A design activist. This is how Julia Watson introduces herself. Environmentalist at heart, landscape designer and author, Watson is the founder of the Lo—TEK Institute and the Lo—TEK Office for Intercultural Urbanism, leading the field in the search for indigenous technologies and vernacular architectures as climate-resilient solutions.
Her award-winning books, Lo—TEK: Design by Radical Indigenism (TASCHEN, 2019) and Lo—TEK Water: A Field Guide for TEKnology (TASCHEN, 2025), are global explorations of primordial innovation, mapping sustainable, adaptive systems born out of necessity and embedded with traditional ecological knowledge. Through her studio, she approaches design as a form of rewilding, reframing ancestral knowledge as essential infrastructure for the future.
Australian-born, now based in Fort Greene, Brooklyn with her family, she has spent decades traveling through remote regions, studying indigenous smart settlements and uncovering a vast archive of nature-based solutions.
Her work is grounded in direct experience, from walking the living root bridges of the Khasi in Northern India, «they can withstand adverse weather better than any human-made structure», to observing systems where ecology and design are inseparable.
We chose her for our Earth Day newsletter because her perspective aligns deeply with WA:IT: a vision where nature is not an accessory, but a system to work with. Where design becomes a form of rewilding and where the most radical shift might also be the most immediate: «Instead of air conditioning, plant more trees. Urban temperatures can be significantly reduced with tree cover».
Julia Watson
Interview by Olivia Fincato, a New York–based journalist contributing to Vogue Italia, Living Corriere, AD Italia, and La Repubblica, with a focus on design, culture, and meaningful storytelling.
What does Earth Day mean to you, and where does nature live in your everyday life?
«Earth Day is a useful pause, but the Earth doesn’t operate in annual campaigns. Nature isn’t somewhere I go, it’s the medium I exist within, whether I’m paying attention or not»
You often speak about ancestral knowledge, how can we connect to it more intuitively?
«It comes through seeking and conversation, by questioning what you don’t know, stepping into unfamiliar spaces, making mistakes, being corrected, and allowing that to shift your perspective. It’s not something you access instantly, but something you move toward, gradually, through attention and humility».
Is there a place in nature that instantly grounds you?
«The ocean, also my daughter’s name. It holds both vastness and intimacy, a constant reminder of rhythm, scale, and humility».
Is there a scent that brings you back to yourself?
«I’ve worn the same scent for 28 years, a blend of very ancient oils. My mother wears it too: lavender, bergamot, nutmeg, cedarwood, oakmoss, benzoin, frankincense, ylang ylang, orange, balsam of tolu, patchouli, and bay oil. It brings me back to a sense of home, something constant, almost outside of time».
When did you begin trusting your intuition as much as your research?
«I’ve always trusted my intuition, research is simply the articulation of something that was already known.»
Thinking about the next generations, how does that influence the way you live today?
«It shifts the timeframe. You stop asking “Is this efficient?” and start asking “Will this still make sense in 100 years?”».
How do you balance urgency and slowness in your work and life?
«I don’t think they’re opposites. Ecologies are slow, until they’re suddenly not. The real question is whether we’re paying attention before the tipping point, or only reacting once it’s already passed. Urgency, for me, is about awareness, slowness is about how we choose to act within it».
What helps you slow down and reconnect when everything feels intense?
«My children, barely out of being toddlers. Listening to them explain a thought or ask what a word means resets everything, the noise and stress falls away, and what matters becomes clear again».
If your work had a scent, what would it be?
«Walking through a rainforest, slightly sweet, with a cool dampness in the air».
Do you have a small daily ritual that brings you back to yourself?
«I have lunch with my youngest almost every day, we laugh a lot. I know it won’t be like this forever, but for now, we have this time together».
What is one piece of advice you would give to someone who wants to live more in connection with nature?
«Stop thinking of nature as “out there.” Start with where you are—and be accountable to it. Nearly every action in daily life can shift in that direction. It’s less about big gestures, more about a continuous awareness of how you live and the systems you’re part of».
Your book Lo—TEK explores Indigenous knowledge and vernacular technologies—what can we learn from them today about living more sustainably?
«That sustainability is a low bar. The deeper lesson is reciprocity—designing systems where giving back isn’t optional, it’s embedded. It’s a shift from minimizing harm to actively participating in regeneration».
@juliawatsondesign
@lotekoffice
@lotekinstitute
