Studio Sanne Visser is a material design research studio focused on exploring material innovation and future thinking through making and learning for circular worlds. The studio specialises in regenerative design, systems thinking, and sustainable solutions, with a unique emphasis on using human hair as a resource. Through exhibitions, workshops, and collaborations with leading institutions globally, Studio Sanne Visser is at the forefront of driving material change and circular design.

Sanne Visser, the founder and director, is a material explorer, designer and researcher with over nine years of experience working with hair.

She graduated from Material Futures at Central Saint Martins in 2016 and has since exhibited her work at major institutions worldwide, including the Textielmuseum, Museu del Disseny de Barcelona, Science Gallery Dublin, and the Design Museum. Her main interest as a design researcher is material innovation, regenerative design and systems thinking. Alongside running her practice, Sanne is an Associate Lecturer and PhD researcher at the University of the Arts London. 

Her work has gained global recognition and media attention, with nominations for prestigious awards, including the AFFA and New Material Award. In 2022, she was named one of UKRI's '101 jobs to save the world' and now is leading the Design Exchange Partnership HairCycle in collaboration with Newham Council.








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CV

SANNE VISSER
lives and works in London, UK
born in Hendrik Ido Amacht, The Netherlands (1992)


EDUCATION

2020 - present: PhD, Centre for Circular Design, Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London – London, UK
2014 - 2016: MA Material Futures, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London – London, UK
2010 – 2014 : BA Lifestyle & Design, Willem de Kooning Academy,– Rotterdam, NL
2009 – 2010 : Phoenix Highschool – Phoenix (OR), USA
2007 – 2009 : Thorbecke Highschool Havo – Rotterdam, NL
2004 – 2007 : Develstein Highschool Havo – Zwijndrecht, NL



EXHIBITIONS
 
September 2024 | Locally Grown, Material Matters, LDF 2024 - London, UK
April 2024 | TechTextil 2024 - Frankfurt, DE
Jan 2024 | Heimtextil 2024 - Frankfurt, DE
Sept 2023 | Mother Goddess of the Three Realms by Wax Atelier, Company Place, LDF 2023 - London, UK
May 2023 | Material Tales by Design Museum, Hong Kong Science Museum - Hong Kong, CN
April 2023 | Locally Grown, BASE Milano, Milan Design Week 2023 - Milan, IT
Feb 2023 | Waste Age by Design Museum, Hong Kong Design Institute, Hong Kong, CN
Sept 2022 | EXTENDED, Brompton Design District, LDF - London, UK
July 2022 | Hair Power, Wereldmuseum - Rotterdam, NL
June 2022 | Restore, the Design Museum - London, UK
May 2022 | U-JOINTS: Knots & Knits, Fiskars Village Art & Design Biennale - Fiskars, FI
Dec 2021 | Channeling Change: Inside a Designer’s Brain, Dutch Pavilion, Expo202 - Dubai, UAE
Nov 2021 | Hair Untold Stories, The Horniman Museum - London, UK
Oct 2021 | Waste Age, The Design Museum - London, UK
Sept 2021 | Material Tales, The Design Museum, CAFA Art Museum - Bejing, CN
Jan 2020 | Heimtextil, Futures Materials Library, Frankfurt, DE
Oct 2020 | Science Gallery Plastic - Dublin, IE
Sept 2020 | Munich Fabric Start - München, DE
April 2019 | Milan Design Week - Milan, IT 
Nov 2018 | Museumnacht, DROOG Design - Amsterdam, NL
Oct 2018 | New Material Award, DDW - Eindhoven, NL
Sept 2018 | Why Materials Matter, LDF - London, UK
Sept 2018 | Material Explorations, Somerset House, LDF - London, UK
June 2018 | Hair! Human Stories, The Library Space - London, UK
Nov 2017 | SUBCONTRACTOR fair, Elmia - Jönköping, Sweden
Oct 2017 | Barcelona Industry Week - Barcelona, Spain
June 2017 | EARTH MATTERS, Textielmuseum - Tilburg, NL
June 2017 | The Materials Farm, Museu del Disseny, Barcelona, Spain
May 2017 | Construmat Fair, Materfad, Future Arena - Barcelona, Spain
April 2017 | Ventura Lambrate, Milan Design Week - Milan, Italy
Oct 2016 | Misscellaneous, Sectie C, Dutch Design Week - Eindhoven, NL
Sept 2016 | Designersblock, London Design Festival - London, UK
June 2016 | MA Material Futures Final Degree Show - London, UK
April 2016 | MA Material Futures Ventura Lambrate, Milan Design Week - Milan, Italy
Jan 2016 | Work-In-Progress Show, Material Futures – London, UK
June 2015 | Hubei Provincial Museum – Wuhan, China
April 2015 | ‘DAYBREAK’ – Wuhan, China
Oct 2014 | ‘Travelers on the Earth’, Creative Capital – Wuhan, China
June 2014 | Degree Show Willem de Kooning Academy, Katshoek – Rotterdam, NL
Jan 2014 | ‘NU’, Nen Xavier – Rotterdam, NL
Dec 2013 | ‘Mierenhoop’, North Night Market – Rotterdam, NL
July 2013 | Young Talents Exhibition, Mini Mall – Rotterdam, NL



TALKS/WORKSHOPS

May 2024 | Ropemaking Workshop, London Craft Week, The Lab E20 - London, UK UPCOMING
Dec 2023 | Ropemaking Workshop Host of Leyton - London, UK
Oct 2023 | Ropemaking Workshop for Kids, Brunel Museum and Southwark Heritage - London, UK
Aug 2023 | Circular Design Speeds, Breda Circular - Breda, NL
Nov 2022 | V&A Upstart Ropemaking Workshops - London,UK
Oct 2022 | Climate Challange UAL talk at Design Museum - London, UK
July 2022 | Restore Talks: Sanne Visser in Conversation with Phoebe English, Design Museum - London, UK
Feb 2022 | Ropemaking Workshop Green Salon Collective - London, UK
April 2021 | Circular Soiree at Centre for Circular Design - London UK
March 2021 | Materials Library Rope making Workshops Digital - London, UK
April 2020 | Online Workshop demo ‘ Design Dispatches for the Design Museum - London, UK
Oct 2019 | Workshop demonstrations Ropemaking during launch of PLASTIC exhibition - Dublin, UK
Feb 2019 | Talk ‘The Other way’, Symposium, The Design Museum - London UK 
Dec 2018 | Workshop Ropemaking, Store Projects, Coal Drops yard - London, UK
Sept 2018 | Talk at the Tate, Radical Matter, Tate Modern - London, UK
Sept 2018 | Workshop Somerset House Material Explorations part of LDF - London, UK
Sept 2018 | Talk Somerset House with Material Driven part of LDF - London, UK
June 2018 | Workshop ropemaking, Hair! Human Stories, The Library Space - London, UK
Jan 2018 |Talk Makerversity X Prince’s Trust students Circular Design workshop - London, UK
July 2017 | Workshop Material Explorations, Makerversity at Somerset House - London, UK
June 2017 | The Materials Farm Inspirational Talks with Materfad, at Museu del Disseny - Barcelona, Spain
July 2016 | Workhop for kids 'De kracht van het menselijkhaar' at Het Nieuwe Instituut - Rotterdam, NL
Dec 2015 | Maykuthon Workshop by Mayku, Makerversity Somerset House - London, UK


PROJECTS

Aug 2023 | Designers On Holiday, residency - Gotland, SE
June 2022 | Circular Wool UK Symposium 15 June 2022, project lead and host - London UK
Jan 2022 | Shemakes Transferlab lead with Centre for Circular Design, UAL, Horizon2020 - London, UK
Sept 2021 | [Y]our2040 Community conference - Laax, CH
July 2021 | Pinatex, Ananas Anam, project researcher with Centre for Circular Design, UAL/Innovate UK - London, UK
Jan 2021 | CharioCity, project researcher with Centre for Circular Design, UAL - London, UK
October 2019 | Collaboration with Urban Radicals & Millimetre, bench competition - London, UK
Dec 2018 | After School Club, Store Projects at the Coal Drops Yard - London, UK
July 2018 | Designers On Holiday, residency - Gotland, SE
June 2017 | Masterpiece show ‘The Breath’, exhibition by Based Upon, Assisting designer and maker, exhibition assistant, meditator - London, UK
April 2015 | ‘Concept to Catwalk’, mentor & direction, collaboration V&A, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park & MA Material Futures – London, UK
July 2013 | Young Talents Platform, art direction & concept, collaboration with Maruschka Kartosonto and Hans Boodt Mannequins - Rotterdam, NL
Dec 2012 | ‘Werk aan de Winkel’, Dek 22, workshop retail design – Rotterdam, NL
June 2012 | ‘Beter laat dan nooit’, Fenixloodsen, performance & art direction – Rotterdam, NL
April 2012 | Awkward Magazine, art direction & graphic design – Rotterdam, NL
Jan 2012 | Wintersalon Amsterdam, assistant Femke van Gemert – Amsterdam, NL


PUBLICATIONS

- Visser, S. (2023) LOCALLY GROWN: Maping the spaces between the elements of a hyperlocal human hair waste ecosystem. Relating Systems Thinking and Design, RSD12. Link here
Knight, Laura and Goldsworthy, Kate and Visser, Sanne and Hall, Cathryn (2023) Thinking beyond circles: developing visual research methods for circularity. In: PLATE 2023, 31 May - 2 June 2023, Aalto University, Helskini.
Earley, Rebecca and Visser, Sanne and Cunningham, Gwen and Hornbuckle, Rosie (2022) CharioCity: Rethinking the Charity Shop Through Systems Design Project Scenarios. In: Futurescan 5: Conscious Communities, 7-8 September 2022, Nexus, University of Leeds, UK.
Earley, Rebecca and Visser, Sanne (2023) The CharioCity Workshops Report. Project Report. University of the Arts London. (Unpublished)
- Tregidden, K. (2020) Wasted: When Trash Becomes Treasure
- Franklin, K., Till, C. (2019) Radical Matter: Rethinking Materials for a Sustainable Future
- Solanki, S. (2018) Why Materials Matter; Responsible Design for a Better World


GRANTS/AWARDS

- AHRC Research Fellow and Project Lead, HairCycle, 2024-2024
- AHRC Techne Doctoral Studentship, 2022-2025
- Nominee AFFA Awards, category Materials Innovation, 2021
- Nominee AFFA Awards, category Materials Innovation, 2020
- Arts Council Emergency Fund, 2020
- Nominee H100 Awards, category under 30s, 2019
- Creative Industries NL, Milan Design Week grant, 2019
- Nominee New Material Award, 2018
- Nominee Katerva Awards, category Materials, Resources & Water, 2018
- Nominee TWOTY – Awards 15/16, category Upcoming Talents, 2016
- Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds grant, 2015


RESIDENCIES

2023 | Temporary Home Residency at BASE, Milan Design Week 2023, Circular Cultures British Council - London, UK
2021 - 2022 | Design Researchers in Residence, Future Observatory, the Design Museum / AHRC - London, UK
2017 - 2018 | Makerversity | ‘Makers with a Mission’ - Artist residency | London UK


WORK

2021 - present | Research Fellow and Associate Lecturer, University of the Arts London
2021 - 2023 | Research Assistant Centre for Circular Design (CCD), Chelsea College, University of the Arts London
2016 - 2022 | Freelance designer & fabricator (clients including Store Projects, Based Upon, Haberdashery)
2016 - 2018 | Based Upon | Workshop craftsperson, photographer, R&D | London, UK
2015 | FranklinTill Studio | Trend researcher, admin, set-design assistant, exhibition assistant | London, UK
2013 | Nacho Carbonell | Workshop craftsperson, R&D | Eindhoven, NL



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