Eindhoven – Lucrezia Alessandroni, a graduate from Central Saint Martins, is advocating a more synchronised approach to care with a menstrual routine that better connects people to their cycle.

The conceptual project comprises a menstrual cup and an incubator. The incubator enables users to grow their own anti-inflammatory bacteria on their personal menstrual cup. Designed to be used when menstruating, the living cup reduces any inflammatory discomfort that people with periods might experience. The purpose of the project, however, is to encourage a mutualistic relationship between the product and experiencer, and so requires some care and attention from the user as well. Users are asked to care for both the product and the bacteria: by adjusting the UV sterilisation level to avoid overgrowth and unwanted organisms; by maintaining humidity levels to keep it hydrated; and by altering temperature levels to preserve the humidity if it drops. The ritual should be repeated by users after every menstrual cycle.

The level of care required in this ritual creates an intimate connection between the menstruator and the cup, and thus reduces the desire to purchase single-use hygiene products. It also helps increase awareness of periods and challenges the societal stigma.

Lucrezia Alessandroni’s project is one of the thousands of exploratory projects that are being presented at Dutch Design Week 2022. Follow our online platforms as we continue to spotlight the most interesting and insightful projects and discussions from Dutch Design Week over the next few weeks.

US – American women are initiating a new workplace trend. The Great Break-up is here, according to the Women in the Workplace report, with unprecedented numbers of women leaders choosing to leave their companies for employers more aligned with their values.

LeanIn.org’s and McKinsey & Co’s annual study polled over 40,000 women across 330 organisations to evaluate how the pandemic has changed what women want from their companies, looking at flexibility, wellbeing, diversity and inclusion. Only one in 10 women want to work predominantly in an office, compared to 18% of men.

Flexible work allows women, often primary care-givers, to achieve a better work-life balance, while also lessening the risk of suffering micro-aggressions at work. LeanIn.org's co-founder and CEO Rachel Thomas says: ‘Women aren’t asking for flexibility because they want to do less, but because they’re doing more. This idea that flexibility makes work easier is preposterous – flexibility just makes it doable. Women know that’s what they need to be successful.’

At LS:N Global, we are tracking ever-evolving women-specific lifestyle and career challenges in our Women Futures series.