BESIGN The Sustainable Design School

BESIGN The Sustainable Design School is a private higher education institution in Cagnes-sur-Mer, on the Côte d’Azur, founded in 2013 by three designers: Marc Van Peteghem, naval architect at VPLP Design; Maurille Larivière, designer, chief executive of the school and professor at the École Polytechnique; and Patrick Le Quément, former design director at Renault, Audi-Volkswagen and Ford.

Its mission is to train designers who can propose desirable, viable and sustainable solutions. The pedagogy rests on the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals and on learning by doing: interdisciplinary, multicultural teams take briefs from companies and institutions, on a campus of over 2,000 square metres.

The three-year Bachelor Design in Sustainable Innovation, taught in French and English from September, moves from design studios to 3D rendering, AI tools and product life-cycle analysis, with electives in sustainable space design, textile design and circular fashion, and product design, plus an exchange semester among 23 partner universities. The Mastère leads to the Designer title, a level 7 certification registered with the RNCP (RNCP36106) and awarded with L’École de Design Nantes Atlantique.

Practice shapes the calendar: partnership projects with industrial groups and public bodies, bootcamp weeks and hackathons, and lectures, at 1 Chemin du Val Fleuri.