What is Kind Designs and what problem does it solve for coastal cities?

August 21, 2026 Beyond Luxury · Anya Freeman

Kind Designs 3D prints living seawalls that are structurally identical to traditional concrete seawalls but incorporate a biomimicry design that mimics local marine habitats — including mangrove tree roots, barnacles, and corals. These seawalls attract native species, filter water to improve water quality, and dissipate approximately 50% of wave energy, compared to conventional seawalls that simply reflect it. With 507 cities worldwide at risk from flooding, Kind Designs is making South Florida a global proof of concept for what coastal construction can become.

120 years without innovation — then a 3D printer changed everything

The first seawall ever installed was built in Galveston, Texas in 1904. That same basic flat-concrete design is still what protects most coastal cities today, including Miami — with no meaningful update in over 120 years. The seawalls are flat, ecologically inert, and reflect wave energy back into the water rather than absorbing it.

Kind Designs breaks that pattern entirely. Its seawalls are 3D printed in a Miami factory and engineered to replicate the texture and structure of natural coastal habitats. The surface design is not decorative — it is functional. By mimicking the complexity of mangrove roots, barnacle colonies, and coral formations, the seawall becomes a substrate where native marine species can actually settle and thrive. As Anya Freeman explains in Beyond Luxury, the wall works with the ocean, not against it.

Biomimicry design in seawalls — Rather than using a smooth concrete surface that marine life cannot colonize, Kind Designs engineers complex geometric patterns into each seawall panel. These patterns replicate the micro-habitats found in natural coastal ecosystems, giving native species — fish, shellfish, invertebrates — the structural complexity they need to attach, feed, and reproduce. The result is a seawall that actively restores biodiversity while performing its core protective function.

The wave energy dissipation is the other core engineering breakthrough. A conventional seawall reflects wave energy, which accelerates erosion at the base of the structure and amplifies the impact of storm surges. Kind Designs' living seawalls dissipate roughly 50% of that wave energy on contact — a measurable structural advantage, not just an ecological one. This detail, discussed directly in the episode, makes the case that sustainability and resilience are the same argument here.

From Miami Beach installation to a $22 million climate tech company

Kind Designs is not a pilot project. The company has raised $22 million in total funding, including a $10 million round closed just before the episode was recorded — with significant participation from New York investors. A first-of-its-kind 3D printed seawall was already being installed in Miami Beach at the time of recording.

The company has earned recognition from Fast Company — Startup of the Year — and the Times Innovation Award of the Year. Luxury partners including the Ritz-Carlton, Mandarin Oriental, and Fontainebleau have engaged with the product, drawn by three distinct selling points Freeman articulates: sustainability, aesthetics, and customization.

The City of Miami has also moved with unusual speed: projects incorporating a Kind Designs living seawall receive a 50% discount on building permits. The City of Fort Lauderdale was voting on a 100% discount at the time of recording. That policy signal, detailed in this episode of Beyond Luxury, suggests that municipal governments are beginning to treat living seawall infrastructure as a public good — not just a private upgrade.

"I knew nothing about being a founder. I didn't know a single person who started a company, genuinely. I just literally Googled climate tech investors and started cold emailing them."

Anya Freeman — Founder & CEO, Kind Designs
Freeman was born in Ukraine, grew up in Israel, and moved to the United States after her father received a special talent visa to work with a space program. She attended the University of Miami School of Law on a scholarship and built a career as a litigator and prosecutor before she left law entirely. The trigger was direct: accelerating flooding in her own Miami community, and a frustration that the legal system offered no practical remedy. She founded Kind Designs with no founder network, no prior startup experience, and no roadmap — only the conviction that 3D printing could solve a 120-year-old infrastructure problem. The company she built has since been named Startup of the Year by Fast Company and won the Times Innovation Award of the Year.

Freeman's trajectory matters here because it shapes what Kind Designs is — a company built from civic frustration, not from within the construction or climate tech industry. She notes in the Beyond Luxury podcast that she has yet to meet a single woman working in the seawall construction space, a field that has been exclusively male-dominated since its inception in 1904. Her stated ambition is to build the first female unicorn in Miami.

Key takeaways

Kind Designs 3D prints seawalls using biomimicry — the surface mimics mangrove roots, barnacles, and corals to attract native marine species and restore local biodiversity.
The living seawall dissipates ~50% of wave energy on contact, versus conventional seawalls that reflect it entirely — a structural advantage with direct implications for storm resilience.
507 cities worldwide face flooding risk; Kind Designs operates from a Miami factory and positions South Florida as the global demonstration site for next-generation coastal infrastructure.
Policy is following product: Miami already offers a 50% building permit discount for projects using a living seawall, with Fort Lauderdale considering 100% at time of recording.

This answer comes from episode #49 of Beyond Luxury, hosted by Carlota Rodben. The full conversation with Anya Freeman covers fundraising, luxury real estate partnerships, and what it takes to reinvent 120-year-old infrastructure from scratch.

Listen to the episode on Listenly