March 05, 2026

The Top 1% Think in Systems. Here’s How To Do It | Luisa Charles

57 minutes

How design engineers build real world impact across science, art and public systems, and why playing the game does not mean losing your values. Can creative work move from speculative installation to infrastructure without losing its integrity?

In this episode, Luisa, media agnostic design engineer, artist and founder of Studio LJ, shares how she works across robotics, climate systems, immersive installation and community led technology to build interventions that operate beyond the gallery.

From co designing low cost water quality sensing robots in Sri Lanka and the Amazon, to developing machine learning models that predict pollution, to building regenerative robotic sculptures that generate energy and support carbon sequester, her work sits at the intersection of lived experience, engineering and public good.

We talk about:

The void and why every serious creative project requires discomfort
Unknown unknowns and how breakthrough ideas actually emerge
Community owned robotics instead of extractive tech solutions
Machine learning, ethics and the limits of productivity thinking
Funding across science, art and innovation without losing your core idea
Co founder failure and what actually breaks startups
Burnout, ambition and learning to work within human limits
Why playing the game strategically can expand, not dilute, creative agency

This conversation reframes creativity from aesthetic output to systemic intervention and explores how design, technology, culture, AI and execution systems intersect to create durable impact. If you are building at the intersection of art, engineering, entrepreneurship and public systems, this episode is for you.

Timestamps

(00:00) Intro
(01:08) How a Design Engineer Moves Between Art, Robotics and Climate Systems
(03:42) Why Creative Work Must Move Beyond the Gallery
(06:15) What It Means to Design for Public Systems Instead of Private Clients
(08:57) The Void: Why Disorientation Is Required for Breakthrough Ideas
(11:26) How Unknown Unknowns Shape Serious Innovation
(14:04) Why Most Designers Misunderstand Business Model Design
(16:37) How to Align With Power Without Losing Your Values
(19:12) Community Owned Robotics vs Extractive Technology
(21:46) Co Designing Water Quality Robots in Sri Lanka and the Amazon
(24:28) How Machine Learning Can Serve Public Good Instead of Productivity
(27:03) Turning Climate Data Into Immersive Public Experience
(29:41) Why Playing the Game Strategically Expands Creative Agency
(32:15) The Hidden Cost of Cross Disciplinary Ambition
(34:52) Burnout, Limits and the Reality of Sustainable Impact
(37:20) What Actually Breaks Early Stage Ventures
(39:48) Why Integrity Is a Long Term Strategy, Not a Moral Pose
(42:16) How Design, Technology, Culture and AI Intersect in Durable Companies
(44:51) Final Reflections on Building Systems That Outlast You