Katrina Allen

Industrial Design

Katrina is a 2020 industrial design graduate. As part of her capstone project, Katrina designed a junior worm farm. Driven by a keen interest to decrease the amount of stuff we consume, Katrina researched the root of our decision making. It is often said that children are the future, showing children how their organic waste can become nutrient-rich plant food, is a small example of how one person can reduce their carbon footprint, by merely doing small daily tasks. The worm farm comes with a soil meter which connects wirelessly to the Miljo app. The meter allows children to track the moisture levels and temperature of the compost to ensure they are creating the best possible environment for the worms.

Childhood impressions foster value individuals hold for the world around them. The value young consumers learn growing up, contribute, in one way or another, to the global issue of climate change. Miljo is a simple worm farm for children, demonstrating the cycle of organic waste and encouraging value for the world around them.

Miljo | Junior Worm Farm

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App connectivity via a soil meter

Acknowledgement of Country

The School of Design and Architecture respectfully acknowledges the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners and knowledge-keepers of the lands, waters and sky that surround us, where we work, learn, create, communicate and make place. We recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded and this always was and will always be Wurundjeri Country. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who continue to make a better world through design.

We extend our acknowledgement to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students, alumni, real-life clients, and knowledge keepers, who have contributed to our own education diversity and growth. We will continue to ensure that staff and students respectfully honour ancestral connection to Country and Place in everything that they do.

We are dedicated to the notion of design to make a better world and we acknowledge that making tools, shaping place, sharing stories, making meaning, wayfinding and collaborating have long been and continue to be both central and integral to First Peoples' cultures. We recognize that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ cultural contributions have continued relevance to design practice and commit to: reconciling ancestries of design and contemporary practice as well as pursuing culturally and professionally appropriate ways to engage with a diverse population of colleagues, industries and clients. In a time of treaty-making and voice we understand that there are overlaps between caring for Country and the sustainable production of goods, services, experiences, products and buildings.

Guided by the principles of respect, reconciliation, and reciprocity we undertake to indigenising and decolonising design practice by dismantling colonial structures and challenging biases that have marginalised Indigenous voices and design.

As students of SoDA you will be given opportunities to both engage with and educate yourself in Indigenous creative practices and cultural protocols through a lens of inclusivity, diversity, respect, mutual understanding, inter-cultural dialogue in all aspects of design practice. Indigenous people have been telling stories, making tools, and connecting to Country through visual media, placemaking and place marking for more than 60,000 years and these practices are part of an ongoing, evolving and live tradition.