ANYONE CAN PUT A SOFA

This exploratory paper presents a case observed during the author’s participatory action research for the PhD programme at Politecnico di Milano. The case consists of reflections on a relationship-building intervention enabled through the placement of a tea dispenser and a sofa in a village’s common space. The paper provides the case to reflect about whether overemphasising on designers’ identity and roles has overshadowed the importance and opportunities of building human relationships when engaging with communities during the immersion phase. The paper argues that designers need to rethink their positioning and move beyond an overemphasis on professional roles when entering communities to better understand how to achieve future design interventions.