Hi there. My name is Ilona and I am a school garden educator and industrial design engineer, working across the globe, currently residing in New York’s concrete jungle. At the early age of 23, I was working on complexities like regulating the speed of an embryo transfer pump for more accuracy in In Vitro Fertilization and re-engineering a new vehicle safety belt system for the severely handicapped who are unable to use their hands to buckle up. Both designs now hold patents.

I design and create human-centered products, services, systems and educational programs with an eye towards social and environmental impact. After creating several products for health care (thoracic drain system, wheelchair systems), I began thinking about prevention - what could I create, design, teach to prevent some of the daunting health issues we all face?

For the last couple of years I have been using gardening as a medium for education and early health care prevention. I build greenhouses, green walls, green roofs, hydroponic systems and get my hands dirty in gardens with thousands of young children, special needs children and teens in the public school system. I use the garden as a practical tool to educate about the food source, healthy eating, green economy and about parts of the school curriculum like math and science (units, measurement, statistics etc). Current/recent projects include a 1200sf Hydroponic Greenhouse for Harlem Grown, the 1 acre Battery Urban Farm, The Garden at PS282, the Growing Up Green Charter School Garden and many more.

Still in my 20’s, I have: co-authored a book on design for emerging markets, was the finalist for the INDEX: Design Award 2011 (one of the most prestigious awards in design), have academic papers published, hold patents, speak at conferences around the world and have had my designs exhibited in museums across the globe including: the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum in New York, the Pasadena Museum of California Art, the Axis Gallery as well as the “Imagine another life through Products” exhibition in Japan.

I speak 5 languages, am an avid gardener, author, editor, educator, guest lecturer and industry expert. I have no press person but my work and contributions have not gone unnoticed. Three of the school garden classes I work with from completely different districts were asked to visit the white house. Michelle Obama features a picture of one of my schools in her new book “American Grown”. I have been featured in 2 films on school gardening; one played in film festivals in India, Boston and Hollywood. My work with the Green Bronx machine, a non-profit training Bronx youth for the new green economy has been featured on CNN International, WABC and TED talks. A design I created with Project H Design “The Learning Landscape”, an open-source, scalable, grid based playground designed for elementary education in Uganda has been featured in ID magazine, Inhabitat, Core77. As of March 2012 there are 27 Learning Landscapes, in 10 different countries, where an estimated 4100 students are playing and learning every day.

Ilona De jongh

Industrial Designer & Educator at Sprout by Design

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