Browsing by Department "Department of Design"

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  • +1 lavalla - Taiteellinen työssäoppiminen kulttuuriareena Gloriassa
    (2017) Laukkanen, Raisa
     School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
    Opinnäytetyön aiheena on taiteellinen työssäoppiminen kulttuuriareena Gloriassa tapahtuvassa esitys-, teatteri- ja mediatekniikan työssä. Taiteellisella työssäoppimisella tarkoitetaan tässä yhteydessä luovuuteen, itseilmaisuun ja esteettiseen päätöksentekoon liittyvää oppimista, jota tapahtuu näennäisesti teknisen työn tekemisen lomassa. Kulttuuriareena Gloria on Helsingin kaupungin nuorisoasiainkeskuksen (1.6.2017 alkaen kulttuurin ja vapaa-ajan toimialan) hallinnoima tapahtumapaikka. Tapahtumien tekniikasta vastaavat Gloriassa erilaisissa tuetuissa työsuhteissa määräaikaisesti työskentelevät nuoret aikuiset, joille Gloria on merkittävä esitys-, teatteri- ja mediatekniikan alan työssäoppimisen paikka. Työn selkeästi luova ja itseilmaisullinen ulottuvuus kuitenkin puuttui työpaikkaohjaajien laatimista työssäoppimissuunnitelmista. Opinnäytetyön keskeinen tutkimuskysymys oli selvittää, mitä on taiteellinen työssäoppiminen, ja tavoitteena tutkimusaineiston perusteella työn taiteellisen ulottuvuuden sanallistaminen ja määrittely, jotta se voidaan kirjata Glorian työssäoppimisen tavoitteisiin. Opinnäytetyö on kuvaileva tutkielma, jossa on toimintatutkimuksen aineksia. Teoriaosuudessa käsitellään työssäoppimisen pedagogiikkaa ja taiteellista oppimista. Lisäksi esitellään hiljaisen tiedon ja Donald A. Schönin reflektoivan ammattilaisen käsitteet. Tutkimusaineisto on koottu haastattelemalla seitsemän Gloriassa syksyllä 2016 määräaikaisesti työskennellyttä nuorta aikuista. Analyysiosiossa kuvaillaan aineistosta esille nousseita asioita kolmesta näkökulmasta: työympäristö, tekijyys ja itseilmaisu sekä tekemällä oppiminen. Analyysin yhteenvedossa esitellään aineistoon perustuva määritelmä taiteellisesta työssäoppimisesta. Lopuksi pohditaan, miten tutkielman tekeminen vaikutti käytäntöjen muuttumiseen Glorissa, miten tuloksia voi soveltaa ja miksi teknisenä pidetyn työn taiteellisen puolen sanallistaminen on merkityksellistä nuorten ammatti-identiteetin rakentumisen kannalta. Opinnäytteen keskeinen havainto on, että kulttuuritapahtumiin erikoistuneessa tapahtumapaikassa valo- ja mediatekniikan parissa työskentelevät teknikot kokevat henkilökohtaisesti olevansa osa esteettistä kokonaisuutta, ja näin ollen työn tekeminen vaatii itseilmaisullista ja luovaa otetta pelkän teknisen suorittamisen sijaan. Lisäksi taiteellinen työssäoppiminen vaatii työympäristön, jossa annetaan vapaus oppia kokemuksista ja tuetaan vertaisoppimiseen. Taiteellinen työssäoppiminen määritellään siis tässä yhteydessä itseilmaisuun perustuvana tekijyyden kokemuksen vahvistumisena.
  • 1375 - (Hand) making meaning and imperfection
    (2018) Nurmenniemi, Mari
     School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
    This master’s thesis studies the valuation and longevity of garments. The choice of topic is connected with the unsustainable way how clothing is produced and consumed today. The contradiction, of how the marks of wearing can act as a symbol of a long-lasting relationship between the user and the garment or how they can be the reason for disposing of clothing, is the starting point of the work. The thesis explores how standpoints from ageing could be applied in designing new clothes. The topic is discussed poetically, by sharing personal experiences and findings next to academic studies and visual examples. The thesis consists of two parts: written study and artistic production. In the written part, signs of use and meanings connected to them are examined for understanding why wearing is rejected in our culture. Fieldwork in sorting discarded textiles visualizes the amount and quality of discarded clothes in Finland today, illustrating how fast fashion has affected the habits of consumption and use. A historical point of view to aged clothing, by exploring Japanese boro textiles and mending practices in Finland in the 20th century, demonstrates how valuation of clothes before the modern fashion industry was a necessity. In order to understand how the aspects of ageing could be applied in design, the appreciated signs of ageing and use are studied from the perspectives of material features and emotional value. Imperfection and hand making are given as standpoints to longevity and proposed they could help disturbing the notion of the optimal state of clothes and create meaning and emotional value contributing to long-lasting use. For outlining the artistic production, examples of how time has been examined conceptually in fashion design, are introduced. The artistic production part describes the process of creating a collection of garments titled 1375. Features connected with longevity of clothes, according to the written study, are applied in the design work. Next to the notions of aesthetical ageing, imperfections and hand making, visual inspiration material about workwear and nightwear is introduced and these starting points are combined into a design concept. Passage of time defined the explorative and experimental process for the approach and objectives changed during the work many times and the description imparts how the learning process shaped professional identity. This master’s thesis seeks new ways of exploring longevity in design and creating meaning to a fashion designer’s work.
  • 3D-digitointi muotoilun työtapana
    (2012) Virtanen, kylmasota (J-P)
     School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
  • 9 Dimensions for evaluating how art and creative practice stimulate societal transformations
    (2024-03) Vervoort, Joost; Smeenk, Tara; Zamuruieva, Iryna; Reichelt, Lisa L.; van Veldhoven, Mae; Rutting, Lucas; Light, Ann; Houston, Lara; Wolstenholme, Ruth; Dolejšová, Markéta; Jain, Anab; Ardern, Jon; Catlow, Ruth; Vaajakallio, Kirsikka; Falay von Flittner, Zeynep; Putrle Srdic, Jana; Lohmann, Julia; Moossdorff, Carien; Mattelmäki, Tuuli; Ampatzidou, Cristina; Choi, Jaz Hee-jeong; Botero, Andrea; Thompson, Kyle A.; Torrens, Jonas; Lane, Richard; Mangnus, Astrid C.
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    There is an urgent need to engage with deep leverage points in sustainability transformations—fundamental myths, paradigms, and systems of meaning making—to open new collective horizons for action. Art and creative practice are uniquely suited to help facilitate change in these deeper transformational leverage points. However, understandings of how creative practices contribute to sustainability transformations are lacking in practice and fragmented across theory and research. This lack of understanding shapes how creative practices are evaluated and therefore funded and supported, limiting their potential for transformative impact. This paper presents the 9 Dimensions tool, created to support reflective and evaluative dialogues about links between creative practice and sustainability transformations. It was developed in a transdisciplinary process between the potential users of this tool: researchers, creative practitioners, policy makers, and funders. It also brings disciplinary perspectives on societal change from evaluation theory, sociology, anthropology, psychology, and more in connection with each other and with sustainability transformations, opening new possibilities for research. The framework consists of three categories of change, and nine dimensions: changing meanings (embodying, learning, and imagining); changing connections (caring, organizing, and inspiring); and changing power (co-creating, empowering, and subverting). We describe how the 9 Dimensions tool was developed, and describe each dimension and the structure of the tool. We report on an application of the 9 Dimensions tool to 20 creative practice projects across the European project Creative Practices for Transformational Futures (CreaTures). We discuss user reflections on the potential and challenges of the tool, and discuss insights gained from the analysis of the 20 projects. Finally, we discuss how the 9 Dimensions can effectively act as a transdisciplinary research agenda bringing creative practice further in contact with transformation research.
  • Äänikudelmia - Kuinka kutoa ääntä?
    (2013) Olaskari, Ville
     School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
    Opinnäytetyön tutkimuskysymys on: Miltä kudotun tekstiilin rakenne kuulostaa muutettuna ääneksi? Opinnäytetyöni on kaksiosainen, ja se sisältää produktiivisen osuuden eli prototyypin suunnittelun ja rakentamisen, sekä analyyttisen kirjoitetun osuuden. Opinnäytetyön tärkein tavoite oli tutkia miten tekstiilin rakenne voidaan muuttaa ääneksi. Tähän tavoitteeseen pyrittiin rakentamalla prototyyppi, jonka avulla kudonnan rakenne muutettiin ääneksi. Prototyyppi koostuu led-matriisista, johon muodostuu virtuaalikangas. Kankaan muodostavien lankojen väri- sekä ääniarvoja voidaan muokata. Äänikutojalla luotu kangas voidaan soittaa. Tämän opinnäytetyön prosessissa tuli selkeästi esiin, että eri kudonnan sidokset tuottavat erilaisia rytmejä äänikudelmiin. Virtuaalikankaiden reunassa tapahtuva suunnan muutos äänessä vaikuttaa äänikudelmiin, ja tekee niistä ennalta arvaamattomia. Asetettuihin tavoitteisiin päästiin. Prototyyppi valmistui, tosin äänen digitaalisuuden muokkaaminen analogisemmaksi vaatisi vielä enemmän aikaa. Tutkimuskysymykseen vastattiin niiltä osin kuin se oli tarkoituksen mukaista: kudotun kankaan rakenne ja rytmi muokattiin ääneksi. Opinnäytteen kirjallisessa osiossa on tutkittu äänen ja värin yhdistämisen historiaa, väriä ja ääntä fysikaalisina ilmiöinä. Osiossa esitellään viime vuosina tehtyjä teoksia, jotka sisältävät teoriaa joko äänen ja tekstiilin, tai äänen, värin ja muodon suhteista toisiinsa. Tutkimuksessa ei löydetty äänikutojaa vastaavaa laitetta, mutta aihetta on lähestytty aiemminkin. Äänikutoja sitoutuu tekstiilin ja äänen, sekä värin ja äänen yhdistäviin teoksiin ja historian jatkumoon. Se laajentaa tekstiiliä alana, ja lisää tekstiiliin yhdistettäviin termeihin uutta ulottuvuutta - äänen. Muista äänitekstiiliteoksista poiketen äänikutoja ei hyödynnä fyysistä tekstiiliä äänen tuotossa, vaan ääni muodostetaan tekstiilin teoreettisesta rakenteesta suoraan ääneksi.
  • Absolute ambivalence
    (2019) Yoo, Boram
     School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
    This thesis investigates the overlap of contradictive statuses in life and uses this idea as inspiration for a fashion collection. It discovers and explores the ambivalent statuses and the beauty found in it. The research was inspired by Korean elderly women’s cheery and overly decorative garments that stem from the history of Korean War and the colonial era and by the military garments used in the Korean War. These represent a contradiction and by bringing them together, the study highlights how a fashion designer can use ambivalent and contradicting elements to produce a third meaning, not restricted to the original meanings. Hence, this study interprets ambivalence as a new absolute status by merging contrastive elements. The fashion collection builds on studying and merging eccentric florals and military uniforms. De-contextualizing military garments through the use of flowers has often been employed in political movements and subcultures. Taking the strictly regulated military garment out of its context and bringing it to another, has an effective effect in delivering rebellious messages and even militant spirit. The merging of two contrastive elements, the army uniforms and the florals aims to create an appealing balance and ‘demilitarize’ the military uniform. Army uniform meant strict order and ration whereas the flower-printed garments of Korean women were eccentric and decorative. Breaking the cliché of each opposites created an intriguing fresh look. It was not only visual overlay but also juxtaposition of strong combatant spirit and vulnerability and warmth. The thesis argues that such practice of overlaying contrastive elements is effective in breaking the habits of perception and prejudice.
  • Abstract dimension - Reflections from behind the geometric composition
    (2018) Hannula, Aija
     School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
    This thesis studies geometric composition and reflections behind it. It deals with furniture design by the means of art. Geometric compositions have for some time now worked as inspiration to my work. In this research, I explore the reasons why this topic fascinates me. This is approached through delving into abstract painting. A few examined artists of abstract painting in the research are Piet Mondrian, Kazimir Malevich and Wassily Kandinsky. These artists have been chosen because their paintings are familiar, but the ideologies behind these works have remained quite obscure for many. I find their geometric works identifiable, which took me to explore the way they see art and possible similarities to mine. In their ideologies, all the three before mentioned artists emphasize the immaterial dimension, the dimension of the void. In this void, are found the universal truths. They believe this dimension is reachable by conscious thought processes. For them, getting there is prerequisite for making art. According to these artists it is the art that has the power to give the material form to the immaterial. This research reviews Mondrian's, Malevich's and Kandinsky's ideologies, juxtaposing them to Buddhism, for they all are pursuing the void. If art is believed to bring form to those immaterial ideas, representational natural shapes cannot be the way to achieve it. Geometry is common, but abstract. This research seeks to find out why it would be the suitable language in dealing with these invisible and untouchable themes. Finally the research ponders on how seeking and discovering new dimensions affect on the making of art. Even if people were to find the same truths, they would still be making different kind of art. The artist is always an intuitive being, so art cannot be devised from theories only. Aesthetics knows no right or wrong. This thesis includes artistic process, which developes from minimal line compositions to three-dimensional depictions. Sketches remain geometric and abstract throughtout the process, with the sense that the outcome is not predeterminated. This birthed a piece named Composition in the Void. It is a sizable geometric composition. Compositions in the Void is not merely a piece of furniture, nor is it a sculpture. You decide how you want to see and experience it.
  • Academic Knowledge Production : Framework of Practical Activity in the Context of Transformative Food Studies
    (2020-11-25) Houtbeckers, Eeva; Kallio, Galina
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    We have seen an emergence of transformative food studies as part of sustainability transitions. While some scholars have successfully opened up their experiences of pursuing transformation through scholar-activism, assumptions underlying researchers' choices and how scholars orient to and go about their work often remain implicit. In this article, we bring forth a practice theoretical understanding of knowledge production and advocate that researchers turn to examining their own research practice. We ask how to make our own academic knowledge production/research practice more explicit, and why it is important to do so in the context of transformative food studies. To help scholars to reflect on their own research practice, we mobilize the framework of practical activity (FPA). We draw on our own experiences in academia and use our ethnographic studies on self-reliant food production and procurement to illustrate academic knowledge production. Thus, this article provides conceptual and methodological tools for reflection on academic research practice and knowledge production. We argue that it is important for researchers to turn to and improve their own academic practice because it advances academic knowledge production in the domain of transformative food studies and beyond. While we position ourselves within the qualitative research tradition, we believe that the insights of this article can be applied more broadly in different research fields and across various methodological approaches.
  • Accelerating the energy transition toward zero-emission district heating systems through policy codesign
    (2024) Auvinen, Karoliina
     School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)
    Achieving zero-emission energy systems is necessary for mitigating climate change. This requires replacing fossil fuels with energy-saving measures, low lifecycle-emission primary energy sources, energy storage, and smart control systems. A significant portion of fossil fuels is consumed in district heating systems in cold climate regions worldwide. The main research question in this thesis is: "How can the energy transition toward zero-emission district heating systems be accelerated with policy codesign?" My research intersects with literature on socio-technical transitions, energy system decarbonization, transition management, and codesign. My research was conducted in collaboration with four research groups in Finland. The research methods included a triangulation of qualitative and quantitative approaches, such as interviews, energy system modelling, and prototyping. In the context of transition management, we designed and developed a mid-range pathway creation toolset and a transition arena process, which we then experimented with high-level influencers. Furthermore, by engaging with investors and other key stakeholders, we investigated socio-technical barriers and formulated policy proposals aimed at decarbonizing district heating systems. Finally, we proposed a transition pathway model for Helsinki, incorporating heat auctions to promote third-party access to the local district heating network. Our research in Finland confirmed the presence of numerous barriers to energy system decarbonization. Our research experiments indicated that mid-range transition arena processes, along with other policy codesign events, have the potential to produce effective policy suggestions for accelerating zero-emission energy transitions. Achieving energy system transformation requires wide-range policy interventions. However, implementing these in formal policy decision-making processes is contested and challenging. Transitions produce uneven costs and benefits across society. Transforming energy systems requires destabilizing the existing regime, and incumbent actors often resist this change due to path dependency. In conclusion, I propose a transition management model to accelerate the zero-emission energy transition, aiming to achieve emission reductions within district heating systems that are in line with the Paris Climate Agreement's timeline. Transition management and codesign approaches need to evolve toward institutionalization in order to create societal impact, and they must develop further in order to handle the related tensions and conflicts. However, given the current paradigm and system complexities, achieving a rapid energy transition appears improbable.
  • Accelerating transition toward district heating-system decarbonization by policy co-design with key investors : opportunities and challenges
    (2023-10-04) Auvinen, Karoliina; Meriläinen, Teemu; Saikku, Laura; Hyysalo, Sampsa; Juntunen, Jouni K.
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    District heating in European, Chinese, and Russian cities is still mainly produced with fossil fuels. Energy-system reconfiguration is essential to achieve full decarbonization, which calls for a greater understanding of how to engage key investors in market transformation and how to formulate effective policy mixes. This article reports on how decarbonization could be accelerated in district-heating systems in Finland with stakeholder orientation especially on key investors consisting of companies focused on district-heating, data-center management, real estate development, and sewage operations. The technological attention is on the excess and ambient heat systems. Drawing from surveys, interviews, and workshops we identified investment barriers and collected policy and strategy proposals to overcome them. The results demonstrate that diversifying and strengthening the policy and strategy mix is needed to overcome barriers related to profitability, political uncertainties, and underdeveloped cooperation and profit-sharing models. Policy co-design with key investors holds potential to improve the effectiveness and acceptability of policies, but with certain limitations as regime actors tend to oppose the types of destabilization needed to achieve full decarbonization of energy systems. Thus, effective policy co-design processes need further development as collaboration is a success factor to achieve climate change-mitigation targets, but simultaneously tensions and conflicts cannot be avoided when accelerating energy-system transformation.
  • ACCORDIO - valaisinkonseptin suunnittelu ja toteutus matkamuistoista löydettyä tekniikkaa hyödyntämällä
    (2013) Toivanen, Markus
     School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
  • Activating Fengxi Retirees’ Life through Service Co-design: A design proposal and challenges
    (2013) Wu, Yuan
     School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
    As the number of Chinese retiree is increasing, seniors’ mental health care has become a major social issue. In China, “Active aging” where retirees helped to construct the society was proven to be an effective way to avoid their mental diseases. However, existing activities in “Active aging” programs might not fit for the local seniors’ real interests and dreams. On the other hand, due to the modernization and globalization, many Chinese traditions are endangered. To preserve the tradition, elderly people, who have better knowledge in this field, will play an essential role. This thesis was focused on ceramic retirees and ceramic culture conservation in Fengxi, which is the Ceramic Capital of China. It aimed at providing a delicate solution that can activate ceramic retirees through passing on their ceramic knowledge. To understand Fengxi retirees’ life attitude and their opinions towards their ceramic knowledge heritage, design probes and in-depth interviews were conducted with ceramic retirees. With the understanding, the design direction was then elaborated. To create desired solutions for both retirees and potential heritors, three co-create workshops were then organized. Based on the pervious studies, the final concept HONGLO ceramic community was created. Field research, stakeholder map and in-depth interview were then used to the other stakeholders to discuss the sustainability and feasibility of the design proposal. In the end, a service collaborator was found. A service prototype was thus built to test the service experience, explore how to operate the service, and how to bring the concept to life. In the project, I co-designed the solution with the local community and other social parties. Different service design methods were used, which showed how these methods worked in the collaboration. In the end, I reflected on the design process and discussed how the designer can collaborate with different stakeholders to create a desirable, sustainable and feasible solution, and what are the challenges to collaborate with the local community and the public sectors.
  • Adapting Interaction Based on Users' Visual Attention
    (2020) Serim, Barış
     School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)
    Successful interaction with many information systems depends on our ability to visually attend to the system feedback as well as to our own actions. However, at a given time, we are able to attend to only a portion of the available information. Among other constraints, what can we attend is limited by the spatial acuity of our eyes. Aware of this limitation, researchers have long pursued interfaces that decrease our dependence on visual attention during interaction. The newly proliferating sensing technologies such as eye and head tracking as well as methods for user modeling provide a novel venue for addressing this limitation: An information system can utilize users' visual attention information to change how it responds to user actions.  This thesis contributes design knowledge about adapting the interaction based on users' level of visual monitoring during input through a series of prototypes that have been developed for different use cases. I first distinguish between different implications of visual attention information for interface design, and identify visual attention as a measure of user awareness as the main focus of the work presented in this thesis. Lack of visual attention during input decreases users' awareness of the environment. In these cases, the system can adapt the interaction through a number of methods such as handling input more flexibly or remediating the lack of visual attention through novel visual feedback techniques. These interaction methods have been formulated as part of a constructive research program and applied to single-user applications that require users to split their visual attention between multiple interface regions during pointing and also to collocated and synchronous multi-user applications. User studies provide evidence for the increased uncertainty during input with low visual attention and also show in which situations these interaction techniques can improve performance. The dissertation discusses these empirical findings in terms of the previously identified trade-offs between time and spatial multiplexing, and between predictability and adaptiveness in interface design. The thesis also makes a theoretical contribution to the general design challenge of building adaptive or context aware systems through an analysis of the concept implicit interaction.  Overall, the thesis contributes to the existing line of work on attentive interfaces by developing interaction methods that specifically target handling user input with low visual attention, and contributes to the ongoing discussions about the integration of eye tracking into human–computer interaction.
  • Addressing sustainability in research on distributed production: an integrated literature review
    (2015) Kohtala, Cindy
     A2 Katsausartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    This paper presents an integrated literature review on how the environmental sustainability of distributed production is studied in a variety of disciplinary sources. The notion of distributed product
  • Addressing the Dialogue between Design, Sorting and Recycling in a Circular Economy
    (2019-04-01) Karell, Essi; Niinimäki, Kirsi
     A4 Artikkeli konferenssijulkaisussa
    What kinds of implications does 'design for recycling' have for the designer's role and practice in the context of textiles and fashion? In this paper, we approach this question by discussing the problem of low textile recycling rates alongside a disconnection between clothing design and textile recycling. Qualitative interviews with design, sorting and recycling experts were conducted to gather insights into the challenges and requirements of closed-loop recycling. The research findings underline the importance of an active dialogue between these stakeholder groups, which calls for novel ways of sharing knowledge of the latest advancements in sorting and recycling technologies. In addition, the study brings forth the priority order of design considerations and proposes 'design for sorting' as a new strategy for textile circularity. The paper contributes to the ongoing discussion on design practice in a circular fashion system and the required changes in the mind-set of the entire industry.
  • Adorned in Memes: Exploring the Adoption of Social Wearables in Nordic Student Culture
    (2022-04-30) Epp, Felix Anand; Kantosalo, Anna; Jain, Nehal; Lucero, Andres; Mekler, Elisa
     A4 Artikkeli konferenssijulkaisussa
    Social wearables promise to augment and enhance social interactions. However, despite two decades of HCI research on wearables, we are yet to see widespread adoption of social wearables into everyday life. More in-situ investigations into the social dynamics and cultural practices afforded by wearing interactive technology are needed to understand the drivers and barriers to adoption. To this end, we study social wearables in the context of Nordic student culture and the students’ practice of adorning boiler suits. Through a co-creation process, we designed Digi Merkki, a personalised interactive clothing patch. In a two-week elicitation diary study, we captured how 16 students adopted Digi Merkki into their social practices. We found that Digi Merkki afforded a variety of social interaction strategies, including sharing, spamming, and stealing pictures, which supported meaning-making and community-building. Based on our findings, we articulate “Memetic Expression” as a strong concept for designing social wearables.
  • Advancing Integration of CSR and Social Life Cycle Assessment in the Textile and Fashion Industry
    (2024-07-10) Bhatnagar, Anubhuti; Niinimäki, Kirsi
     A3 Kirjan tai muun kokoomateoksen osa
    This chapter shows how Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) could be integrated with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to monitor the challenges emerging from the textile industry’s transition towards a circular economy (CE). While CSR and S-LCA share a common objective of addressing societal challenges resulting from industrial practices, they are distinct tools. CSR outlines a company’s voluntary commitment to mitigate its societal, financial, and environmental impacts. S-LCA enables the identification, measurement, and evaluation of social hotspots throughout a product’s life cycle. Embedding CSR with S-LCA is vital because the CE transition may alter material supply chains, which could significantly impact stakeholders such as suppliers, employees or workers, local communities, and consumers.
  • Advancing Sustainability Transformations - Co-design for Sustainable Development Policies
    (2024) Lähteenoja, Satu
     School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)
    We are living in an era of multiple environmental and social crises. Sustainability transformations are needed since no country has reached sustainability as yet and none are on the way to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Multiple challenges with SDG implementation have been identified, such as the integration and coordination of cross-sectoral topics, policy coherence, institutional capacities and local contextualisation. There is a call for new mechanisms with which to guide nations towards sustainability. Co-design for transitions, or transition co-design, is an emerging area, bringing together the scholarships of collaborative design and transition management. More empirical studies are needed on what transition co-design actually means and what it can offer for sustainability transformations, especially in the governance and policy contexts. This dissertation contributes to this research gap by empirically studying sustainable development policies and the possibilities for co-design to advance them. The research consists of four case studies approaching the topic from different angles, ranging from national to local SDG implementation, as well as from broad, systemic sustainable development topics to the narrower target of increasing renewable energy production in housing companies. The research is based on qualitative methods, including document analysis, interviews and co-design workshops. It consists of five interrelated articles. The findings of the research highlight the role of small wins in sustainability transformations. While sustainable development policy that is only based on small wins can be too incremental and slow to meet the sustainability challenges of our time, the small wins seem to pave the way for more transformative policy changes. However, to achieve sustainability transformations, small wins need to contribute to a shared ambition at a higher level. The research introduces a policy edition of the transition arena, wherein some of the earlier assumptions have been readjusted to cope with policy realities, thus enabling the tools' closer integration into official policy processes. The policy edition was developed and tested during the creation of the national sustainable development strategy, led by the Prime Minister's Office, Finland. According to the results, this method can provide a safe space for facilitated discussion on difficult topics with conflicts of interests. After co-designing positive future visions and mid-range transition pathways, the participants of transition arenas experienced increased understanding of complex systemic changes and better understood the agency of different actors in sustainability transformations. The final strategy raises difficult, transformative topics as being important for further work. While there is a need for more empirical studies on the topic, the research recommends utilising transition co-design methods in the agenda-setting phase of complex sustainability-related policy processes.
  • Aesthetical or Rational: Gender and Ethical Fashion Consumption
    (2017-10-20) Niinimäki, Kirsi
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
  • The aesthetics of Edo: iki in a fashion design process
    (2019) Yrjänäinen, Kristiina
     School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
    The Aesthetics of Edo, iki in a fashion design process is a two-part thesis consisting of a written component and a productive component, a womenswear collection. Through the theoretical part, I examine the iki aesthetic of the Japanese Edo period and seek to define its key elements for the benefit of the productive component. In the research component I focus on the aspects of iki during the Edo period, 1603-1868, and Shuzo Kuki’s works on the subject, written in 1930. The Edo period was an impactful time in Japan’s history and the development period for iki. In the theoretical part the focus in the literature are the works concentrating on the Edo period culture and society. Alongside the research also visual material of the Edo period clothing and textiles was gathered to support the forming of the collection. This material was paired with visual material of the Korean female divers, Haenyeo. Through these elements, a fashion collection was designed and the process of designing the collection analysed. The goal of this thesis is to explore the iki aesthetic theoretically as a background for a fashion collection and to design a collection based on the research, through the question: “how to combine elements of iki into a contemporary design process?” The focus of this thesis is the creative process and its outcome. My aim was to understand and answer, what is the iki aesthetics; can iki be applied practically to a fashion design process; as well as make the research evident in the design process and final products. Through the theoretical part, my understanding of iki deepened and its meaning within the context of Edo culture and society unfolded. My assumption was, that with enough research iki could potentially be beneficial for a designer as a framework and a deeper look into the research would benefit the productive outcome: the collection. The complexity of the aesthetic made it impossible not to include Japanese historical clothing within the research. This helped to connect the research components together and into a collection. The results of a deeper research were evident in the final collection. The process of the productive part reflects the ideas stemming from the theoretical part and the final womenswear collection is my answer to the research in a visual form.