Change happens inside the room.

Minne Zeijdner

Setting the scene

The first time I cycled to the Fashion Tech Farm, the sun was shining and I was a week too early. Enthusiasm beat accuracy.

A week later I returned. This time the sky was grey and rain tapped against the windows. Inside, the place was alive. Conversations drifted down from upstairs. Tools moved. People were building things.

Minne sat at a long table with her laptop open. Behind her stood a metal retail rack filled with DieKees products. Wool plant pots lined up like quiet proof that this is not just an idea.

We grabbed coffee. Within minutes the conversation was flowing. The exchange moved faster than logistics. Twenty minutes in, my jacket was still on.

That’s usually a good sign.

What she does

Minne works at the intersection of healthcare, entrepreneurship, and politics.

As a freelance designer, she develops products for her clients. One example is a light therapy device seamlessly integrated into a textile form factor. Clinical technology embedded in something soft and human.

Through DieKees, her startup, she transforms waste wool into biodegradable plant pots while navigating the realities of entrepreneurship herself. Her ambition is clear: eventually replace plastic plant pots in garden centers entirely.

Alongside that, she is active in local politics in Eindhoven. Not as a side hobby, but as a deliberate step into a space she feels lacks younger, entrepreneurial voices. With local elections coming up, this will likely take up more of her time in the near future.

At first glance, these paths seem unrelated. In conversation, they revealed a shared direction.

What we talked about

DieKees replacing plastic, one pot at a time

When I arrived, Minne was working on her laptop. Behind her, the metal rack with DieKees products made the ambition tangible.

DieKees is a biodegradable plant pot made from waste wool. A locally produced and sustainable alternative to plastic grow pots.

But the ambition goes further. Not just offering an alternative. Replacing plastic in garden centers altogether.

And it is not sustainability for sustainability’s sake. Wool offers real performance benefits.

• It retains water, reducing how often you need to water
• It protects roots against frost
• It repels insects
• As it breaks down, it adds valuable nutrients to the soil

Circularity and functionality combined.

Traction is lost in small details

For quite some time, the product did not seem to gain traction.

It would have been easy to stay focused on the core. Refining the wool process, optimizing production, improving supply chains.

But the breakthrough came from an unexpected angle: packaging.

A change in format unlocked movement.

It was a reminder that innovation does not always hide in the core product. Sometimes the real bottleneck lives in the system around it. On the shelf. In the way it is presented. In how quickly someone understands it.

Progress as fuel

With design work, a startup, and politics all happening at once, I asked her how she keeps progress moving across everything.

Her first response was sport.

She is currently into lifting. When she described the numbers increasing week by week, her energy visibly shifted. Progress is measurable. Tangible. Reinforcing.

That same mechanic shows up in how she structures her life.

She creates moments she has to show up for.

• A startup pitch challenge with a hard deadline
• A stage at Dutch Design Week
• A user test where prototypes have to work

Without those anchors, projects drift. With them, decisions get forced. Endless exploring stops. Delivery happens.

Post human centered design

Designers are drilled in user centered design, placing the user at the top of the decision pyramid.

The underlying idea is simple. Focus on the user and the rest will follow. Make it better for them and you will sell more.

This thinking is central to design culture.

But Minne questions its limits.

When everything serves the user, other consequences can become secondary. Environmental impact. Long-term social effects. Systemic strain.

She described a shift toward post human centered design.

Not a rejection of the user. An expansion beyond them.

Design that considers:

• Ecological systems
• Social ripple effects
• Long-term consequences
• Unintended impacts

Her wool plant pots embody that thinking. Her healthcare work fits within that responsibility. Her political involvement extends it further.

It is not about optimizing one stakeholder. It is about understanding the ecosystem a design enters.

Politics as an extension of design

With local elections approaching, our conversation inevitably turned to politics.

Local politics is not structured like a startup or a business. Most meetings happen in evenings and weekends. Compensation is modest and largely expense based. Because of this schedule and compensation structure, the majority of participants are retired workers.

Minne noticed that younger designers and entrepreneurs are underrepresented.

Rather than criticizing from the outside, she stepped inside.

She explained a key difference between business and politics.

In business, decisions are often aligned around a shared strategy. Direction is clearer. Even when there is internal politics, the company usually points one way.

In politics, direction is more fluid. Multiple arguments can make sense at once. There are many stakeholders and many users to design for simultaneously.

This complexity and impact beyond the user is what makes her move into this space.

Reflections

A consistent line across everything

Healthcare design. Circular entrepreneurship. Politics.

On the surface, different domains. Underneath, one shared belief.

There is a clear vision running through it all. Having that clarity makes decision making sharper. It becomes obvious what to work on and just as important what to drop.

The projects are not random. They orbit a shared conviction about responsibility and impact.

Design beyond the user

User centered design has improved countless products. It has made design more human.

But this conversation made me reflect on how easily we stop there.

Focusing on the user is powerful. But expanding the lens to include the system, the environment, society, and long-term impact feels like the next step.

Designing politics

As a designer, it is easy to think I wish I could change politics.

But that path feels long, uncertain, and often frustrating. So we design around it instead. We build solutions that bypass slow systems.

Yet new ideas and technologies often depend on policy to scale.

Understanding politics, knowing who to influence and how, can unlock breakthrough innovation and competitive advantage.

Momentum is designed

Her approach to deadlines made me reflect personally.

In sport, this mechanic works perfectly for me. Putting a race in the calendar creates clarity. Weekly training sessions become moments to show up for. Progress compounds.

I need to translate that mechanism to other objectives in my life. Working on my side projects is too easy to postpone.

Deadlines create movement.

Zooming out to see the real problem

When you stay head down in content and output, you risk optimizing the wrong layer.

Moments of zooming out, stepping back from execution, allow you to see the real root causes.

Often the breakthrough does not come from pushing harder. It comes from changing perspective.

Awareness is the first step. Doing it should become a habit.