ABOUT
The company
Mathilda Tham feminist, Earth mind and heartful learning and wisdom company to people and organisations in existential crisis and metamorphosis is imagined with two main aims:
- To contribute to urgent systemic change as quickly and impactfully as possible by being good company – a helpful friend – to people and organisations on their journey of change.
- To be an (imperfect) example of and share insights from working from a feminist, Earth mind and heartful perspective.
The company is imagined by Mathilda Tham. For each project we put together teams from our diverse, intergenerational and multidisciplinary international network.
How we work
We work with metadesign approaches and frameworks. Metadesign has been developed to respond to complex challenges that require collaboration across different disciplines and sectors. Metadesign connects the tangible product and process with the systems and infrastructures it is embedded in, as well as the values, norms and belief systems that guide what we do and think – often without us even recognising it. In our work, we create metadesign processes that join up individuals’ needs and dreams with those of the organisation, as well as the global needs for social justice and stable earth systems. Metadesign is emergent which means that the responses to a challenge grow from the particular situation, place and community – which creates diverse, unique, relevant and exciting ideas.
Our work is science based and draws on, for example, systems thinking, resilience thinking, futures studies, change theory, education science, action research and design thinking. Our work uses a range of artistic approaches and creative methods including simple prototype making, acting out scenarios, outdoors spatial mapping, cooking, creative writing, drawing, painting, embroidery, meditation and singing. These approaches work great together with more conventional analytical tasks and support teams to feel safe together and to come up with ideas outside the ordinary.
Our clients
Ultimately Earth and all species including humans are our clients. We have been collaborating with a broad range of stakeholders, including industry (fashion, housing, forest, furniture, car, food, pr and advertising) and young entrepreneurs, unions, NGOs, authorities, media, schools and higher education, research institutions, activists and citizen groups.
Mathilda Tham
Hello!
I am Mathilda Tham. Thanks for coming to see me.
Photo Sandra Freij, 2020.
Every morning at 8am an alarm goes off on all my devices. It says ‘freedom – freeify’ (I made that one up). It is there to remind me of the incredible and exhilarating fact that I am free – and the responsibility I have to use this freedom to contribute to the health, happiness and safety of our world. At the same time as I am free, I am also part of a beautiful and messy entanglement that spans all species and all people, far back and (hopefully) far into the future. And from this tiny point right here and right now, I have the opportunity to contribute.
For the past two decades and a half, I have been working with systems change.
Starting out as a fashion designer and realising that adequate change would not be possible from within existing models of working, I continued with a PhD in sustainability, systems thinking, futures studies and design. I found freedom and approaches to make change in the field of metadesign. I think of this as a license to move design thinking and doing upstream, to the key questions of how we want to live our lives, what stories that can help us keep in touch with the conditions of life, the purpose of organisations.
This has led me to envision and dream, lead and co-create pioneering design educations, a global fashion activist network, a new logic for the fashion sector, and cutting edge research projects. The work has influenced initiatives in industry, education, policy making and communication. I am professor in design at Linnaeus University, Sweden and affiliated with Goldsmiths, University of London. I do talks and conversations with large audiences, contribute to strategy and visions through board work and high level dialogue, as well as hold small and intimate workshops. My work uses a broad range of designerly forms: new rituals and methods, creative writing, performance, singing, cooking, new systems, futures scenarios, recipes, new professional roles, films, books.
Some of the core themes I am working on at the moment are: Post-paradigmatic explorations – how we can come up with ideas from beyond dominant ways of thinking. Trauma, mental health and ecological health – how healing of individuals and communities is connected with healing our planet. New professional roles and ways to organise work. Learning, unlearning and relearning for lives together within Earth’s limits.
I am passionate about collaboration and have worked with big industry, governance, media, as well a citizen and activist groups. I enjoy authentic explorations into how needs of diverse organisations, people, species can be met in creative and caring ways. I am especially interested in how we can ‘stay with the trouble’ (Haraway, 2016) of tricky and sometimes awkward and painful conversations that we need to have, to have a future. I take solace and inspiration from many places, including the amazing writings of black feminist poet Audre Lorde, and founder of engaged Buddhism Thích Nhất Hạnh. It’s probably fair to say I’m a polymath – happy to straddle art and science, to connect global challenges with individual and communities’ experience, and confident enough to be in unchartered territories.
I am based in Sweden and the UK, and enjoy many collaborations and friendships across the world. I have two daughters who teach me (in addition to speaking English and Swedish correctly, coping with headlice and many other things) to 1. live for the long-term futures beyond my own lifespan and 2. the importance of play when we work with the very serious and often sad questions. I love learning – currently singing, figure skating, ballet and walking football.
Now, I’d love to learn with you. Please get in touch so we can explore interesting potential synergies!
The website design
The website is designed by Hanna Bergman.
The main font is DIN-dong by ByeByeBinary / Clara Sambot.
SERVICES
Here is a flavour of ways to collaborate with us.
Our work aims to be informative, inspirational, generative and transformative as well as engage at the level of each individual, the team, and the wider world. To this end, we use a combination of artistic and scientific approaches. We know that the best way to work with serious issues and complexity is not to hold them rigidly, but to relax into them and find joy. That is why we integrate recent science with, for example, creative writing, singing or cooking.
We have experience of working with PR and advertising agencies, fashion, car, furniture and food companies, local and regional governance, unions, investment banks, international sustainability organisations, schools and universities as well as activist organisations.
A collaboration starts with identifying feminist and Earth mind and heartful goals and how we can reach them together.
Services for organisations
TALKS
Thought provoking, informative and inspiring injections to start a process, celebrate a milestone, bring a new team together.
WORKSHOPS
Meaningful, interactive, thought provoking and generative sessions to inspire a new direction, bring different perspectives in the organisation together, find purpose and joy.
RESEARCH
Bespoke artistic and scientific explorations to deepen understandings of challenges and opportunities, support new directions and reach new audiences.
TEXTS
Bespoke writing bringing together artistic and scientific perspectives on change to celebrate a milestone or communicate in a new way.
CONVERSATIONS
Deeper explorations into the organisations’ needs and potential to contribute to social justice and a safe planet.
BESPOKE LEARNING JOURNEYS
A learning journey for a team or whole organisation with our intergenerational and multi knowledgeable team.
Services for individuals
LEARNING CIRCLES
Online sessions focused on a theme directed by the participants’ interests and facilitated by us. This is a great way to learn and find community.
CHANGE ANONYMOUS
It can be hard to find ways of working with change from within a toxic environment or an organization that does not align with your values. You can participate in this learning circle anonymously.
Your ideas
Please let us know of ideas for collaborations. What do you need? What could serve a healthy planet and social justice? What could be fun?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions of Mathilda Tham feminist, Earth mind and heartful learning and wisdom company to people and organisations in existential crisis and metamorphosis.
Q: WHAT DOES BEING A FEMINIST COMPANY MEAN AND DO YOU ONLY WORK WITH WOMEN?
A: Being a feminist company means working to challenge norms that uphold and reproduce sexism and to design new images, stories and structures for how we can all be together. Sexism is a ’structural problem’ meaning that unless we say NO STOP, everybody (women as well) is part of upholding unhelpful patterns. Sexism is expressed in a connected spectrum from femicide to bad jokes. Sexism is ’intersectional’ (Kimberlé Crenshaw 1989) with other common factors in discrimination, such as race, ability, age, class, education and sexuality. Being a feminist company means digging deeper behind obvious needs and presencing less/in visible stakeholders’ needs. Being a feminist company means making a fuss (Isabelle Stengers and Vinciane Despret 2014) and being a feminist killjoy (Sarah Ahmed 2017). Mathilda Tham works with and for all genders.
Inspiring texts for being a feminist company.
Photo Mathilda Tham, 2024.
If you are looking for inspiration, here are some great texts:
Ahmed, Sarah. 2017. Living a Feminist Live. Duke University Press.
Lorde, Audre. 1984. The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House. In Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Crossing Press.
Stengers, Isabelle and Despret, Vinciane. 2014. Women Who Make a Fuss: The Unfaithful Daughters of Virginia Woolf. Univocal.
Strömqvist, Liv. 2018. Fruit of Knowledge. Virago.
Q. WHAT DOES BEING AN EARTH MIND AND HEARTFUL COMPANY MEAN?
Earth Logic means what makes sense or is logical for the survival and health of Earth and all its species, including humans. (Kate Fletcher and Mathilda Tham 2019) Being an Earth mind and heartful company therefore means setting up goals and processes that genuinely prioritise a stable planet and social justice instead of economic growth. As an Earth mind and heartful company, we draw on values, frameworks and processes developed through the Lucky People Forecast, Metadesign and Earth Logic research, and from kin-places – such as work on care, decolonialism, coexisting with many species. We talk about earth logic and love, because this way of working is both a mind set and heart set.
Read more about Lucky People Forecast, Metadesign, and Earth Logic in Projects.
Other key reference points for being an Earth mind and heartful company include
Notions of care:
Puig de la Bellacasa, Maria. 2017. Matters of Care: Speculative Ethics in More than Human World. University of Minnesota Press.
Decolonial perspectives on design:
Escobar, Arturo. 2018. Designs for the Pluriverse. Duke University Press.
Living in a multispecies world:
Haraway, Donna J. 2016. Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press.
Q. WHAT DOES BEING A LEARNING AND WISDOM COMPANY MEAN?
Western science, modern technologies, the economic growth logic and adjacent dominant ways of thinking have proven insufficient in meeting the complex challenges the world faces today. (Stoddard et al. 2021) A core reason is that it is not possible to solve problems with the same kind of thinking that created the problems in the first place. Being a feminist, earth logic company therefore means diversifying how we know and which tools we use from ‘business as usual’. For example, we combine artistic and scientific approaches, invite different stakeholders’ perspectives and ways of knowing, and engage bodies, hearts and minds in learning.
Learning and unlearning can be scary and uncomfortable – especially leaving familiar ‘truths’ behind. Yet, if we dare to approach challenges in an open, curious, prestigeless way, we may find valuable knowledges and practices that didn’t seem relevant before, and we can start creating more diverse insights. Perhaps this is wisdom?
We use the word company in two ways: an entity that provides services as well as company in the sense of a friend on a shared journey.
Q. WHO AND WHAT DOES ‘PEOPLE AND ORGANISATIONS IN EXISTENTIAL CRISIS AND METAMORPHOSIS’ REFER TO?
Arguably all people and organisations at this time are in existential crisis since there is a climate emergency threatening vital earth systems and thereby the very existence of humans.
The existential crisis refers also to individuals and organisations – as familiar lifestyles must be left behind, and new skills, habits, relationships must be developed. This does not only entail hard work but also facing tricky feelings – guilt, blame, fear, anger, grief. Metamorphosis refers to the necessary leap in how we orient ourselves (there is no caterpillar 2.0 – only the hope of a butterfly).
How can we imagine existing differently from what is familiar to us?
Photo Mathilda Tham, 2024.
See some inspiration:
Machado de Oliveira, Vanessa. 2021. Hospicing Modernity. North Atlantic Books.
Tsing, Anna., Swanson, Heather., Gan, Elaine., Bubandt, Nils. (Eds.) 2017. Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet. University of Minnesota Press.