OK DEMENTIA, Enable Foundation

DESIGN

Challenging the notion that ageing is a policy problem to be solved with arbitrary design solutions, Dr Yanki Lee, a design research scholar and professor in design in Denmark and Sweden, emerges as a guiding light at the intersection of architectural design for ageing, social interaction and participatory model of innovation. Focusing on reflective ethnography and action research, Dr Lee investigates how older people (reluctant to be called ‘elderly’) are well equipped to design their own post-work life upon retiring. A trailblazer since her MA days at the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London, in 2016, she established the Enable Foundation in Hong Kong, a non-profit social design collective and education charity with expertise in cross-generational, co-creative and real-world impact. With research spanning 50 peer-reviewed papers and articles as well as extensive collaborations with designers, activists and institutes all over the world, Dr Lee’s practice embodies the future of inclusive design for ageing.

What initially sparked your interest in using design as a tool for social inclusion and participation, particularly focusing on older adults?

I grew up with a pair of ‘stylish’ grandparents who encouraged my interest in design as a young person. During my years at the RCA in London, studying an MA in Architecture, I started to question the purpose of design and realised I was missing the inspiration of those early conversations with my grandparents that had originally encouraged me to become a designer. Whilst at the RCA, I met Professor Roger Coleman and was introduced to his vision for inclusive design: designing specifically for people who are usually excluded by design. This encounter changed my life: from architectural designer to becoming a design researcher/activist of the inclusive design movement in the UK (2000-2012).

OK DEMENTIA, Enable Foundation

 OLD SCHOOL, Enable Foundation

What led you to co-found Enable Foundation?

After a decade as a full time academic in London, back in Hong Kong I reflected on academic practice and decided to search for a better model for creating greater social impact through design. In 2016, I left my full-time academic role after being awarded my initial round of public funding from the Hong Kong Government’s Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SIE) Fund. This grant supported me to conduct action research projects on ageing innovation, and allowed me to found Enable Foundation as a social design collective with like-minded creatives.

Could you share some insights into your approach to designing with older people, and how you ensure their voices and needs are central to the design process?

Unlike many designers, my journey of design and ageing did not start by looking for solutions to problems, but instead, searching for inspiration. I was looking for input from older people after my experience with my grandparents. This brought me to Beijing as a visiting scholar to conduct a study with retired professors at Tsinghua University. My goal was to design with the retired scientists living on campus.
The conclusion I reached was that I was inspired by innovative ideas for ageing, designed by a group of ingenious older people. I entitled the learnings from the study The Ingenuity of Ageing with a publication.

Could you share some of your (Enable) accomplishments to date? What achievement are you particularly proud of?

Since we started in 2016, we have received more than HK$9m public funding to conduct self-initiated social design projects. We are grateful to have the freedom to work on topics of our choice such as end-of-life (burial), productive ageing, dementia and empathic ecologies (eco-literacy). We are also proud of following our hearts to develop projects that we really care about and managed to use design as a creative force for great social impact.

The Envelope is the first one-off ash-scatter in the world, for citizens to perform poetic garden burial rituals for their loved ones.
Image credit: Enable Foundation

Envelope device testing, Enable Foundation

How do you integrate cross-generational co-creative practices into your design research? What benefits do you believe this approach brings to the design outcomes?

Over the seven years with three major projects, we had engaged more than 3000 young people in Hong Kong as our main target to rethink critical social issues such as end-of-life (burial), productive ageing, dementia and empathic ecologies (eco-literacy). And more importantly, we enable partnerships to happen between young and old, human and non-human (technology) in order to co-create new possibilities for our futures. For example, we co-developed the Envelope, the first one-off ash-scatter in the world, for citizens to perform poetic garden burial rituals for their loved ones. 

We also advocated a new idea entitled, the OLD SCHOOL, a future education concept for all younger people to learn from the elders on how to prepare for old age, and develop tactics for ageing well.

This project was the winner of the annual social design award from Golden Pin 2019 Awards. For dementia we had co-investigated new ways to understand this disease and seeing it not as a loss but a culture to embrace.

From our experience, this cross-practice makes more appropriate designs that can last for generations and social innovative projects for bigger social impact.

Looking ahead, what do you see as the key challenges and opportunities of design in shaping the future of ageing in Hong Kong?

Is not just about Hong Kong but a total rethink is needed as global citizens. It is not about older people but our ageing and ageism. It is not about design but how we, as human beings, can innovate together with others, such as older people, people with disabilities, including living (multi-species) and non-living (everyday things we care about) for our better futures.

Dr. Yanki Lee is an architectural designer, social innovator, and design activist known for her expertise in design research for social inclusion and participation. With over 50 peer-reviewed papers and articles, she is recognised internationally as a speaker and writer. Yanki earned her MA degree in Architecture from the Royal College of Art (RCA) in 2000 and later became an Honorary Fellow of the RCA in 2012. In 2016, she founded the Enable Foundation in Hong Kong, focusing on cross-generational co-creative practices and design research for real-world impact. As part of the Social Innovation Design Lab (SI.DLab), Enable Foundation aims to foster creativity and offer capacity training programs in design thinking and doing.