The last session of Nordic studies was held on October 14th at Freedom University in Omotesando, Tokyo. The guest speakers were Samuli Helavuo and Elina Aalto. Samuli san is a Finnish designer and Elina san manages design office Aalto+Aalto with her husband in Helsinki. The main topic was the meaning and the role of design. We heard futuristic and influential stories that design brings.
The goal was to make the topic easy to approach
Samuli Helavuo is mainly focused on product design, but also works with art and interior architectural projects. He is interested in functional design combined with aesthetic pleasure (JFDA website, 2018). He has various fields of experience, he learned business school, worked in the sales and marketing field, travelled 7 month, then got a bachelor degree in Art and Design. Now he is working as a freelance designer while enrolled in the master’s degree at the Department of Art Design and Architecture at Aalto University. He designed “Edit” that was Edit shelf, space divider and cloth rack for Finnish design brand Hakola. It could easy to assemble and named for Editing the life. I consider that the way to his designer is based on the Finnish education system that can motivate and rework as much as possible.
The product I received the most impression is “Pupa”. While working on design, he became interested in what the world is going on in future. Pupa is the final design in his bachelor thesis named “Insects as Human Food”. According to Food and Agriculture organization of the United Nations or FAO, trends towards 2050 predict a steady population increase to 9 billion people, forcing an increased food/feed output available agro-ecosystems resulting in an even greater pressure on the environment (FAO website, 2018). He focuses on insects for food that is one of the protein supplies when people will try to reduce meals and take more vegetables. Pupa is a ceramic container with wooden rid design for rearing giant mealworms. He described the goal was to make the topic easy to approach (Helavuo website, 2018). He changed the difficult topics to be empathize through designing. He keeps balance within his identity by doing two wheels designing what he wants to do and contributing to the society through insects for food.
The power of design
Elina Aalto has three children and manages Aalto+Aalto with her husband, Klaus Aalto. Aalto+Aalto is a Helsinki-based design office working with products, spaces and exhibitions. Their aim is to create special everyday objects with a strong identity and story. Their special skill is managing to make things which are imaginative and different but still simple and timeless (JFDA website, 2018). “Vakka”, a wooden storage box for ittala, is one of the famous products they designed. When Japan Finland Design Association was reorganized in 2011, she became the executive head. Aalto+Aalto is skillful to incorporate playfulness into design and they also devoted to workshops for children. She considers the benefit for learning design from children is developing problem solving and creativity. When children face problems, they can consider by themselves how to change or overcome. Creativity is not the manufacturing itself, but it is indicated how to think and solve the problem. Products or expressions exist one of the solutions.
Through their stories, I felt Finland education system and social system affected their decision-making. Finland has a flat hierarchy between professors and students, bosses and subordinates, parents and children, and also men and women. There are lots of things that we need to improve in order to interact Finnish good ideas with Japanese culture. However I suppose designs and creativities are universal all over the world. On the first day of this session, Makoto Shimazaki (Professor Emeritus, Musashino University) said design was a mechanism to achieve objectives. I recognized making things was not a purpose but a solution. I want to look around the world with a broad perspective and identify issues to be struggled that seem to be my mission. I would like to add my own taste to footprint that our ancestors stacked up. We also need to leave heritages to our descendant sustaining our limited resources. We tend to suppose every time we can generate plan B but there is NO PLANET B.
I appreciated this precious opportunity learning Nordic studies and the new network creation.
Photography: invisible-hand
References
- FAO. (2018). Edible insects. Future prospects for food and feed security. Food and Agriculture Organization. Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3253e/i3253e.pdf
- Helavuo, S. (2018). Pupa. Retrieved from https://www.helavuo.com/blank
- JFDA. (2018). Aalto + Aalto. Japan Finland Design Association. Retrieved from https://www.japanfinland.com/the-finance-pulse/
- JFDA. (2018). Samuli Helavuo. Japan Finland Design Association. Retrieved from https://www.japanfinland.com/ethics-review/