Gabriel Fontana on redesigning sports

How can design help us to make the most of the benefits of playing and following sports regardless of our differences? In this episode of the Design Emergency podcast, our cofounder Paola Antonelli interviews the French social designer Gabriel Fontana who is designing new types of sports and sports equipment intended to make the experience as inclusive and empowering as possible.

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Gabriel, whose practice is based in Paris and Rotterdam, focuses his work on schools, where most of us are introduced to sport as a competitive form of team work. As Gabriel explains: “Dominant ideas regarding gender, ethnicity, physical ability and sexuality are reproduced in sport and physical education. Research shows that girls, children with disabilities, children with bi-cultural backgrounds and LGBTQIA+ children are marginalised and often excluded in PE.” 

To address this, Gabriel has designed a new game, Multiform, in collaboration with philosopher Nathanja van den Heuvel and sport teachers and students in Rotterdam and Paris. Children wear transformable outfits and are prompted by the referee to change team several times during the game to ensure that the three teams constantly change their size, composition and diversity. “This way,” says Gabriel, "students experience what it means to be a majority or a minority and are challenged to develop collaborative strategies.” By redesigning the idea of collaboration and competition to forge a healthier relationship with them, Gabriel hopes to create collective ways for young people to use sports to overcome their differences, reinforce their bonds and become better individuals.

You can find images of the projects described by Gabriel on Design Emergency's IG grid. And you can tune into this episode of Design Emergency and the others on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Acast, and other podcast platforms. Join us for future episodes featuring other global design leaders who are fostering positive change.

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Design Emergency is supported by a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.

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