I first met Dr Dolly Daou at l’Ecole de Design Nantes Atlantique where she was the Director of the Masters Food Lab. We worked alongside each other on certain projects and attended juries together and soon became close colleagues. I was recently honoured to be invited by Dolly, acting as Guest Editor of the Journal for the Design for All Institute of India, to submit an essay in honour of its celebratory 20th anniversary to celebrate women designers working in this field.

For 20 years it has demonstrated its continuity, global and diverse expression, receptivity, and limitless achievement by inviting guest editors for its monthly publications.

This was a timely request, as I was retiring at the end of December, 2025, so a nice way to talk about what I had achieved in the field of Design for All, throughout my career at l’Ecole de Design Nantes Atlantique and Rennes School of Business.

It was very cathartic to write, as you tend to forget all the experiences that you have had in a career spanning over 30 years and the key word that kept coming up time and time again, with the ups and downs that life throws at you, was ‘resilience’. I was delighted to see other women who I had read about or met along the way taking part in this special issue too.

I have met thousands of lovely students from all around the world that have taught me so much too about their cultures and their views on life and design, and I’ve worked with some very talented teachers and pedagogical staff too. So, it’s a way of finally closing one door and opening another new chapter in my life.

I currently have lots of new projects to work on. I am in the process of writing a book and would love to carry out more research and learn new skills – but yes, I’d like to relax too! If you want to stay in touch please do. I will write updates here.

You can find my essay inside the document here on P.35.

Featured image (top) Over the Continents: Chiharu Shiota a monumental installation using almost 4 miles of red yarn to tie the shoes together and connect them all at a single point. The notes invite visitors “to consider the life of an object” and “the fundamental ties that connect humans to one another.”