Navigate complexity to shape better futures.

Underfold is a research & storytelling lab generating the cultural and ecological insights that shape better solutions and the narratives that help them scale.

Close-up of a mushroom gill underside, showing detailed, radial lines and wavy edges.

OUR MISSION

The challenges we face today are complex, interconnected, and unfolding. Climate, social and ecological interventions succeed only when they fit the realities they’re trying to transform. Too often, solutions fail because they overlook the cultural, ecological, and organisational dynamics shaping their adoption - or because their narratives can’t build the trust needed to scale.

Understory works at this intersection of insight and story. We help teams understand the systems they operate in, anticipate risks, and design more resilient solutions - while crafting the narratives that mobilise people, partners, and resources.

Strengthen the innovations, organisations and systems shaping a livable future

CASE STUDIES

Our Expertise

The analyitical brain of the anthropologist thinking about solutions to the climate and biodiversity crisis.

Analysis &
De-Risking

We apply on-the-ground social science to generate deeper insights into the problems you’re solving: mapping the hidden dynamics to optimise for success.

The observational eye of the ethnographer generating qualitative data to solve climate and nature-related problems.

Immersive
Storytelling

We craft cinematic storytelling to help you move audiences, inform stakeholders, and showcase your impact to those who need to see it in action.

Organisational transformation workshop with a corporate, NGO or statup team working to evolve team dynamics.

Organisational
Transformation

We apply deep listening, fieldwork and design thinking to develop new tools, approaches and frameworks to evolve your team and organisation.

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Our Context


  • 1. Research & Field Insight

    We collect qualitative data; cultural, organisational and ecological intelligence through interviews, observation and on-site research. This gives you grounded context to navigate complexity with confidence.


    2. Systems & Strategic Analysis

    We map behaviours, hidden incentives and complex relationships to identify risks, adoption barriers and strategic opportunities. This identifies blind spots and leverage points so your solution can shape systems and operate more effectively.


    3. Narrative & Change Support

    We create cinematic films, immersive content and written narratives that build trust and clarity while aligning stakeholders around your work. This helps support fundraising, adoption, partnerships and internal cohesion.

    • Climate-tech founders & innovators
      Building solutions that need early adoption, cross-cultural cohesion and narrative clarity.

    • Carbon market actors
      Developers, buyers and intermediaries seeking to navigate complex networks, build trust and increase impact.

    • Impact investors & venture funds
      Looking for deeper insight into people, contexts and systems to inform due diligence and portfolio strategy.

    • Environmental NGOs & foundations
      Working to understand communities, behaviours and ecosystems to design more effective interventions.

    • Research institutions & public agencies
      Exploring complex social–ecological systems and needing grounded insight to guide policy and practice.

    • Consultancies & mission-driven organisations
      Seeking cultural and ecological intelligence that complements quantitative analysis and strategic planning.


  • 1. Insight Reports & Briefings

    Clear synthesis of cultural, ecological and organisational dynamics: revealing context, risks and opportunities that might otherwise be missed.


    2. Frameworks, Tools & Strategic Models

    Practical structures that help teams interpret complexity, improve internal dynamics, refine strategy and strengthen solution design.


    3. Films, Media & Narrative Assets

    Cinematic storytelling and communication tools that build trust, mobilise partners and share your impact with the audiences who matter.

Case Studies

Assessing Innovation at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Ethnographic research in the Kew Gardens Fungarium, where innovators in sustainability are using fungi and mushroom enzymes to help build sustainable solutions to climate change and biodiversity loss.

In 2025, Understory Founder Tristan Copley Smith conducted ethnographic fieldwork and on-site filming at Kew’s Jodrell Laboratory to better understand how the organisation’s mission to ‘stop biodiversity loss and develop nature-based solutions’ is enacted in practice. Tristan interviewed senior scientific leadership, observed experimental work, and documented DEFRA-funded genomic sequencing inside the world-leading Kew Fungarium.

Using these insights, Understory is advising Kew Reach on how to position and communicate its commercial sustainability offerings to global corporate partners, strengthening both its narrative strategy and its organisational clarity around innovation.

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Understanding Cacoa Supply Chains in Guatemala

Erthnographic research of cacoa farmers in Guatemala, looking at supply chains, local culture and indigenous beliefe systems and how they interface with the wellness industry.

In 2024, Understory Co-Founder Daillen Culver conducted five weeks of immersive field research with cacao farmers, producer collectives and entrepreneurs in Guatemala. Her research explored how the rapidly expanding “ceremonial-grade” market is reshaping local production, cultural narratives and economic livelihoods.

The findings revealed a booming industry influenced by spiritualised marketing, contested claims of purity and sustainability, and heightened climate vulnerabilities. Understory is now advising partners in artisanal chocolate production on how to refine supply-chain practices, strengthen producer - consumer relationships, and build more ethical and transparent market narratives.

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Feral Hacking for Climate Regeneration in India

In 2025, Co-Founder Kit Braybrooke conduced a research examining how frontline communities in India are using hacking, making, jugaad, DIY fabrication and community innovation to build alternatives to extractive climate technologies. Early work has mapped emerging ecosystem hubs - from biomaterial labs to community aquacultures - that demonstrate new models of regenerative innovation.

The project began with the “Calling All Hackers & Makers for Climate <3” workshop at What Design Can Do Delhi, followed by a research residency with UnBox Cultural Futures India and Pro Helvetia. It builds on a decade working with hacker, maker and circular movements.

Underfold uses these insights to inform regenerative innovation strategies across partners working at the intersection of community-led sustainability and design.

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The Empathy Project: Discovering Inner Worlds

In 2025, Understory was commissioned to produce The Empathy Project, a mid-length documentary exploring how deep emotional connection to animals shapes personal transformation, stewardship and activism. Through intimate interviews with twelve senior advocates, the film reveals how empathy can drive social change while also confronting the climate and biodiversity impacts of animal agriculture.

Directed by Founder Tristan Copley Smith, the film will be submitted to festivals and private screenings in early 2026. Learn more at The Empathy Project website.

Our Team

Daillen Culver, co-founder of Understory Labs

  • Daillen is an anthropologist, nonprofit leader and creative facilitator. She holds an MA in Anthropology of Food from SOAS and an MSc in International Development from the University of Edinburgh. With over a decade of experience leading community-based development projects in Guatemala, she specialises in Indigenous foodways, sustainable livelihoods and ethical supply chains. She also co-founded BeDo, a mental health initiative for impact-driven professionals, delivering workshops for clients including Yale School of the Environment and Canada’s IDRC.

Daillen Culver

Co-Founder & Relations Director

Tristan Copley Smith, founder of Understory Labs

  • Tristan is a filmmaker, ethnographer and sustainability strategist specialising in climate and social innovation. He has produced documentaries and research across biodiversity, carbon markets and regenerative science, helping organisations understand complex systems and design narratives that shift behaviour and build trust. He holds a Master’s in the Anthropology of Global Futures & Sustainability from SOAS, has taught climate communications internationally, and co-founded ventures including OSBeehives and Possible Studio. Tristan is an MIT Innovator Under 35 and a passionate advocate for shaping brighter planetary futures.

Tristan Copley Smith

Founder & Creative Director

Dr. Kit Braybrook, co-founder of Understory Labs

  • Kit is a post-digital anthropologist and systems designer. They serve as Professor of Transversal Design at the Institute of Experimental Design and Media Cultures (IXDM), Basel, where they lead an international MA programme exploring community infrastructures for worlds in transition. Their work examines the social, ecological and technological implications of design, drawing on a decade of collaboration with hacker, maker and circular movements across Europe and Asia, supported by institutions including the British Council, TU Berlin and Superrr Lab.

Dr. Kit Braybrooke

Co-Founder & Strategic Director