Feminine Literacy: A New Way to Think About Design and Gender

In design, words like “feminine” often bring to mind styles or looks tied to gender. But a recent exhibition in Edinburgh flips that idea. It treats feminine as a full approach to how we create things, one that pulls in empathy, connection, and care for the world around us. This links right to gender perspectives shaping design education and practice, showing how women’s and non-binary voices can change the field.

The show, called Feminine Literacy, comes from Doyenne Studio, a women-led group focused on research and design. They put it on at Custom Lane in Edinburgh, running from November 8 to December 7, 2025. It features work from 28 international women and non-binary designers across areas like fashion, products, materials, and systems. As Doyenne co-founders Giulia Angelucci and Mara Bragagnolo explained in an interview with Designboom, feminine here means collaborative, decentralized, non-linear, fluid, empathetic, and whole. It’s not about aesthetics alone—it’s a method that counters the field’s move away from real connections to people, places, and the environment.

What Drives This Approach

Angelucci and Bragagnolo built the exhibition from years of their own work in spatial design, art direction, and systemic research. They point out that design choices lead to waste, extraction, pollution, and exclusion, and that the field can fix these if it shifts. The show, curated with Common Practice, breaks into four parts: Holistic Systems, Interspecies Collaboration, A Culture of Care, and Future Craft. Each part shows design that goes beyond quick production and resource grabs.

Eco-feminist ideas play a big role. The curators see today’s design as too linear, competitive, and focused on output, pushed by capitalist and patriarchal views. This leads to harm against species, communities, and resources. Feminine literacy balances that by linking design to broader care. As they told Designboom, “Waste, extraction, pollution, and exclusion are by design, so design holds huge potential in tackling these issues.”

Designs That Show the Ideas in Action

The exhibition pulls together pieces that make these concepts real. A few examples from the Designboom piece:

Resting Reef by Aura Murillo and Louise Skajem: Turns cremation ashes into marine sculptures that help rebuild coral reefs. It creates death rituals focused on life and regeneration.
Co-Obradoiro Galego by Paula Camiña Eiras: Mixes old Galician basketry with new biomaterials from fishing waste, keeping cultural roots while aiming for a sustainable future.
Ignorance is Bliss by Agne Kucerenkaite: Turns industrial waste into ceramic surfaces for buildings, cutting down on new materials and giving waste a fresh purpose with an eye on planetary health.
Hair Cycle by Sanne Visser: Makes sustainable materials from human hair, tying into circular ideas.
Ornamental By by Lameice Abu Aker: Blends ancient Canaanite craft with modern design in mouth-blown Palestinian glass.

Other works cover things like sensory clothes for neurodivergent kids, adaptive uniforms, and tools for self-care. They touch on social issues, heritage crafts from places like Scotland and Galicia, and materials like bioactive textiles or oyster-shell concrete.

Challenges and Storytelling in the Show

Gathering 28 diverse voices wasn’t easy, but the curators say it felt natural. The real hurdle was shipping the pieces. They used stories and clear setups to share tough ideas. Color coding and simple layouts guide people through sections without confusion. Even the space uses recycled bricks for tables, matching the theme.

Craft and land knowledge stand out too. Angelucci and Bragagnolo see these as tied to time, skill, and feeling, not just logic or speed. They ask what future folklore and rituals might look like, pushing design toward slower, respectful ways that honor culture and ecology.

Impact on Design Education and Practice

This exhibition tries to push the whole field. By starting from nature and shared living, it sparks real change and fresh ideas. In education, it could mean teaching design as interconnected, drawing on gender views to include more voices and methods. In practice, it encourages rethinking roles to build systems that last. As the curators hope, per Designboom, it will ground people while opening up new ways to connect and act in bigger systems.

Designers featured include Agne Kucerenkaite, Alis Le May, Anna Zimmermann, Aurore Brard, and others. Full list in the original coverage.