This short film reflects on material-based making practices as found in the traditional handicraft and design innovation communities in Nepal and a designer-making community in Scotland.  Case studies from the Road to COP26 Innovation Programme, supported by the British Council in Nepal, which took place during 2021 encouraged Nature Inspired climate solutions through crafting practices and the Closing the Loop group of Scottish makers, convened by Applied Arts Scotland in 2021, both explored circular economy principles. Beyond the material life cycle, the social and environmental ecosystems within which these creative businesses operate (as outlined in doughnut economics) were examined by looking through the lens of the Quintuple Bottom Line (QBL): of purpose driven businesses which place economic profitability on equal footing with social responsibility and environmental sustainability, rooted in place (QBL: Purpose, Profit, People, Planet and Place). 

Dr. Inge Panneels, artist and Research Fellow at Edinburgh Napier University, Creative Informatics, is looking at how data and technology is deployed, or missing, to help the creative industries embrace the quintuple bottom line (people, planet, profit, purpose, place), and the role creativity can play to implement a culture shift towards a circular economy which operates within social and ecological boundaries. She is also a current Trustee of Edinburgh Tool Library and Creative Coathanger, she was Senior Lecturer at the Artist Designer Maker course, University of Sunderland; Crafts Advocate for Creative Arts Business Network (CABN) and Specialist Advisor for Creative Scotland and Scottish Arts Council.