Designing for the future: eco-shaper at Scots College 

Last month, eco-shaper was invited to run a sustainability session for the Year 12 Design & Technology students at Scots College in Sydney. The talk was delivered by our strategic partner, Lee Stewart, who delivered a spectacular talk. The college’s team described Lee as “great with the students,” noting that their activities sparked “inspiring thought pieces” across the room.

Why Scots College reached out

The college has been strengthening the sustainability thread within its design curriculum, whether through Year 8 eco-house projects, upcycling work in Year 10, or the sustainability requirements attached to HSC Design & Technology major projects. They wanted someone who could give students a realistic, systems-level lens on what sustainable design actually means in practice.

That’s what eco-shaper does best, so we were glad to help.

What the session covered

The session was led by Lee Stewart, sustainability and business specialist and strategic APAC partner of eco-shaper, with over 20 years’ experience shaping sustainability strategies and energy efficiency programmes for major enterprises across Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the UK. Having held senior sustainability roles at companies such as Fujitsu and Fonterra, Lee brings a rare mix of board-level insight and practical, real-world application.

Lee’s session, Designing for the Future, was built around one core idea: most of the world’s environmental and social problems are created — or prevented — at the design stage.

The keynote explored:

1. Four mega-trends redefining design

   Changes in emissions reporting, supply chain transparency, climate risk, and circularity now shape every major product, system, and service. Lee explained to the students how these trends are shifting expectations for future designers, and why students need to think beyond aesthetics and materials.

2. Real case studies from industry

   The students were taken through examples ranging from:

   • data centres and dairy plants, where early design choices lock in emissions and long-term costs
   • circular economy work in Tonga, showing how community-led design can turn waste into value
   • fast fashion and modern slavery, revealing what happens when human impact is an afterthought
   • governance failures, such as the destruction of Juukan Gorge, where voices were excluded from the design process

   Each case study showed the same pattern: design without systems thinking leads to consequences that last for decades. Lee explores these ideas in more depth in his book How to Build Sustainability into Your Business Strategy, which expands on many of the principles he shared with the students.

3. The interactive activity: “What’s hiding in your product?”

   After the keynote, students worked in groups on practical tasks. Each table received a familiar item — like an iPhone, Coke can, cricket ball, or toilet roll — and were challenged to uncover:

   • hidden supply chain impacts
   • embedded emissions
   • labour risks
   • opportunities for circular redesign
   • the systems surrounding everyday products

   This exercise is one Lee usually runs with retailers and executives to expose greenwashing blind spots. It worked just as well with Year 12 designers, who quickly realised how much sits behind “simple” product decisions.

The message students took away

The session wasn’t about telling students what to design. It was about helping them see what their designs influence in their communities, in workers, materials, ecosystems, and the future cost of decisions made too early to revisit later.

Design is not just about form. It’s about consequence.

And that’s exactly the mindset Scots College is trying to instil in its next wave of designers.

Why eco-shaper invests in education

At eco-shaper, our work focuses on making sustainability measurable, practical, and embedded into the systems companies rely on every day. Supporting schools and universities is part of that mission. If young designers understand how to bring environmental and social thinking into their work now, we’re building a more resilient future, before things reach the point of retrofitting, regulation, or crisis.

A final thank you

A huge thank you to the team at Scots College for inviting us, preparing the groups, and giving the students space to explore sustainability through a fresh lens. We’re looking forward to collaborating again in future terms.

For those interested in hearing more of Lee’s thinking, his interview on the This Climate Business podcast offers a great deep dive into ESG strategy and the role of design in sustainability.

If your school or organisation is interested in booking a similar session, get in touch with the eco-shaper team at www.eco-shaper.com.