Growing Design - The natural alchemy of becoming.
About the talk:
Growing Design - The natural alchemy of becoming.
We live in a time of separation, from fellow humans as well as from Nature. The Anthropocene, as inevitable result of core factors such as mankind’s activities and overall selfish behaviours, is dominantly impacting on climate, ecosystem and society at large, as we face major disruptions and challenges such as - to name few - the extinction of entire species, the loss of biodiversity, the depletion of natural resources, the incremental raise of global temperatures, increasing inequalities, perpetrated discriminations, etc.
As part of this complex condition, one thing is for sure: the future isn’t about erecting barriers, but it is rather about learning to come together, understanding our relationship to Nature and its many agents, deciphering their interconnected functioning and becoming once again pivotal part of it all.
Based on such context, the keynote presentation will function as space for inspiration, critical reflections, factual demonstrations, and collective creative production, encouraging the audience to actively engage in questioning dominant narratives and traditional production paradigms.
By diving into the kingdom of Fungi and unravelling some of the opportunities that emerge from processes of active entanglement and cooperation with such skilful teachers and companions, we will jointly explore how their very body - and the transitionally regenerative processes that fungal mycelium embodies and triggers - can support us in promoting a radical paradigm shift, leading to a revised notion of growth, as deriving from radical transformations rooted in sensorial encounters.
Thus, contributing to positively impact both human and non-human societies, seeking balance between the role of the individual and the complexity of the relational ecosystem he’s immersed in.
About the speaker:
Maurizio is a designer, researcher, educator, and entrepreneur whose work sits primarily at the intersection of design and biotechnology.
Since 2010, through his practice (NL), he has pioneered the integration of living systems into material innovation, broadening their applications across diverse fields and crafting new ecologically- driven paradigms that merge design, aesthetics, and technology - favouring the (re-) emergence of positive symbiotic relations among the spheres of living, and beyond.
The studio’s projects mostly stem from critical explorations in regard to contemporary material culture as well as on a continued attempt to decipher the way in which human and non-human agents come together within the relational complexity of the dynamic ecosystem we belong to. By distilling research and analysis through the materialisation of tangible narratives, his work strives for the creation of visions and conditions that allow for critically resonant experiences.
Working at the junction of design and biotech, Maurizio is one of the early pioneers committed to the study and development of wide-ranging mycelium-based technologies, focusing on the creation of multiple classes of innovative biomaterials and of the related artefacts and products.
In 2015, he co-founded (IT), a cutting-edge innovation company that develops (bio-)technologies in collaboration with living organisms and natural systems, giving shape to high-performance, sustainable materials. As Chief Mycelium Officer, today Maurizio plays a key role in articulating and advancing SQIM’s dual-branded vision — transforming radical concepts into tangible, scalable realities. SQIM’s pioneering brands, and , embody this ethos: the former is redefining the fashion landscape through new bio-fabricated materials’ classes, while the latter is reshaping interior design and architecture with naturally- born products for the everyday.. Together, they represent a new generation of biomaterials and biobased products —merging natural intelligence, aesthetic sensibility, and everyday functionality.
Maurizio has extensive experience in education, priorly serving as Artistic Director and Tutor of dieDAS - Design Akademie Saaleck (DE), co-heading the MAD Master (Materialisation in Art and Design) at Sandberg Instituut - Amsterdam, researching at Design Academy Eindhoven, and teaching, lecturing, and mentoring in various Dutch and international academies and universities.
Honoured with numerous awards, Maurizio’s work has gained global recognition — his innovative contributions have been widely featured in major international media outlets and showcased in renowned museums and institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art (New York), Centre Pompidou (Paris), the Design Museum (London), the Triennale (Milano), and the Nobel Prize Museum, (Stockholm), among others.
About the host:
Barbara Pollini
Barbara Pollini is an Italian designer, researcher, and educator. She is Assistant Professor in Biodesign Integration at Aalto University. Her background is in Sustainable Design, Material Design and Biodesign; she holds master’s degrees in Ecodesign and Computational Design. In 2023, she completed her PhD at Politecnico di Milano, conducting research on Biodesign's potential for conventional and regenerative sustainability.
Her twelve-year as senior lecturer at NABA Design University established her as an educator in Sustainable Design, DIY Materials, Biodesign and Design Fiction for sustainable futures. She constantly switches between hands-on experimentation and theoretical research, with a focus on material scenarios based on regenerative processes, including bio-based, living and life-enabling materials. As an Assistant Professor in Biodesign Integration, she aims to bridge the gap between design and hard sciences in education, enhance transdisciplinary approaches across knowledge domains and departments, and integrate biodesigned solutions for sustainable futures.
About the panelists:
Julia Lohmann
Julia Lohmann is a designer, researcher and educator who explores the ethical and material dimensions of our relationship with nature. She is an Honorary Royal Designer for Industry in Regenerative Design and Associate Professor of Contemporary Design at Aalto University, Finland. Julia is passionate about eco literacy and ocean protection. In 2013, she founded the Department of Seaweed, a community exploring the sustainable development of seaweed as a design material with a regenerative eco-systemic impact.
Lohmann promotes an empathic, more-than-human-centric mindset and uses design to connect knowing, caring, and acting across disciplines. Julia holds a PhD from the Royal College of Art and contributes to research consortia that relate design to biomaterials, science, and ecology. Her work has been recognized globally.
Ena Naito
End Naito is an interdisciplinary design researcher at Aalto University working at the intersection of biology, design, and co-learning. Her doctoral research examines emerging biodesign workspaces and their role in facilitating experimental, interdisciplinary practices aimed at fostering sustainable material cultures.
She founded and leads the BioMakerStudio at Aalto - a hybrid biolab-makerspace-studio dedicated to hands-on biodesign research and education. Ena is also actively involved in teaching and public engagement, promoting accessible and collaborative approaches to biodesign.
Pirjo Kääriäinen
Pirjo Kääriäinen works as an Associate Professor of Design and Materialities at The School of Arts, Design and Architecture (ARTS). She joined the University in 2008, and since 2011 has been facilitating interdisciplinary CHEMARTS collaboration between ARTS and the School of Chemical Engineering (CHEM), together with a cross'disciplinary team.
CHEMARTS is aiming to inspire students and researchers to explore biomaterials together, and to create new concepts for the sustainable use of plant-based materials. Before her career in academia, she worked eighteen years in the Scandinavian textile industry, and gained experience also as an entrepreneur and consultant for creative industries.
About the talk series:
Design Interrupted Conversations for a 21st Century World
Today, the study and practice of design are in great flux. We are amidst the biggest socio-economic transformation since the 1750s, experiencing the fifth Industrial Revolution. There is a growing pressure to transition economies driven by extractive, wasteful and polluting logics towards systems designed to fit the planetary limits. Such transformation requires the design of new types of products and services, as well as new systems and approaches to large-scale changes.
At the same time, design as a practice area is also changing. It is shifting away from a more rigidly defined practice of professionally trained designers creating graphics, objects and spaces towards a practice that is loosely defined, fuzzy and seemingly omnipresent. Many have been calling for democratizing design and recognizing the efforts of non-professional designers. Design thinking, methods and practices have entered many contexts, including governance, jurisprudence, sciences and activism. The design community has been grappling with the ever-expanding definitions of what design is and who a designer is.
This talk series invites design professionals, students, academics and anyone interested in these challenges to a series of conversations. Each event features a scene-setting lecture by a leading practitioner and thinker followed by open discussion. Three themes give focus to the series: digital, societal and material transformations. What is design’s role in these transformations? How do we generate new know-how to support the needed transitions, and what examples already exist that we can learn from? What stands in the way of progress towards equitable, diverse, and sustainable lives, and what is the role of design in removing such blockages? What are design and designers in this new context?
Department of Design at Aalto University invites you to join our conversations to explore what design is, can and should be in the 21st Century.