Anna
van der Lei
Currently I'm teaching the following courses at Aalto University, Finland
Materials and Living Systems (MA) together with Julia Lohmann.Engage with the Baltic Sea, its problems and potentials and our human relation to it. How can this relationship become less destructive? How can we know, care, act better? And what can designers bring to the table to address these issues? Are we visionaries, material developers, advocates, networkers, visualisers? Materials and Living Systems introduces living organisms in their eco-systemic context. It’s framed around fungi or algae. When we work with fungi the forest is our classroom, when we focus on algae we find ourselves at sea.
Design students harvesting seaweed for course work. (Materials and Living Systems (2021) teachers joined Iceland Academy of the Arts and The Estonian academy of the Arts in joined teaching activities)
Aalto University Design students visiting algea at Tvärminne Zoological Station (Materials and Living Systems 2021)
Together with Julia Lohmann we wrote a text about Materials and Living systems for Designing Change, New Opportunities for Organisations edited by Anna Valtonen & Petra Nikkinen
Experimental Design (MA & BA level)
Students are encouraged towards a systematic experimental approach, re-thinking about the possibilities, processes and materials. Mistakes and errors are part of this process as they aid in the learning process. Experimental Design is often in collaboration with industry, examples include: Iittala, Arabia, Fiskars, Suominen (supported by ChemArts), Finnavia (supported by ChemArts) New Order of Fashion and Espoo City.
Rolling Sausages by Etienne Thevenet, Experimental Design 2022, supported by ChemArts.
I'm also involved with CHEMARTS basics and CHEMARTS projects courses