Fides Lapidaire is a designer who offers unexpected perspectives on complex social issues. With a touch of humour, she creates experiences that tackle issues usually reserved for policy. By making subjects tangible, accessible, and negotiable, her work reveals the absurdity of situations we often take for granted. From closing the nutrient loop with her Broodje Poep (‘Shit Sandwiches’) to examining our food system through an ‘erotic carrot experience,’ Fides explores unexpected angles that expose new questions. Her work sheds light on what we think we know, making participation in change more tangible and creating an environment of awareness and connection.

In her project BroodjePoep, Fides asks the uncomfortable question of “how your shit can feed the world”. The project re-evaluates human urine and faeces as a resource for the soil, relieving the sewage to promote a reciprocal relationship with the land, for example by fertilising land. What began as her graduation project at Design Academy Eindhoven has grown into a national movement. The documentary ‘Holy Shit‘ delves deeper into closing the largest gap in the food cycle. She zooms in on topics ranging from taboos to laws and regulations, aiming a shift from being a consumer to becoming a participant in the food cycle, both as a producer and provider in a nutrient exchange. In ‘Bodies of Water,’ Fides makes water quality in the Netherlands—the worst in Europe—relatable through swimwear that visualises water quality indicators. This responsive pattern changes to reflect water quality, highlighting the need for change to obtain a healthy ecosystem. Wearing the interactive bathing suit connects people physically to this issue, which tends to remain abstract and often bureaucratic. Fides makes issues as these relatable and highlights the underlying need for change. 

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