Community & Collaboration Form

Monica Polo is a sustainability strategist, systems thinker, and founder of mpolo designs. She is currently completing her Master’s in Environmental Applied Science and Management (ENSCIMAN) at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), where her research focuses on healthy environments, residential sustainability, and circular design systems.

 

With more than 25 years of experience in design and project management, Monica’s work spans the built environment, education, healthcare, workplace design, housing, and sustainable material systems.

 

Alongside her work with mpolo designs, Monica is Project and Relations Manager at Svend Nielsen Custom Furniture and serves as an Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) Subject Matter Expert for Enbridge Gas’s Savings by Design program, delivered by Sustainable Buildings Canada. Her IEQ expertise encompasses indoor air quality, thermal comfort, acoustics and sound transmission, healthy interactions with building thresholds, and occupant health and well-being. Her work also explores how nature, community, and meaningful engagement can contribute to healthier, more responsive environments.

Through mpolo designs, Monica leads collaborative projects that bring together low-impact materials, circular and regenerative systems, healthy environments, and public engagement. Her EcoLiving Lab (Ecoapt) extends this work into an immersive exploration of sustainable living, connecting environmental responsibility, human well-being, and thoughtful design within the spaces and systems of everyday life.

Narishdath Maraj is a multidisciplinary designer, sustainability practitioner, educator, and artist specializing in circular design, material reuse, and waste reduction. He is the Director of Sustainability and Creative Director at mpolo designs, where he leads the creative development and implementation of projects that transform recovered materials into new design applications, experiences, and opportunities for community engagement.

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With more than 15 years of experience spanning fashion, interiors, education, public art, and institutional sustainability, Narishdath’s career has developed across Canada and internationally. His early professional practice included several years with Club Med, working as a Costume and Set Designer across resorts and environments in the United States, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, and aboard the Club Med 2 sailing ship. Working across cultures, disciplines, and material constraints helped shape an adaptable design practice grounded in resourcefulness, collaboration, and hands-on making.

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Narishdath holds a Bachelor of Design in Fashion Communication from Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) and a Bachelor of Science in Fashion Design from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. His practice brings together creative direction, sustainability, material experimentation, and education to make circular systems tangible, participatory, and applicable to everyday design practice.