We dance around these topics every quarter, but this time, we’re just going to say it: this issue is about how to change the world. It’s about building peace in the aftermath of war. It’s about building a new form of capitalism in the shadow of collapse. It’s about fixing education when everybody tells you the systems can’t be shifted. It’s about creating new modes of sustainable production in industries they said couldn’t change. And, at the end, it’s about sitting down to a beautiful meal, made with mindfulness and heart. Amidst all of that, it’s also about pirate supply stores, cardboard boxes, mechanised windwalkers and printers from which we might manifest anything we dream.

Dumbo Feather 31, out April 25. Order it now!

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Chid Liberty is a Mad Capitalist

“I haven’t even finished my bachelor’s degree yet and I’m 32, but what I can add is this entrepreneurial… something, I don’t know. Madness! Maniacal garbage!”

Chid Liberty is a third culture kid on a mission. Born in Liberia and raised in Germany and the U.S., this global nomad has formed a vision of a world where all trade is ‘fair trade’. Chid began pursuing this goal by founding Liberty and Justice and Made In: Liberia – projects that aim to establish fair trade and alleviate extreme poverty in Liberia by providing work and vocational skills for Liberian women. His ideology is one based on respect between employees, employer and product; it is one that hopes to meet a triptych of bottom lines – economical, environmental and social. These aspirations may seem ambitious, or indeed mad, but with Chid, a little madness can go a long way.

We also learn about: Worker-controlled factories, third culture kids, and the Liberian Women’s Mass Action for Peace

Photo: Peretz Partensky

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Kylie Kwong is a Chef

“You gotta fall over, you’ve gotta go down all these paths in order to know that you don’t want to go down that path.”

Ever since she was a young girl, Kylie Kwong has possessed a passion for good food and creativity. Surprisingly, it wasn’t until she began working as a caterer’s assistant at the age of 23 that these passions finally merged. Since then, Kylie has become one of Australia’s most prominent television chefs and restaurateurs. The joy she finds in all aspects of food production, preparation and consumption resonates throughout both her professional and personal life. It is a joy that she can’t help but share.

We also learn about: Agrarian Kitchen and Outback Pride

Photo: Toby Burrows

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Sir Ken Robinson is an Education Reformer

“…teaching is not a delivery system, it’s an artform.”

Imagine, if you will, a room full of depressed teachers, long since broken by the system, suddenly compelled to jump on their desks and shout ‘O Captain! My Captain!’, and you’ll have some idea of the energy and direction Sir Ken Robinson brings to any conversation on education reform. Sir Ken firmly believes that current education systems dislocate people from their natural talents. Sir Ken has been promoting change to help foster these innate abilities throughout his entire career. Recently, as a result of his incredibly popular TED presentations, people all over the world have really started to sit up and pay attention, much like the very pupils he works so hard to benefit.

We also learn about: 826 Valencia’s Pirate Supply Store

Photo: Michal Czerwonka

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Pamela Hartigan is an Unreasonable Person

“Being unreasonable means that you simply refuse to accept the status quo; you’re always trying to find a better way.”

Pamela Hartigan is a builder of bridges. Over the course of a long and varied career – from her work for community-based grassroots organisations to her role as Managing Director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship – Pamela has sought to connect people and ideas. She is also a great advocate for being unreasonable. Not illogical or petulant – that will get you nowhere. But, according to Pamela, being unreasonable and a little bit stubborn is at the root of making a difference, of kickstarting the change you wish to see in the world. Quite a reasonable proposition, really.

We also learn about: The Basics of Social Enterprise

Photo: Jackson Eaton

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Isobel Davies is an Ethical Entrepreneur

“I never felt daunted by anything I had no experience in..”

All cheekbones and eyelashes, Isobel Davies has that just-fell-out-of-bed glamour so typical of French film stars and anyone who dated a Rolling Stone in the 1960s. She has an unassuming air, a quiet elegance, and a slight whiff of intrigue, but don’t be fooled. Beneath that unstructured mystique lies a fierce passion for animals that’s driven Isobel, directly against the odds, to launch three successful businesses, all shaped by her concern for the nonhuman world. A pioneering ethical entrepreneur, she now runs two vegetarian brands and an award-winning fashion label. Chances are you’re not a cow, a sheep, or a hen, but if you’re a politically-motivated vegan, you’d be fully forgiven for praising the day she was born.

We also learn about: Slow Fashion and the Social Studio

Photo: Siddharth Khajuria

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Titanic Hats, Hackers, Agatha Christie and so much more

• Robogals – Marita Cheng has a Small Robot Army
• Strandbeest – Theo Jansen has a Plastic Menagerie
• Makerbot – Bre Pettis is Lost in the Thingiverse
• Makedo – Paul Justin has Connections
• Reader’s story: Nicole Lenord moved to Bali
• Our new community pinboard!

Photo: Lauren Bamford

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These articles can be read in full in Dumbo Feather issue 31, available April 25.

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