Winners announced for Charles’s sustainable design competition

Students from the Royal College of Art (RCA) were set the challenge of designing projects that tackle the environmental damage being done to the planet.

Out of 125 submissions, four teams of RCA students and alumni have been chosen as the winners of the inaugural Terra Carta Design Lab competition, receiving £50,000 in funding to help further develop their ideas.

Among the winning designs was a wearable device for cattle to neutralise their methane emissions in real time created by design group Zelp (Zero Emissions Livestock Project).

They state each cow can exhale around 400 litres of methane per day, making it one of the single leading causes of global warming.

Another winning project, Amphitex, has developed the first 100% recyclable and chemical-free outdoor performance textile, as they note current materials are often impossible to recycle and use many harmful chemicals.

Aerseeds – aerodynamic seed pods made from food waste – are also among the winning designs as they work with nature to accelerate regeneration up to 10 times.

The Tyre Collective won a spot for their device which captures tyre wear at the wheel, accelerating the shift to zero-emission mobility.

Charles and Sir Jony will visit the RCA on Wednesday for the opening of an exhibition showcasing the projects where they will meet the four winners and hear more about their climate crisis solutions.

Charles’s Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) – launched last year to help accelerate the world’s transition to a sustainable future – created the Terra Carta and a Natural Capital Investment Alliance.

Sir Jony, credited with designing some of the best-loved gadgets of the modern age, including Apple’s iPhone, iPod and iPad, will also mentor the winners alongside members of the SMI global network.

The industrial, product and architectural designer, who is the RCA’s chancellor, said: “We can all have good ideas. I find it reassuring, particularly facing the overwhelming challenge of climate change, that we can all contribute ideas that could evolve into valuable solutions.

“I love not only the power of a good idea but how egalitarian and inclusive they can be.

“All the Design Lab winners have ideas and designs that deserve to be developed.

“The ingenuity and determination of these designers has produced some extraordinarily creative responses, and they now embark on the journey to turn these great ideas into practical solutions.”

The winning designs were selected by the Terra Carta Design Lab grand jury, comprising Charles, Sir Jony and the vice-chancellor of the RCA Paul Thompson and representatives of the Terra Carta Design Lab partners Octopus Energy, The Climate Pledge and Bank of America.

Alongside the winners, two further projects were voted highly commendable and will receive £10,000 in funding as well as mentoring from InnovationRCA, the RCA’s centre for entrepreneurship and business support.

The projects included OR:BITAL BLOOM, an artwork which ‘blooms’ when sustainability targets are met and carbon emission reduced, and Shellworks who are working with bacteria to produce sustainable materials.