Public defence in Design, MA Luis Vega

This practice-led design study expands the image of the designer-researcher pursuing an individually framed project and employing self-reflective methods. By inviting other practitioners to explore shared modes of ‘thinking through making,’ Luis Vega illustrates what happens when the boundaries of one’s creative practice are socially and materially reconfigured. The result is a novel approach to investigating how individuals and things become entangled in collaborative and distributed design situations, providing adequate tools to navigate this entangled space from within and maintain analytical clarity. Thinking with People and Pots offers a mind-opening perspective for anyone aiming to integrate practice and research. Through the lens of three pottery-based design experiments staged to provoke unanticipated forms of sociomaterial negotiation, the study invites readers to interrogate established research methods and reassess preconceived ideas about practice.

Keywords: Design processes, distributed cognition, practice-led research, sociomateriality, thinking through making

Title of thesis: Thinking with people and pots: A practice-led design study of sociomaterially distributed thought processes

Doctoral student: Luis Vega
Opponent: Professor Jamer Hunt, The New School, Parsons School of Design
Custos: Professor Maarit Mäkelä, Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Department of Design

Thesis available for public display 10 days prior to the defence at: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/doc_public/eonly/riiputus/

Contact

Doctoral theses in the School of Arts, Design and Architecture: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/54

Zoom Quick Guide: https://www.aalto.fi/en/services/zoom-quick-guide