About RISD x Hyundai Motor Group

Launched in 2019 and now guided at RISD by Academic and Creative Partnerships, this multi-year collaboration brings together the expertise of Hyundai Motor Group in the area of advanced mobility, with RISD’s research-through-making approach to problem solving and innovation.

At the center of this partnership is the Edna W. Lawrence Nature Lab, a transdisciplinary research environment where students and faculty study natural systems firsthand—examining form, function, and adaptation at every scale. From biologists to industrial designers, participants investigate how living systems can inform the next generation of sustainable materials, vehicle interiors, and sensory technologies.

After more than five years of collaboration, the RISD x HMG partnership continues to expand its focus from product and material innovation toward larger questions of ecological design and regenerative systems—asking not only how we move through the world, but how our movements impact the planet.

RISD x HMG programming activity takes place year-round, engaging RISD students and guests from HMG in the classroom—commonly known at RISD as “the studio”. During the academic year, we focus on advanced studio offerings, open to students from any major. In the summer, designers and engineers from HMG design centers in Korea come to Providence to learn and implement the pedagogy emerging from the partnership’s Regeneration Studio.

Through our ongoing partnership, RISD and HMG are demonstrating together how industry and art education can co-create pathways toward sustainable innovation. Leveraging methodologies fostered by the Nature Lab—close observation, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and experimentation with living systems—participation in the RISD x HMG partnership empowers students to see nature not as a resource, but as a partner in design.

Research outcomes emerging from our work include prototypes that model circular material systems, regenerative interiors, and responsive mobility environments. More importantly, this collaboration continues to shape a new generation of designers and engineers who approach technology with ecological empathy and creative rigor.

By embedding scientific research within artistic practice, the RISD x HMG collaboration models how design education can lead industry transformation. What begins through the lens of a microscope at the Nature Lab might inform the next era of regenerative mobility design—where materials, our transportation needs, and Earth’s ecosystems can thrive together.