Beyond Sustainability: Why Brands Must Embrace Regeneration
In London’s boardrooms, the language of ESG, Net Zero, and B Corp status is now familiar – a direct response to a powerful new market reality. The question is no longer whether companies should act on sustainability, but how to do it credibly and with impact, because consumers are more skeptical than ever of greenwashing.
This skepticism has fundamentally changed the game. For brands, the challenge is no longer about marketing a greener image, but about demonstrating authentic change. Superficial gestures won’t cut it. What’s needed now is a fundamental shift to regenerative design, authentic storytelling, and bold creative strategies that realign how we work with nature.
Where Design Meets Science and Story: The Alwakia Project
This is where my biodesign practice comes in.
Having spent two decades leading brand strategy and creative campaigns globally, and later earning an MA in Biodesign from Central Saint Martins, I now work at the intersection of design, science, and storytelling.
My recent project, Alwakia (The Protectress), offers a glimpse into the future of how brands can approach sustainability differently. It is a piece of biofabricated armour, grown from bacteria rather than extracted from ecosystems.
By engineering bacterial nacre, a living, impact-resistant material that mimics mother-of-pearl, and embedding endangered Levantine inlay craftsmanship, the work demonstrates how design can bridge material innovation, cultural resilience, and activism.
From Theory to Practice: Principles for a Regenerative Business
Why does this matter to business? Because the principles that shaped this project are the same ones shaping the next wave of corporate sustainability and creative strategy:
- Material Innovation: From bio-based packaging to regenerative textiles, the future of products lies in cultivating materials with nature, not against it.
- Systems Thinking: Brands cannot solve climate challenges in silos. They need strategies that connect science, design, and supply chains holistically.
- Authentic ESG Narratives: Investors, regulators, and customers are demanding transparency. Stories must be scientifically sound, culturally rooted, and creatively engaging.
- Activism as Strategy: Silence is risk. Taking a clear stance on climate and justice builds trust with audiences who value courage over neutrality.
London is uniquely positioned to lead this shift. With a world-class research sector, a thriving creative industry, and corporate mandates tightening under UK law, the city has become a hub for companies looking to navigate the bio-based economy. Yet most struggle to translate complex science into compelling, market-ready narratives. That is where regenerative creative direction, grounded in biodesign, becomes invaluable.
For large corporations, this means rethinking ESG communication to go beyond compliance and inspire cultural change.
For purpose-driven startups, it’s about building a differentiated brand identity rooted in regenerative design principles.
For universities and research institutions, it’s the ability to turn lab breakthroughs into public engagement and industry partnerships.
A Call for Climate-Positive Leadership
The truth is this: the future of brands isn’t just “climate-neutral”; it’s climate-positive, regenerative, and bold.
Projects like Alwakia show that when we work with nature and cultural memory, even a jacket can become both a shield and a manifesto. Imagine what your brand could become if it embraced the same mindset.
At Coana, we help brands, startups, and institutions translate science into stories and sustainability into strategy. Because in an era of systemic risk and accelerating change, the companies that will lead are not the ones that tick boxes, they are the ones that regenerate ecosystems, cultures, and trust.
A project by Elie Al-Marji, Collaborator at Coana. To see how we think, work, and write – browse the rest of Reads.