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Luis Vega

Doctor of Arts, Alumnus

Luis Vega is a design practitioner, researcher, and educator dedicated to bridging the gap between quality practice and rigorous research. His work concentrates on the methodological potential of collective acts of making for knowledge production in design. During his time in Empirica, Luis collaborated in the MakerStudioPeda project and explored processes of 'distributed thinking through making', a term he coined to articulate both the topic of his doctoral thesis and a programmatic framework to study similar topics. The thesis contributes a methodological approach to conducting practice-led design research, specifically by delineating how to decenter the designer-researcher from the investigative process and account for the epistemic role of thinking with materials in collaborative and distributed design situations.

Luis teaches studio courses and research methodology at the BA, MA, and PhD levels. His projects have been awarded multiple prizes, published in leading peer-reviewed journals, and exhibited in galleries, museums, fairs, and biennials internationally.

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Anna Kholina

Doctor of Arts, Alumna

Anna Kholina is a design researcher focusing on urban design and human experience. Her doctoral research sought a deeper understanding of why people appreciate public spaces and make public life happen in cities, examining the urban environment from two perspectives: place and experience. Building on existing approaches in cultural geography and social sciences, and by adding a new perspective originated in pragmatic philosophy and embodiment, the research develops an empirical method of spatializing experiences. It connects material environment, meanings and practices to the situated, embodied and temporal nature of human experience in space.

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Hanna-Kaisa Korolainen

Doctor of Arts, Alumna

Hanna-Kaisa Korolainen is a Finnish multidisciplinary artist, designer, and researcher. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Textile Design from Aalto University, a Licence in Fine Arts from University of Paris 8, and a BA in Photography from TUAS Arts Academy. Her artistic practice involves ceramics, glass and textile art. Korolainen has shown her artworks in exhibitions in Finland and abroad, including at EMMA, Design Museum Helsinki, Craft Museum of Finland, and Schloss Hollenegg for Design in Austria.

Her doctoral research investigates the role of inspiration in the creative process. Throughout her study, Korolainen traces how consciously selected sources of inspiration influence the creative process and its outcome, examining the relationship between the practitioner and the source of inspiration, the differences between inspiration and copying, and the idea of shared authorship.

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Bilge Merve AktaÅŸ

Postdoctoral Researcher, Alumna

Bilge Merve Aktaş is a maker-designer who holds a BSc in Industrial Product Design from Istanbul Technical University, an MA from Koç University, and a DA degree from Aalto University. In her practice-led doctoral research, she studied the interaction between humans and materials during making and designing processes, investigating the entanglement between humans and nonhumans from the material agency perspective. She conducted her research with studies in felt making that included her own practice in the studio and observations at felt studios. Her research interests cover textile crafts, makers, materiality, nonhuman agency and local knowledges.

In her postdoctoral research, Bilge worked in the Academy of Finland funded Maker Studio Pedagogy project investigating studio pedagogies of makers and designers from a creativity perspective.

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Camilla Groth

Doctor of Arts, Alumna

Camilla Groth is Associate Professor in Art, Design and Craft at the University of South-Eastern Norway (USN), Department of Visual and Performing Arts Education. She has a background in ceramic crafts with a doctoral degree from Aalto University. Her research interests revolve around experiential and embodied knowledge and interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge transfer.

Camilla defended her dissertation "Making sense through hands: Design and craft practice analysed as embodied cognition" in 2017. Her studies focused on experiential and embodied knowing in design and craft practice, contributing to the interdisciplinary Handling Mind Research Project (2012–16). She has published on research design, research methods and theory, as well as on tactile communication and the transfer of tacit knowledge through embodied teaching.

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Tarja-Kaarina Laamanen

PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher

Tarja-Kaarina Laamanen's research interests are connected to creativity in designing and design education as well as sustainability. Her background involves pedagogical studies and long experience teaching design and crafts in adult and adolescence education. She defended her PhD thesis in 2016 at the University of Helsinki and was a visiting researcher in the Empirica research group after her doctorate.

Tarja-Kaarina has worked in the Finnish Design Academy (FDA) project, a nationwide initiative to develop and promote Finnish design education carried out in collaboration with universities providing higher design education in Finland.

Kirsta Kosonen

Doctor of Arts, Alumna

Kirsta Kosonen is a Finnish designer-researcher based in Helsinki. She is one of the three founders of the Finnish collective Imu design, which has promoted young design talents by organizing exhibitions since 2002. Kirsta graduated with a Master of Arts from Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture in 2005, and has since worked in the fields of furniture and visual design, exhibitions, curating and design research.

Kirsta worked in the Handling Mind research project by examining students' creative processes. Her doctoral dissertation, "Finding One's Own Way in Design – Reflections on Narrative Professional Identity," was defended in 2018. It explores designers' and design students' narratives from the point of view of narrative identity.

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Marjukka Vuorisalo

Doctor of Arts, Alumna

Marjukka Vuorisalo's doctoral research, "Of(f) textile," focused on formulating ways to present Finnish textile art with the applications of modern technology, with a particular aim to increase common interest towards the field of textile art. The research drew from viewpoints of craft, design and art, examining how Finnish textile art is seen from these perspectives. The study analyzed literature on Finnish arts-and-crafts, design, handicraft and art, as well as electronic material and internet sites of museums in Finland and abroad, creating scenarios showing digital applications and their use in presenting Finnish textile art.

Mira Niittymäki

Master of Arts, Research Assistant

Mira Niittymäki is a visual artist and designer. She holds an MA in Contemporary Design and a BA in Glass Art and Ceramics, both from Aalto University. In her practice, she is fascinated by different connections to the natural world and seeks inspiration from the wisdom within non-human entities. In her work as a research assistant, she utilizes her craft knowledge and curiosity. Her research interests include material and elemental literacy in the context of art and crafts.