris Design Week and the Stockholm Furniture Fair for Design Milk // Signing up for LivingWage // Writing for The Guardian & Crafts Magazine.
2020
Gaining a distinction for her Master’s degree in History of Design from Oxford University // Conceiving and helping to launch Design Can – an initiative to improve diversity and representation in the creative industries // Opening London Craft Week’s event series with Making It In London – a debate for Cockpit Arts.
2019
Writing Weavers: Contemporary Makers on the Loom (Ludion, 2018) with a launch at the Tate Modern // Writing the foreword to The Value of Making by Emily Jo Gibbs // Travelling to NYC to write the cover story for Brussels Airline’s in-flight magazine // Being appointed trustee of the Leach Pottery // Hosting a press conference for MINI Living at LDF // Writing for Monocle Magazine.
2018
Writing Urban Potters: Makers in the City (Ludion, 2017) // Writing for Sunday Times Magazine // Closing confessions of a design geek after seven years and international recognition from Cision, The Sunday Times, Elle Deco Italia and Dwell US // Writing for Viewpoint Magazine // Being accepted onto the Master’s in History of Design programme at Oxford University.
2017
Writing the foreword to Residents: Inside the Iconic Barbican Estate by photographer Anton Rodriguez // Working as a creative consultant for Sainsbury’s Home // Writing for The Guardian Magazine and Stylist // Travelling to Norway for a story on Universal Design for Norwegian Arts // Being appointed as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
2016
Writing Makers of East London (Hoxton Mini Press) – described by Nigel Slater as 'heartwarming’ // Fiera Magazine being nominated for MagPile’s Best New Magazine and shortlisted for Stack Magazines' Launch of the Year & Best Use of Illustration // Being invited to speak at the Norwegian Embassy // Writing for Elle Decoration.
2015
Conceiving, launching, publishing and editing Fiera – an independent print magazine discovering new talent at the world’s design fairs, raising over £16,000 on Kickstarter for its first issue // Making the first of many appearances on M24 – Monocle’s 24-hour radio station // Hosting an ‘in conversation with’ Kenneth Grange at Clerkenwell Design Week // Writing for the Telegraph Magazine // Writing for Dezeen.
2014
Working as Maggie’s in-house copywriter, rewriting all printed materials and creating a brand lexicon to sit alongside Pentagram’s visual brand guidelines // Being selected for BlogTour NYC to visit New York // Launching the annual confessions of a design geek bursary, which awarded a new designer £10K in-kind to kick-start their career.
2013
Leaving a 12-year career in advertising and brand strategy to become a full-time craft and design writer // Winning VisitFinland competition to visit Helsinki as design and architecture blogger // Delivering the keynote speech at the Hive conference in Helsinki.
2012
Writing and and self-publishing her first book, Interviews // Becoming editor-at-large for Design Milk covering EMEA // Becoming new business and client services director heading up the London office for David & Goliath, an LA-based advertising agency.
2011
Launching confessions of a design geek, which was nominated for ‘Best Interior Blog in Great Britain’ within five weeks of launch – an award it went on to win // Becoming client services director and being appointed to the management board of Kindred (previously known as Mustoes) // Conceiving and founding Bloom a network for women in communications.
2011
Rising through the ranks at top London marketing agencies, developing strategies for clients such as Kia Motors, Blistex and LA Fitness // Being selected for Marketing Week’s 30 under 30 // Studying interior design, web design, photography, screen printing and pottery at Putney School of Art & Design // Post-graduate diplomas in marketing with Institute of Direct Marketing (IDM) and Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) // BSc (Hons) in biology & marketing management.
2000—2010
The Team
YVONNE FRASER
PA & STUDIO MANAGER
Yvonne is the yin to Katie’s yang – she thinks in Excel spreadsheets, while Katie thinks in pictures and narratives. Her unflappable organisational skills and level-headed advice have become a vital part of Studio Treggiden. A self-employed consultant who specialises in helping small, creative businesses with everything from strategy, forecasting and planning to day-to-day studio management, Yvonne does all of that for Katie and more. She comes from a background of investor relations in the building materials and energy sectors, and entered the creative sphere in 2012 with a four year tenure at Margo Selby. Alongside her role at Studio Treggiden, she also works with Block Design and runs an Airbnb at the bottom of her garden.
ANTHONY LEYTON
EDITOR
Anthony has been working with Katie for more than five years and has edited her last three books, two forewords and countless other pieces of written work, offering a fresh pair of eyes, a different perspective and a trusted sounding board on all things written. Anthony spent seven years at Mr & Mrs Smith, where he was managing editor, then set up his own business helping people to write books and brands to tell stories. Anthony is the editor at design communications agency Zetteler and spends the rest of his time working with clients such as Aman, The LUX* Collective, Music Concierge, Jotun and the National Cookery School Guide. Anthony likes to tell people he lives in Hertfordshire, although it would probably be more accurate to say Essex.
SARAH WILLIAMS
LITERARY AGENT
Originally hailing from Vancouver, Canada and now working for the Sophie Hicks Agency in London, Sarah Williams is Katie’s literary agent – for books as well as public speaking, TV and radio opportunities. Sarah’s experience representing writers across fiction, food, lifestyle, personal development, humour, popular science, travel, nature and memoir makes her a crucial part of Katie’s team and often the first to hear her most nascent ideas. Sarah was named a Rising Star by The Bookseller in 2016. She has a PhD in English literature, is a graduate of the publishing program at Columbia University and is on the faculty of the Columbia Publishing Course at the University of Oxford, Exeter College.
BRUCE HEMMING
INTERIORS PHOTOGRAPHER
Bruce is a location and travel photographer with over thirty years of experience in shooting interiors and architecture – and a gentle and respectful approach to capturing people’s homes. He and Katie have been working together on homes stories for interior design magazines and newspapers for almost a decade. His clients include editorial publishers worldwide, national tourism organisations and hotel and hospitality industry groups. His work has been published in Harper's Bazaar, Coastal Living, The Telegraph Magazine, Homes and Gardens, Country Living, The Boston Globe, Maco Magazines (Trinidad) and many other books and magazines.
ROBERT TREGGIDEN
PROOFREADER
Katie’s dad ignited her love of reading at a young age, giving her a treasured copy of Black Beauty that his parents had bought him for “coming 1st in geography” in 1952, and pointing out ‘greengrocer’s apostrophes’ wherever they went, passing on a tendency for grammatical pedantry. After retiring from a career in oral surgery and dentistry, he studied with the Open University and gained a BA (Hons) in Humanities with Classical Studies and Literature specialising in Shakespeare, his enduring passion. He now proofreads everything Katie writes. Sadly, while both Katie and Robert enjoy the Guardian’s quick crossword, he has failed in his many attempts to teach her the art of the cryptic.
DANIEL NELSON
ONLINE MARKETING SPECIALIST
Daniel and Katie met in 2010 when he was social media marketing manager for mydeco.com and she was the recipient of their Best Interior Design Blog in Great Britain award. They’ve worked together ever since, running the social media marketing and online branding courses at the London College of Communication (UAL) and re-crafting Bethan Gray’s brand presence across every online touch point. Daniel’s web design, e-commerce and SEO expertise are a valuable addition to Katie’s marketing and editorial insight, resulting in copy that is not only engaging and articulate, but also effective. Daniel is director of October Communications and blogs at ateliertally.com.
TAMARA YOUNG
ACCOUNTANT
Another member of the team who thinks in Excel, Tam works for Cornwall-based accountancy firm, The Peloton, and looks after Studio Treggiden’s books. The Peloton prides itself on offering not just financial support, but everything a small business needs, and Katie rates them so highly she can’t stop recommending them to people, regardless of whether or not they ask, not least because serve up a mean lunch to reward all that number-crunching. When not chatting business strategy, Tam is a keen runner who can often be spotted pounding the Cornish coastal path with her English pointer or found volunteering with local initiative, ‘Falmouth and Penryn Welcome Refugee Families’.
KIRSTY WILSON
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Originally from Scotland, Kirsty studied textile design and fashion design at The Scottish Textile College, before ‘somehow ending up in banking’. After ten years, she emigrated to Australia and retrained as an interior designer. Kirsty and Katie were introduced when she joined the confessions of a design geek team as a (paid) intern on a trip to the UK. She now combines interior design, styling photoshoots for magazines such as Home Beautiful and 25 Beautiful Homes with transcriptions and editorial research for Katie. She’s much happier juggling a couple of things she enjoys and the time difference actually works really well, as Kirsty works while the rest of the team is sleeping!
YESHEN VENEMA
PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHER
Yeshen met Katie through a mutual friend and he has since taken most of Studio Treggiden’s promotional photography, as well as becoming Katie’s go-to product photographer for editorial and commercial projects. Yeshen is a talented product photographer and Squarespace specialist with a passion for helping designer-makers and micro businesses thrive. He works from his gorgeous first-floor Victorian home studio in London’s Islington, alongside his partner Natasha, a filmmaker, both of whom can run much faster along Cornish beaches than Katie and her husband – in fact Katie’s dog, Jago, is the only one who can keep up with them!
