A cat on his shoulder and hair in a bun, Fred Gelli Creative Director and Partner at Tátil Design de Ideias in Brazil had us mesmerized at his Dubai Lynx 2016 session as he took us back to the start.

Passionate about sustainability and design, Fred and his team specialize in communicating ideas through innovative and environmentally conscious avenues: Eco-innovation.

Having worked on hugely successful award-winning campaigns for Coca-Cola, Nokia and other brands, he believes in maximizing simplicity and respecting the power of emotion.

Take a look at Fred Gelli’s team’s journey to design the Rio Olympics and Paralympics logos for 2016:

With a soothing voice and leaf-shaped business card, you’ll see what he’s about in a short exchange. If you’re in design or advertising, you’ve got to listen up.

Here’s Fred Gelli’s practice on approaching a brief, using nature in design and sharing some tips to young designers:

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Here’s a quick bio on what makes Fred Gelli such a rockstar in design:

Fred Gelli is co-founder and creative director of Tátil, a strategic consultancy that uses design to create sustainable connections between people and brands, such as Coca-Cola, P&G, Natura, Philips and TIM.

Over his 25 year trajectory, he has accumulated over 100 national and international awards, including: iF Design Award, IDEA – USA, D&AD, and Cannes Lions. His latest achievement was designing the Rio 2016™ Olympic and Paralympic Games Brands and Creative Director of Paralympic Opening and Closing Ceremony Rio 2016™

In 2014, Fred was included in Fast Company’s ranking of the 100 Most Creative in the world, while his company was included in the Top 10 Most Innovative in South America. In the same year, Brazilian magazine Época named him one of the 100 Most Influential Brazilians.

For the last 15 years, Gelli has been a university professor in the fields of Ecodesign and Biomimicry.