Cultivating Innovation Through Relationships
Baruk Jacob is an Experience Designer and Innovation Researcher based in Aotearoa New Zealand. His work centers on helping teams cultivate innovation by fostering meaningful conversations—both within themselves and with the environments they seek to transform.
Born to Mizo-Malayalee parents, Baruk grew up in Aizawl, Guwahati, and Shillong, before moving to South India at 21 to explore his ‘other’ cultural roots. At 30, he relocated to Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, where he now lives and practices as tangata tiriti (a person of the Treaty of Waitangi), alongside his wife and their sweet dog.
Through Reflexiv, his design and innovation practice, Baruk works on diverse projects—from strengthening connections within Arts & Culture teams to reimagining urban waste management. He is particularly passionate about orality and its lessons for thriving in a post-literate world. One of his most meaningful projects involved using Hautū Waka, an Indigenous Māori-based design process, to co-create a holiday programme for students in alternative education.
Beyond his professional work, Baruk finds inspiration in long walks through trees and by the ocean, photography, and poetry—all of which inform and expand his design practice.