How might we steward the planet's process of self healing?

How might we use design thinking to dismantle the current destructive approach to the production and consumption of goods and services? How do we move from seeing sustainability as the end goal of our work to instead facilitating the regeneration of living systems?

At Green Crane Innovation, a small Portland-based design shop, we focus every day on answering these questions. We use the art and science of design to disrupt the patterns that keep us stuck. Whether we are re-designing products and services, improving supply chains, conducting life cycle analyses, deploying research methods, or teaching about the circular economy, systems thinking and biomimicry, we at Green Crane Innovation are committed to crafting and re-crafting solutions that work.

We are committed to a collaborative, iterative design process. We’re challenging our communities to flex their systems thinking muscles, so that when we consider how to solve a complex problem, we give nature, and not just humans, a seat at the table.

Our current moment is one of great challenge: it seems every day brings a new report of how climate change and global capitalism are destroying the planet. People are frightened and overwhelmed. They respond by becoming disaffected, or focusing only on hyper-local approaches to social change. At Green Crane, we bring hope and creativity to our clients, fostering difficult conversations in our workshops and in their boardrooms. We teach the emotional and critical thinking skills that keep people engaged and learning so that we can all pitch in to create a future that breaks with the systems of the past.

Current Initiatives:

Systems Thinking School
Biomimicry for Radical Innovation
Design Thinking Bootcamp
Visual Problem-Solving Toolbox
Life-cycle Assessments 101
Circular Economy Design Jams
Mind Mapping Mondays
and more

While our site is under construction, feel free to sign up and we’ll let you know when you can venture back for more.