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The Metex Prize is awarded for excellence in Master’s thesis work done in collaboration with a technology company or to promote the significance and use of design and art in Finnish industry. This year the nominees for the prize were Dario Aquet, Venla Elonsalo, Matias Murole,  Julia Postrzech and Leevi Vahvelainen. 

Read more about the winners: Dario Aquet and Venla Elonsalo!

Founded in 1948, Metex Cooperative was a Finnish export organization collectively representing companies, particularly within the metal industry. These companies established the Metex Foundation. Following the conclusion of the cooperative's operations, the foundation was transferred to the Technology Industries of Finland Centennial Foundation as the Metex Fund. The Centennial Foundation supports the development and expertise in the technology industry. The foundation annually awards grants and prizes, such as the Metex Prize, to promote Finnish technological expertise.

Dario Aquet
Rethinking portable bluetooth speakers: Disassemblability and reparability in product design

RDSB (Reparable Disassemblable Bluetooth Speaker) is a critical and speculative concept based on the reuse of a damaged UE Boom 3. The speaker adopts a modular and open-source approach: three main modules (battery, PCB and audio system) accessible with standard screws and transparent PMMA panels, with side parts printed in recycled PLA. The project demonstrates how disassembly and repairability can drive a new culture of durability and responsibility in design.

Programme: Contemporary Design

Venla Elonsalo
I Weave Dogs and Clothes: Digital technologies for woven textile-form design

This experimental practice-led thesis follows design of multilayered woven garments and accessories that do not require sewing. The colours and exaggerated seams visually communicate woven garment construction. Computer-aided design supports the simultaneous design process. Whole-garment weaving is a sustainable alternative to conventional garment production, where constructing garments on demand is more profitable. This reduces waste from overproduction. The main material is wool, which is fulled to prevent the interwoven seams from fraying. The final pieces were woven at Vanelli Textiles.

Programme: Fashion, Clothing and Textile Design

Matias Murole
Kruunu — a new school in Luolavuori, Turku. Design for disassembly in public sector construction

In this thesis, a new elementary school was designed in Luolavuori, Turku. The aim was a modular and adaptable building that could be disassembled, reused, or expanded during its lifespan. The building meets modern educational and ecological requirements. The design decisions were made based on theory, reference projects and recyclable materials, combining these into a coherent design proposal. The result of this thesis is a sustainable and flexible school concept, which supports changing spatial needs and positively affects the building’s longevity and reuse potential of the materials.

Programme: Architecture          

Leevi Vahvelainen
Let me try first: How knowledge workers prefer to interact with artificial intelligence

This thesis explores how different levels of control affect knowledge workers’ collaboration with AI. In two possible future scenarios of financial analyst jobs, participants compared working as experts choosing when to use AI for help, versus supervising its predictions without control. Participants preferred making their own evaluations before consulting AI and felt more effort when directly evaluating AI, while a minority valued teaching AI for scalability. The results indicate that when human agency is important, AI should remain under worker control for meaningful worker experience.

Programme: Collaborative and Industrial Design

Julia Postrzech
This Lamp Has Feelings: anthropomorphic interpretations of internal states through lighting design

Anthropomorphism is the application of humanlike qualities to non-human entities. This thesis explores the topic of anthropomorphism from the perspectives of psychology and furniture design, and introduces its own theory to the design project: a lighting collection that exhibits and is interpreted as human emotions. With subtle references to the human body, the collection uses our imagination and this innate behaviour. Each lamp represents a couple that is non-verbally communicating and interacting with one another, and through their specific body language, they reveal a human emotion.

Programme: Interior Architecture