We are two visionary Strategic Designers, activating the mindsets and practices that support the transition from a linear to a circular economy in the food system. Through our work, we take part in the movement to design solutions for a regenerative, resilient and just future.

Imagine...

Imagine a world where food industry actors from farm to fork embrace their role in redesigning our food system, prioritising practices that regenerate ecosystems, sustain livelihoods, and prevent waste from start to finish. This is the future that planet Earth needs, and the future that we work towards.

At realmatters we embrace this challenge, and understand our work as a catalyst to conceptualise and implement the practices that will lead the regenerative food systems transition.

We work with businesses, organisations and individuals who are willing to get their hands dirty and challenge the status quo. Together, we use the transition framework we’ve developed to explore, envision and establish roadmaps for our clients to optimise their role in food value chains to create a positive impact for both people and planet. We collaborate with the full range of actors needed for this regenerative transition: from food producers and start ups to organisations and think tanks.

Our Approach

As Strategic Designers, we put into practice the research and design methods that we’ve developed to solve the complex, interrelated challenges that the global community of changemakers must face today. We emphasise asking the questions that need to be addressed to find alternatives that work on both a local and systemic level.

Strategic Design

Strategic design uses systems thinking to understand the complexity behind the issue, viewing challenges as global interrelated wholes rather than simply the sum of their parts.
The approach uses transdisciplinary collaboration to understand and see the root of the problem from different standpoints, and thus designing systemic solutions.
Strategic design uses prototyping to explore scenarios through small-scale iterations, thus minimising risk in the process of designing innovative solutions.

Our Services

We plant seeds for change through our keynote events and workshops, inviting participants to envision alternative futures, and commit to working towards a circular food system with all the opportunities it will bring.

We guide businesses to grow roots for change by co-identifying their unique role and potential in the global food systems transformation, and adapting their business models to become leaders in this transition, in a way that simultaneously benefits their productivity and legacy in the long run. We tackle specific company related challenges and design and facilitate the learning journeys for our clients to work towards a circular future together.

While the nature of each project varies, we consistently demonstrate that an alternative food system is within our reach, and that the active contribution of all our clients and collaborators is needed for this vision to become a reality.

Our Values

Continuous Learning: Deepening our existing knowledge is a crucial part of our daily work, as it fuels personal and professional development, inspires new ideas, and increases adaptability to the ever-changing world that we’re part of.

Meaningfulness: At the forefront of our mindset, meaningfulness helps us remain curious and humble, guiding us towards solutions that overcome greenwashing and bring transformational benefits to all actors involved in the change-making process.

Respectful Action: We are shareholders in the impacts of our work, and therefore act with respect for each other, our social context, and planet Earth. We want to leave the world we were born into in a better condition to how we found it.

Holistic Collaboration: We believe that innovative solutions are born from the fusion of varied knowledge that comes through overcoming disciplinary boundaries and integrating the contributions of like-minded yet diverse people from all sectors.

Hands-on Optimism: Redesigning the status quo takes courage and dedication, and to explore the many aspects of the problem we need to get our hands dirty. At realmatters, we approach challenges with proactive optimism rather than risk aversion.

Hi!

We’re Paula and Alexandra, Strategic Designers and Co-Creators of realmatters. Our journey together started during our Master’s degree in Strategic Design and Entrepreneurship at the Copenhagen Business School, where we found that our combined knowledge and competencies in business, design and sustainability created the broad skill set needed to fulfil our shared vision of establishing a role in the global food systems transition.

Since 2021, we’ve co-designed and carried out consulting projects, and research on the role of strategic design and systems thinking in tackling the sustainability challenges that our global society faces today, the success of which, and participation in an incubator programme, inspired the creation of realmatters

Our Partners, Clients and Collaborators:

As Strategic Designers we believe that we can co-create an alternative food system – we look forward to doing so with you!