How Do We Design Products That Last a Lifetime?

20 May 2026

Host: Martin Pauli

In this episode of Design Perspectives, host Martin Pauli speaks with Conny Bakker, Professor of Circular Product Design at Delft University of Technology. For more than three decades, she has been exploring how products can be designed so that materials, components and entire products remain in circulation for as long as possible. The conversation focuses on the practical challenges of circular design – from repair and reuse to ownership models, and the question of why circularity always requires a rethink of business models and supply chains. Conny Bakker also discusses how design education is changing and why sufficiency could become a more prominent part of the sustainability debate in the future.

The conversation focuses on the practical challenges of circular design – from repair and reuse to ownership models, and the question of why circularity always requires a rethink of business models and supply chains. Conny Bakker also talks about how design education is changing and why sufficiency could become a more prominent part of the sustainability debate in the future.

Takeaways

Produkte verschwinden nicht nach ihrer Nutzung

Conny Bakker beschreibt, wie Produkte während ihrer Designausbildung praktisch „aus dem Bewusstsein verschwanden“, sobald sie genutzt waren. Circular Design beginnt genau an diesem Punkt: Produkte so zu gestalten, dass sie repariert, wiederverwendet und langfristig im Kreislauf gehalten werden können.

Circularity ist komplexer als viele Unternehmen denken

Recycelte Materialien allein machen noch kein zirkuläres Produkt. Im Gespräch wird deutlich, warum Circularity immer auch Geschäftsmodelle, Lieferketten, Rücknahmesysteme und Nutzerverhalten betrifft – und weshalb viele Unternehmen daran scheitern, alles gleichzeitig verändern zu wollen.

Warum die Frage nach dem „Genug“ wichtiger wird

Zum Ende der Episode stellt Conny Bakker eine radikalere Frage: Reicht Circularity allein aus? Neben Recycling und Effizienz könnte künftig auch Suffizienz stärker in den Fokus rücken – also die Frage, wie viel Konsum und Innovation tatsächlich notwendig sind.

More Information

Guest:
Conny Bakker – Professor Circular Product Design, TU Delft

Host:
Martin Pauli – Director Global Circular Economy Services at Arup

Further links:
TU Delft – Circular Product Design: https://www.tudelft.nl/

Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, TU Delft: https://www.tudelft.nl/io

Chapters

01:04 – Conny Bakker’s introduction to circular design

03:27 – Why systemic change takes time

08:29 – What circular design means in practice

13:11 – The gap between ambition and implementation

16:10 – Common mistakes made by companies

19:00 – Design for multiple life cycles

21:02 – Ownership, repair and Product-as-a-Service

24:32 – The role of designers in complex systems

31:43 – Circular design in education

34:00 – What success for circularity might look like

37:00 – Why sufficiency is becoming important

The Podcast of the German Design Council

Design Perspectives Podcast

How can design act as a lever for transformation and economic success? In Design Perspectives, we talk to leading voices from design, business, sustainability and architecture about how transformation, innovation and long-term value creation can go hand in hand. Insightful, relevant and inspiring.