Sentience and Collective Flourishing: Reflections After the International Design Conference

When I was invited to attend the International Design Conference, I didn’t know what to expect. I entered the space wearing many hats—scientist, artist, communicator—and sometimes those roles felt like they belonged to different worlds. But what I found was resonance. A reminder that design is not just about form or function, but about shaping ways of living that allow us to grow in harmony with one another and with nature.

At the heart of my practice—and of Sihay—is the belief in nature’s sentience. In Filipino, the word damdamin means both feeling and consciousness. It acknowledges that sentience is not confined to the human mind; it exists in the subtle ways cells respond, in the symphony of systems within an organism, and in the rhythms of ecosystems. What is true for a cell is true for life at every scale. Nature feels, and in that feeling lies its wisdom.

This idea of sentience is inseparable from connection and stewardship. We are not separate from nature; we are expressions of it. Stewardship means holding this truth with humility, cultivating spaces where both human and more-than-human communities can thrive.

In the conference, the term “experimental design” struck me. As a microbiologist, it first brought me back to the rigor of laboratory experiments. Yet in the design context, it became something broader: an openness to possibility, a willingness to embrace uncertainty, to co-create with time, space, and community.

Flourishing, I was reminded, is never done in silo. Filipino words capture this beautifully: kapwa, the shared self, and bayanihan, the spirit of communal care. These words remind us that healing—whether of the planet, society, or even mental health—cannot happen in isolation. To heal is to hold one another, to share the load, to recognize ourselves in the other.

We must also reckon with the ways colonization persists not only as a history of nations, but as patterns in spirit, mind, and body. Decolonization, then, is transformation. It is reclaiming our languages, our connections, our ways of knowing. It is optimizing beauty for longevity, because what is beautiful—what nourishes and sustains—survives. In Filipino, beauty (ganda) and goodness (kabutihan) are intertwined: to call something beautiful is to affirm its capacity to give life.

Through Sihay, I am learning that design is not about mastery but about holding space—together. It is about working toward collective flourishing, where art, science, and culture are not siloed pursuits but interwoven threads of a larger story.

My hope is that through design, through art, and through the simple acts of holding space for one another, we can create conditions for transformation—for ourselves, our communities, and the earth.