Empathy in Design: Education and Social Justice with Huren Marsh

In this episode, I’m delighted to welcome Huren Marsh — a multi-disciplined artist, designer and educator whose work spans furniture, interiors and immersive installations.Huren shares his remarkable creative journey, from growing up in Jamaica and training as an engineer, to making a bold leap into art, design and education. We explore what it really means to follow your creative instincts, even when the “safe” path looks very different.Huren discusses decades of teaching across the UK, Vietnam and China, his powerful “show me” approach to learning, and why demonstration, curiosity and human connection matter more than rigid academic systems. We also talk openly about neurodiversity in education, the limitations of traditional assessment, and how many talented students are failed by structures that don’t reflect how they truly think or create.The conversation moves into social justice and design, including Huren’s work with prisons, his involvement with the Design Against Crime Research Lab.