Gerda Marie Notholt

Gerda is a designer and design researcher, specialised in innovative and circular design for footwear and bags. She holds a master’s degree in Sustainable Industrial Design and is passionate about finding more responsible ways of designing products by combining material exploration with an understanding of users’ needs and perspectives. She worked at an urban outdoor brand, where she developed an innovative, repairable and recyclable mono-material bag concept, which involved creating a new polyester fabric.
As part of the MSCA SCARPA Doctoral Network, she is based at Kolding School of Design in Denmark. Her PhD explores footwear repair and reuse in end-user and commercial contexts, aiming to understand existing repair practices and translate these insights into design strategies that support the prolonged use of footwear.
She is excited to be part of SCARPA’s unique mix of disciplines and to apply design to bridge research, industry and end-user needs, turning insights into tangible real-world solutions.