“To be valuable is to avail toward life .”

John Ruskin, Unto This Last, 1862

I’m Seva, an Industrial Design graduate from San Jose State University, CA. I use critical theory in my design process, particularly when confronting the issues of sustainability and inclusivity.

The industry seems rife with cognitive dissonance, projecting a utopian vision of a future amid collapsing material conditions. Nowhere is this more pronounced than here in the Bay Area, where basic needs go unanswered, while the tech industry pours ever more capital into sensual distraction for ever-diminishing returns.

I believe designers can do better than decorate this decline. We need to recenter the definition of value around the principles of empathy and community, starting with our most vulnerable neighbors. It is then that we can move industry towards a more sustainable, egalitarian future. That’s the work I find worth doing.