In this episode, Jean Lee and Dylan Davis of Ladies & Gentlemen Studio join Hanna Harris at Paimio Sanatorium to discuss design as an act of care and community. They reflect on their exploration of Shaker design through Furnishing Utopia and how their pandemic-born initiative Public Access invited designers worldwide to create open-source acts of empathy.

At the Spirit of Paimio Conference, Lee and Davis share how the sanatorium’s human-centered details resonate with their practice and how acts of care can expand creative possibilities beyond conventional design business models.

Jean Lee and Dylan Davis are the co-curators of Furnishing Utopia and Public Access, global projects that reimagine design through history, community, and shared connection. Their bi-coastal practice, Ladies & Gentlemen Studio, creates lighting, furniture, exhibitions, and collaborations rooted in thoughtful, meaningful design as a way of making sense of the world.

This conversation was recorded at the 2024 Spirit of Paimio Conference, hosted in the iconic Paimio Sanatorium — Alvar and Aino Aalto’s modernist masterpiece from the 1930s. Discover more at www.paimiosanatorium.com