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Eliza Collin

Designer, Researcher, Producer
Co-founder of TUFF


Eliza Collin is a multidisciplinary designer, researcher and producer working at the intersection of design and ecology. With over a decade of experience in international projects, her practice explores climate change, the ways humans alter landscapes, and how design shapes the value and use of resources. She combines research, public engagement, and creative practice to develop resilient, future-focused projects, often investigating sites in collaboration with local communities and academic experts. Using holistic methods such as interviews, ethnography, workshops, co-design, and walking, Eliza determines context-sensitive outcomes that have manifested as films, products, policies, and alternative systems of production. 

She produces and coordinates ecological and socially-focused projects, including co-leading the anti-erosion initiative Where Grass Roots in Sicily, leading Hybridising Scentscapes (2024) at the Design Museum, and completing a short film on evolution ecologists in the Rocky Mountains, Colorado. Across Europe and the US, she nurtures interdisciplinary collaborations and is committed to site-specific work that bridges science, activism, and design, creating moments of critical reflection where process informs outcome.
@elizalicollin
olutions. 
Current
Floruit is a semi-fictional short documentary set at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Colorado. Co-directed with Federico Barni, the film blends scientific observation with speculative storytelling, it explores how wildflowers, and the humans who study them, reveal the impacts of climate change and the uncertain futures of adaptation, resilience, and co-existence.
Film
Design, Research, Production



Supported by:
Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory
Northwestern University
University of California, Irvine
2024 - 2027 
Hybridising Scentscapes is a long-term design research project at the Design Museum’s Dame Sylvia Crowe Garden. The collaboration with Aterraterra investigates how climate change is altering the scents of plants, focusing on the Brassicaceae family, and encourages hybridisation to explore resilience, adaptation, and new sensory landscapes.
Installation
Design, Research, Production


Supported by:
Future Observatory
the Design Museum
Growing Together
2023 - 2024 
Olfactive Evolution was developed during Eliza’s residency at the Design Museum, London, as part of Future Observatory’s Design Researchers in Residence programme. The project speculates on how human and non-human evolution might be traced through scent, blending ecology, design, and sensory science to consider smell as both archive and signal of adaptation in changing environments. Gratitude goes to Aterraterra and Growing Together for their guidance and support.
Research Project and Exhibition
Design, Research, Production



Comissioned by:
Future Observatory
2025 
Where Grass Roots is a collaborative project in Sicily led by AmperDesign, addressing soil erosion through craft-based, ecological interventions. By working with native grasses, local communities, and local collaborators, the project develops participatory methods for land care that link traditional knowledge with contemporary design. The project demonstrates how collective action can build resilience against climate and environmental change. Gratitude goes to Colina di Franz and Colletivo Rewild Sicily for their support.
Research Project
Research, Production



Supported by:
Stimulerings Fond

WET ZONES
2022 - 2023 The WET ZONES research residency explored water histories and how they affect contemporary water management and culture in and around the city of Palermo, Sicily. Using the findings to feed into a design intervention in collaboration with Marginal Studio which can be used as a discussion point for the future of water in Palermo.
Research Project Design, Research, Production



Comissioned by:
Fondazione Studio Rizoma
Rosa Luxemburg Foundation
Grease
2023 Grease presents scent adaptation through six samples showing plant scent changes under stress, offering insights into non-human experiences and prompting reflection on the definition of a plant's smell.
Installation
Design, Research, Production



Comissioned by:
Traffic Festival
Faccimo il Bosco
2020
2021Studio Rizoma's open call during the initial months of the global pandemic led to the selection of Facciamo il Bosco. A research project highlighting the interconnectedness of pre-existing issues like water stress and temperature rise in Sicily, and emphasizing the need to shift perspectives towards understanding climate change effects on ecosystems, by ecosystems, and engaging communities in remediation efforts.Research Project & Film
Research & Production

Comissioned by:Fondazione Studio Rizoma
Experience

RKTIC
Current
Producer
As producer at RKTIC, Eliza Collin leads end-to-end production for international shoots and community engagement. Managing budgets, crews, logistics, stakeholder coordination, and assisting with post-production to deliver complex projects on time and to specification. Projects include ROA x Wrangler Summit Lake
Marshmallow Laser Feast
2025
Researcher and Copywriter
Eliza Collin contributed copywriting and research on hundreds of oak-related species for Of the Oak, a Marshmallow Laser Feast project exhibited at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
AmperDesign
2025
Producer and Community Consultant
Eliza Collin co-leads Where Grass Roots, producing community events and consultations to develop site-specific interventions that address soil erosion and support ecological resilience in Sicily.
Central School for Speech and Drama
2024
Researcher and Project Coordinator
Eliza Collin supported interdisciplinary research, prototyping, and the development of experimental workshops at the intersection of biology and design for the co-design and installation of a community garden on the Central School of Speech and Drama campus.
University of the Arts London
2021 - 2024
Associate Lecturer Eliza Collin taught and facilitated modules linking design, ecology, and systems thinking, delivering lectures, workshops, and tutorials, supporting student projects, providing feedback, and contributing to curriculum development.
Policy Lab
2022
Design Assistant and Consultant
Eliza Collin worked on experimental projects advancing sustainability and social justice in policy, contributing through prototyping, workshop development, data synthesis, report writing, and stakeholder engagement while upholding ethical best practices.
Residencies & Awards

RMBL Art/Science Exchange
2024 - 2025
Residency
Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Colorado
Design Researchers in Residence
2023 - 2024
Residency
Future Observatory, the Design Museum
Between Land and Sea
2022 - 2023
Residency
Fondazione Studio Rizoma, Italy
Gremene Grond: Water is What we Make it
2022
Residency
Utrecht
BlueCity: Rainwater Hackathon
2022
Design Sprint
Rotterdam
WESLDET
2021
Grant
University of the Arts London
Connections Through Culture
2021
Alumni Grant
British Council
LIPA Project
2020
Residency
Indonesia/Online 
Connections Through Culture
2020
Grant
British Council
Pandemos
2020
Residency
Fondazione Studio Rizoma, Italy
Roberto Cimetta Foundation/ Creative Tracks Travel
2017
Grant
Palestine
Exhibitions

2024
Group show
TRANSEUROPA Festival, CREA Cantieri del Contemporaneo, Venice
curated by Izabela Anna Moren and Pier Paolo Scelsi
SOLAR
2024
Group Show
the Design Museum, London
curated by George Kafka
Group Show
Kettles Yard and Witworth
curated by Rachel Dedman
Between Land and Sea: WET ZONES Kitchen Activation
2023
Performance
Ecomuseo del Mare, Palermo
curated by Izabela Anna Moren
Grease
2023
Group Show
Traffic Festival, San Lorenzo in Campo
curated by Matteo Binci
Run Deep, Run Wild
2022
Group Radio Show
Utrecht
curated by Xandra van der Eijk
Verdant Futures
2021
Group Show
D-contemporary, London
curated by Sean T Ross
2021

Things That Matter
MicroLab Hall, Dutch Design Week
Eindhoven
2021

Group Show
Think & Tink, Kuching
curated by Eliza Collin and Wendy Teo
2021
Group Show
Univeristy of the Arts London
Fragile Ecosystems
2021
Group Show
Univeristy of the Arts London x Firmenich
curated by Mael Henaff
2020
Rizoma Studio: Pandemos, Palermo
curated by Izabela Anna Moren
The Everyday Martian
2019
Design Museum, London
curated by Kieran Jones
Material Connections: House of Princes
2019
Koppel Projects, London
curated by Abbie Adams
All in green went my love riding
2019
Venice Biennale Collateral
curated by Elinor Stanley, Jean Feline and Addam Glibbery
Earth Day: Interwoven
2019
Somerset House, London 
curated by Somerset House
Dust Sheet Embroidered Snow
2019
Project Gallery, Arundel
curated by Jack Bodimeade
Life Cycles
2019
Light Eye Mind, London
curated by Eliza Collin and Pietro Librizzi
WithKin
2015
Melbury Abbas, Dorset 
curated by George Ridgeway
Press & Publications

2025
2024
Studio Rizoma: Interview with designer Eliza Collin: “The question we should be asking is not one of quantity but one of quality”
2023
Pre 2023
Events

RMBL Visiting Lectures
2025
Lecture
RMBL, Colorado
Re-generate Symposium
2025
Workshop with TUFF
Jan Van Eyck
Future Observatory conference 
2024
Lecture
the Design Museum, London
2024
Lecture
Architectural Association, London
Edible Institute for Aterraterra
2024
Talk and Performance
Istituto Svizzero, Rome
Evolutionary Rescue
2024
Presentation and Workshop,
Aterraterra Project Space, Palermo
This Home in my Hand
2021
Workshop with Samak Bilab Bi Delo
V&A, London
ARC panel discussion
2021
Hosted by the British Council
Visiting Practitioner Talk
2020
University of the Arts London
Sustainable thinking through interventions
2020
Workshop
University of the Arts London
Fashion - But is it Ethical
2019
Panel discussion
Cooler Lumpur Festival, Kuala Lumpur
Sustainable Fashion: Making Clothes from Reused Materials
2019
Workshop
ME.REKA, Kuala Lumpur
Designing from Waste
2019
Workshop
IKN, Kuala Lumpur
Future Textiles Debate
2019
Panel Discussion
Somerset House
Sustainability in Art Practice
2019
Curated round table discussion
LEM, London
Drowned Statues
2018
Screening
Rover.live
Manifesta 12, Palermo