HELPING DESIGN TEAMS BUILD INTERCULTURAL EMPATHY

Connecting Cultures

These days, we work with people who think, communicate and make sense of the world differently. That's exciting-but it's also where many cultural misunderstandings begin. I've spent the past decade exploring how design teams can better understand people across cultures - through generating Knowledge, putting that into Practice and continuously shaping my own Perspective.

These days, we work with people who think, communicate and make sense of the world differently. That’s exciting-but it’s also where many cultural misunderstandings begin. I’ve spent the past decade exploring how design teams can better understand people across cultures - through generating Knowledge, putting that into Practice and continuously shaping my own Perspective.

My work is Featured

in Delft Design Guide and Culture Sensitive Design

Theme

Helping design teams navigate cultural complexity.

Experience

10+ years

Ways I contribute

Research · Facilitation · Teaching

Impact

Academia · Industry · Europe · Asia

I generate …

Knowledge

I have always been curious about how people experience the world differently. That curiosity led me to question whether design methods could travel across cultures. Over time, the question became much broader: How can designers achieve intercultural empathy?

That journey became Cultura - a framework that combines intercultural theory with practical design methods developed through my PhD research, now published in the Delft Design Guide and Culture Sensitive Design.

research

4-year intercultural user research between Europe and Asia

Contribution

Cultura method,

framework

& tools

PUBLICATION

6 scientific papers; Featured in Delft Design Guide &

Culture Sensitive Design

Impact

Academia

Industry

Education

Culture can't be understood from a 'distance'. It emerges through conversation.

field Notes

→ Free to download

Cultura Tools

→ Free to download

Cultura Tools

Publications

my work cultura is Featured in

Delft Design Guide and Culture Sensitive Design

→ Read publications

I put theories into …

Practice

Research only matters when it changes practice.

Developing Cultura was only the beginning. What mattered to me was seeing whether it could help people make better decisions in their everyday work.

Today, I use the framework through consultancy, education and workshops, helping teams navigate cultural complexity across different contexts.

Consulting

Consumer products
Luxury yachts
Service innovation

International

Design Courses

Netherlands · China · Iran · Japan

Culture

Sensitivity

Workshops with multidisciplinary teams

Impact

Better business decisions through intercultural insights

field Notes

Cultura isn't about learning facts about cultures.

It's about helping design teams become more curious before making design decisions.

Cultura isn't about learning facts about cultures.

It's about helping design teams become more curious before making design decisions.

Consulting Aross Cultures

Stakeholder insights

“We started asking different questions.

Our sales- business -engineering team start to become more aware of the cultural challenges.”

- client from Oceanco

“We started asking different questions.

Our sales- business -engineering team start to become more aware of the cultural challenges.”

- client from Oceanco

“We started asking different questions.

Our sales- business -engineering team start to become more aware of the cultural challenges.”

- client from Oceanco

International Design Courses

Stakeholder insights

“The workshops helped us see the users beyond our own assumptions.”

- client from Viloery & Boch

“The workshops helped us see the users beyond our own assumptions.”

- client from Viloery & Boch

“The workshops helped us see the users beyond our own assumptions.”

- client from Viloery & Boch

Selected Projects

Consultancy

Education

Workshops

→ Explore project archive

I sharpen my own …

Perspective

The more people I met, the more my own understanding of culture changed.

Early in my career, I saw culture mainly through geography and nationality. Today, I see culture as layered, personal and constantly evolving. Family, profession, education, migration and lived experiences all shape how people make sense of the world.

Rather than explaining culture, I try to create the conditions for people to share their own perspectives. That mindset now guides how I conduct research, facilitate workshops and collaborate with multidisciplinary teams.

Reflections

Insights gathered through research, teaching and everyday conversations that continue to shape my understanding of culture.

Fieldwork · Travel · Everyday observations

Talks & Presentations

Sharing intercultural design with researchers, designers and students through lectures, conferences and workshops

Conferences · Universities · Lecture

Intercultural design is not about becoming an expert on other cultures.

It is about remaining curious when people's experiences are more complex than our expectations.

field Notes

A reminder I return to

“Speaking about a person’s culture often provokes the same reaction as speaking about his mother”

— Erin Meyer, The Culture Map

Looking back

I realise my work has never been about becoming an expert on other cultures.

It has been about helping design teams become more curious - about others, about themselves and about the assumptions they bring into the design process. That curiosity continues to shape how I research, teach and collaborate today.

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