Why did you choose to study at Aalto? What did you do before coming here?

Before I came to Aalto I completed a BA in Interior and Furniture design in Dublin. When I graduated I knew I wanted to continue studying and began researching a number of universities. Aalto appealed to me for a number of reasons, aside from it’s reputation as being among the top design schools in Europe, it was also a school with great resources, a strong ethos of multidisciplinary and cross disciplinary work and diverse and active design research programmes.

What do you think is Product and Spatial Design?

The setup of the department is such that it encompasses these separate but deeply intertwined topics. This broadness of discipline was one of the things that most appealed to me about the course. Product & Spatial design is about designing for people, and whether you choose to work on large spaces, furniture or small-scale products the difference in approach is about proportion and scale. This broad reach within the department, and the autonomy we have as students at Aalto, allowed me to develop my skills in the areas that interested me most. I had the opportunity to steer my own educational experience here at Aalto.

What are you working on nowadays?

At the moment I am working on my final thesis project as I hope to graduate in September. I am also putting some final touches to two works, which will be exhibited during Milan design week alongside a group of designers that I met here at Aalto.

What is your favourite thing about studying at Aalto University?

There are a number of things that have made my experience here rewarding. The first is having access to the amazing possibilities for making, in the studio facilities. The workshops are so openly accessible that it’s is possible to test and realize most ideas and designs. The studio masters are a wealth of knowledge and I have learned so much about working with a broad range of materials. For me, this is an important foundation for my future work as a designer, and I don’t think I would have had the opportunity to work, play and test in this way had I not come to Aalto.

But, maybe most important is the impact of the people I have met here. The way of working in Aalto gives great independence, which can be a little hard to get used to at first, but which over time leads to a collaborative way of working among the students. Not just within Product and Spatial design but with other courses and departments. This environment has allowed me to benefit from working alongside amazing people from a wide range of backgrounds. The broadness of the course results in diversity among the students. It is this exposure to different ideas that has really made my time here so worthwhile.