Hello, I’m Merel Witteman
a designer slash environmental scientist based in Rotterdam. I operate at the point where a change in perspective suddenly makes solutions feel obvious, doable and — rather unexpectedly — appealing.
I combine scientific rigour with design instinct to find that angle. Not only by simplifying what’s complex, but by finding the view from which complexity makes sense — and its solution becomes something to look forward to.
Most urgent problems are communicated by presenting them in all their weight: facts, urgency, obligation. That tends to produce guilt, not movement. People already know enough. What they’re missing is something that makes action feel possible — and, ideally, irresistible. I design solutions that give energy rather than require it. And if they’re not at least a little surprising, they’re probably not working.
I work with organisations, researchers, and initiatives that are sitting on something important — a technology, an insight, a problem — but haven’t found the form that makes it move. Sometimes that means we first have to redesign the question: naming what the real obstacle is, or finding the angle that makes a scientific argument feel inevitable rather than theoretical. Sometimes it means building something small that makes a large, abstract issue suddenly personal and solvable.
The result is usually something that didn’t exist before — not quite a campaign, not quite an installation, not quite a report. An intervention that creates room for things to move.
How I work
Every problem — and therefore every project — is different, but the shape of the process tends to be the same.
1. It starts with understanding. Not just the problem you’re having, but the one behind it. Who holds the relevant beliefs? Where is the real friction? Has the question itself been correctly named? What are the existing solutions, and why don’t they work? A well-designed problem is already half the solution.
2. From there, I move into invention. This is the part I find hardest to describe and most difficult to stop doing: the process where an idea starts to take shape — one that’s both correct and surprising, scientifically defensible and something people actually want to engage with. Depending on where the solution is heading, this can take many forms: a search for alternative materials with specific properties, a design exploration into the right visual language, a scientific deep-dive to find supporting data, prototyping a product, or a series of experiments to test whether a solution really holds up.
3. The final phase is making it real — in whatever form that requires. An installation. A product. A funding pitch. An event. A tool that makes an invisible problem suddenly visible. The form follows the idea, not the other way around.
I work fast, I communicate clearly throughout, and I pull in the right people when the work requires it. My most effective projects start before the brief is set; which means the earlier you involve me, the more interesting the outcome tends to be.
My background
I’m a designer by training, an art director by practice, and an environmental scientist by conviction. In that order.
The design came first: I started in 2014 at Design Academy Eindhoven, where I learned to make things with my hands and think critically about why ‘things’ should exist at all. Half-way through my studies I started MaartjeMerel, together with Maartje Slijpen. A two-headed creative studio with a simple credo: make good things clear, rather than making shitty things look nice.
From 2012 to 2019 I worked at creative agency KesselsKramer, building campaigns for a wide range of clients. For example: the Dutch Government, Provamel, IDFA, NEMO Science Museum, Greenpeace, Women Inc, and Stedelijk Museum Schiedam. After seven years I could not control my curiosity any longer: I wanted to understand the systems behind the global problems we are facing. So I swapped my artdirector job for a MSc in Environmental Sciences, I graduated in 2022 (cum laude) at Wageningen University, specialising in Environmental Technology.
Since 2022 I’ve worked independently from Rotterdam, I have a studio in the city centre where I combine research, building things, and talking to people.
I rarely work alone. Around me is a network of academic, cultural, and social partners — Wageningen University, Utrecht University, NEMO Science Museum, Mediamatic, Greenpeace, Het Bouwdepot — and a growing circle of makers: social designers, creative developers, sound engineers, eco-gardeners, you name it.
On the side, I do talks, lectures, and the occasional provocation: at TEDx Eindhoven, Creative Mornings, PechaKucha, and others. Usually about the place where science, design, and a bit of mischief meet, and why the most urgent problems deserve to be made interesting rather than heavier. Let’s make stop making sustainability boring! If you’re putting together a programme and are looking someone who can talk about How to stop making sustainability boring, get in touch.
Proof, not promises
Some of what I’ve made has been recognised, funded, or measurably worked.
- A campaign I art-directed for the Dutch Government cut break-ins by 25%, and won a Golden Effie for the most effective campaign of the year.
- NWO Open Mind backed my out-of-the-box sustainable technology research Wood for Food with €50,000.
- I was named to the global Young Guns top 30 — the most promising creatives under 30, worldwide.
- My work has been funded by NWO, Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie, SIDN Fonds, and Nationaal Groeifonds — with a success rate above 80% on the applications I wrote.
So if you’re sitting on something important and haven’t yet found the form that makes it move — that’s exactly the kind of thing I’d like to hear about.