Forge is founded by Marite P. Irvine, a multi-disciplinary Creative Strategist with roots in advertising, branding, market research, business and social innovation.

She has always worked with a future-forward lens beginning with scoping short-term futures for businesses, longer-term visions for brands and more recently tackling larger complex issues that impact people and planet through various social development projects. Not without seeking wisdom from hindsight and history.

A committed lifelong learner, Marite holds a degree in Psychology and certifications in Futures Design (Institute For The Future), Experience Design (Kaospilot Denmark) and Behavior Design (Irrational Labs).

This move to focusing on Futures Strategy & Design brings together her interest in emergent ways of thinking and doing + the skills she has honed over the years working on a wide variety of problems and briefs. It is, more meaningfully, a result of living in the in-betweens and working in the margins. From being one half of an inter-racial marriage and a mum to third culture kids, to residing in a tiny mountain village while engaged in complex, urban projects. From working with global tech-driven companies to mentoring overseas migrants new to entrepreneurship.

There is a constant time travel in this kind of existence and the realization that many of the ails in our daily lives - and the world at large today - often comes from short-termism, “poverty of (worthy) ambition” and the missed opportunities from a lack of foresight and imagination.

This led to a refinement in her thinking of methodologies around futures strategies and the need to infuse it with a sense of stewardship. This has also evolved Marite’s view of Futures Thinking as an advocacy in as much as it is a job, supporting UNESCO’s efforts to promote Futures Literacy in all corners - be that in boardrooms or classrooms, cities, communities and homes.