"Eventually, everything connects. The quality of the connections is what determines quality per se."

– Charles Eames

irid (the Institute for Relational Intelligence in Design) is an experimental school based in Toronto, Canada. We apply experiential learning, design as problem-solving and systems thinking to our most pressing civic and social issues. We believe that learning is best when we address local problems of deep human import, like:

• Why is dating in Toronto so bad? Or is it?
• Why are activists in Toronto so disconnected? Or are they?
• Why is construction in Toronto so slow? Or is it?

irid provides a sandbox for Torontonians to chew on these kinds of questions and, in the process, grow, create, and do their best work. We recruit thinker-creators who want to take their craft to the next level by developing and teaching courses distilling a central component of their work. Our diverse and interdisciplinary courses are united by a common goal of helping irid students connect more deeply with their city and themselves -- moving them to challenge their assumptions about who they are, what they are good at, and how they can be useful.

Our pedagogy has roots in the design philosophy of the Eames, the Stanford d.school and the Stanford Graduate School of Education. In an education system far too often geared towards slotting people into disciplines that already exist, we orient our community towards the co-creation of the yet-undefined disciplines of the future, emphasizing conversation, critical thinking, and making by hand. In all that we do, we aim to be stubbornly and skillfully curious.

Our first round of teacher applications is open now on a rolling basis, for course development in early summer and launch in late summer / fall.
Apply here.

irid was founded by michelle jia, who was born in the GTA and spent nearly a decade learning and teaching at Stanford. she now lives in Toronto. she has taught the graduate-level Needfinding class at the Stanford d.school since 2017, and designed additional curriculum for Stanford, UC Berkeley, Mastercard and other clients. as a design researcher / ethnographer, she has worked for the State of Michigan, Upper Canada College, Teach for America, Google, Marvin, Oceankind and more. she is driven, like you, by the questions.

joining michelle as a partner on irid is chloe lim, who was also born in Toronto and is now making the city her home again after starting her life and career in the SF Bay Area. a software engineer by trade but a pedagogical and relational nerd at heart, she has taught socioemotional skills and led mentorship programs at a variety of organizations, including her alma mater UC Berkeley, the nonprofit tech fellowship CODE2040, and Orenda Academy, a self development program for teens.

visual identity and web design for irid is done by anthea tawiah.