Sarah Alix Mann's work re-frames our connection with nature and with our own bodies, using research and design to question paradigms about how we heal ourselves and the planet. Her designs have been realized in hand-made products, cultural spaces, natural landscapes, social initiatives, digital platforms, and exhibitions.
Her hand-made pieces have been featured at Salon del Mobile, Dutch Design Week, and Mexico Design Week.
Sarah recently completed a Master’s degree in Industrial Design at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). She is the recipient of the Design Research Award, the RISD Fellowship, and the Graduate Commons Research Grant.
She holds a B.A. in Politics from University of California, Santa Cruz, where she focused on natural resource transparency, as well as social entrepreneurship as an Everett Program Fellow.
Sarah is the co-founder of Segundo Piso and Round Table Studio, as well as the founder of Red Materia. She was also part of the core team that designed and opened La Nueva Fábrica, a contemporary art museum and residency program in Guatemala, which she oversaw as the Founding Director.
Before that, Sarah worked with digital design and data storytelling at World Resources Institute, where she helped launch several interactive mapping platforms with Global Forest Watch and worked on natural resource transparency with The Access Initiative.
She has likewise worked as a curator, freelance consultant, designer, and writer for a wide range of businesses and nonprofits, including positions in Ghana, China, Guatemala, California, and Washington, D.C.
Learn More:
-
Symbiocene
Dutch Design Week
Eindhoven, Netherlands
Oct 19 - 17, 2024
Featured piece: “Better Place Furniture Return”.
Inédito
Mexico Design Week
Mexico City
Oct 10, 2024 - Jan 15, 2025
Featured piece: “Silla Telar”.
RISD Graduate Thesis Exhibition
Providence Convention Center, Rhode Island
May 23 - June 1, 2024
Featured collection: "From One Nature to Another".
Objects May Shift
Salon Satellite, Salon del Mobile, Milan, Italy
April 16 - 21, 2024
Featured piece: "Termite Step Stool".
NO-TITLE
Normal Objects
Los Angeles, CA, USA
March 16 - April 6, 2024
Featured piece: “Termite Stool”.
Interactions and Connections for the Human Mind
RISD 2nd Floor Gallery
Providence, RI, USA
Nov. 26 - Dec 1, 2023
Featured piece: “Hum-En” Bioenergy Wearable.
Oh Sh*t
RISD Industrial Design Gallery
October 19 - November 9th, 2023
Providence, RI, USA
Featured pieces: “Krater” and CNC Milled “Log”.
Emotional/Durable
RISD Industrial Design Graduate Biennial
Sol Koffler Gallery
Providence, RI, USA
March 17–April 9, 2023
Featured piece: “Mycorrhizal Messages”.
And She Said
Galería Panza Verde
September 1-31, 2017
La Antigua, Guatemala
Featured piece: “Gold, Goods & Glory” -
2024 - Sensory Silhouettes, RISD Museum • Objects May Shift, Salon Satellite, Milan Design Week • RISD Thesis Grad Show
.
2021 - Colectivo Último • Juan Manuel Díaz Puerta • Eve Clayes • Jamie Denburg & Sebastian Schloesser • Mod Cardenas • Eve Chayes Lyman • Juan Ripoll • Taller Experimental de Gráfica Guatemala
.
2019 - Joaquín Orellana • Clara de Tezanos • The photo archive of La Nueva Fábrica
.
2018 - Lake Verea • Lissie Habie Simón Vega •. Alejandra Hidalgo
-
How Should We Live Now? In Milan, RISD’s Objects May Shift Exhibition Offered a Woozy Vision for Our Domestic Future
Sight Unseen
May 1st, 2024
At Milan Design Week, the Power Is Often in the Collection
New York Times
April 15, 2024
Twenty Unmissable installations and exhibitions at this year’s Milan Design Week
Dezeen
April 4th, 2024
Rhode Island School of Design Presents Objects May Shift at Salone del Mobile 2024
risd.edu
March 13, 2024La Nueva Fábrica acoge tres mundos fotográficos
Diario de Centro América
November 28th, 2019Admire los Paisajes Sonoros de Joaquín Orellana
Diario de Centro América
April 2nd, 2019 -
Rhode Island School of Design
Round Table Studio
La Nueva Fábrica / New Roots Foundation
World Resources Institute / Global Forest Watch / The Access Initiative
Center for Democratic Development Ghana
Ashoka
Fine Line
Everett Program (GIIP)
Center for Global, International and Regional Development
-
RISD Grad Exchange 2023 - Presented “Better Place Furniture Return”
Planned and presented Joaquín Orellana’s concert at La Nueva Fábrica
Planned and presented dozens of exhibit openings and artist talks at La Nueva Fábrica.
Held communications workshop for the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation Council to reassess and redesign their outreach strategy
Led two workshops for journalists and civil society in Mexico City in using GFW maps and data
Panelist at COP21 Green Zone event “Global Forest Watch Climate” in Paris, France
Directed and designed the Landscapes Laboratory at the Global Landscapes Forum
Presented at WWF Fuller Symposium at National Geographic
Directed workshop on building new interactive tools for tracking emissions from deforestation at the UNFCCC’s SB42 in Bonn, Germany, and led interactive audience design exercises
Presented at Tapestry Conference in Athens, Georgia
Keynote speaker at A Better World by Design at RISD/Brown University
Directed mapping workshop at US Department of State, Professional Fellows Congress
Coordinated WRI participation at Global Landscapes Forum in Lima, Peru
-
Meson Panza Verde
Enverdece
Adelante Shoe Co.
Luna Zorro
Grupo Alta (Casa Poponoe & Villa Bokeh)
Universidad Francisco Marroquín
Global Landscapes Forum
Initiative 20x20
Greenbelt Movement
Strength India
René Habie
Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation
Saqirsan
National Geographic
Jane Goodall Institute
Earth Journalism Network
Mongabay
Unilever
Reforestamos Mexico
Pomona College
Burness Communications
Ojo Público
UNFCCC
NOAA
US Dept. of State
The Norwegian Embassy in the US
US Peace Corps
-
From One Nature to Another
(Master's Thesis Book)
For Companies that Cut Protected Forests, There’s Nowhere to Hide (also published in GreenBiz)New Platform Reveals How Much Carbon is Locked in Tropical Forests – and How Much Was Lost
With Latest Fire Crisis, Indonesia Surpasses Russia as World’s Fourth-Largest Emitter
How Much Rainforest is in that Chocolate Bar? (also published in GreenBiz)
Zooming In: “Sustainable” Cocoa Producer Destroys Pristine Forest in Peru
3 Maps Help Explain Sao Paulo, Brazil’s Water Crisis
Monitoring Forest Change in Latin America with Terra-i
Biofuel Investments Threaten Local Land Rights in Tanzania
Spotlight on Ghanaian Oil & Revenue Management
Ugandan Parliament Sparks Controversy over Oil Moratorium
US Preparations for Rio+20
Waiting on US Rules for Revenue Transparency