Laura Maldonado
Who are you, and What did you do before coming here?
My name is Laura Maldonado, I’m 30 years old and I did Architecture for my bachelor. Since I was a little girl I have been surrounded by art. My grandfather was a poet and painter and my mother brought forward the family tradition committing to painting, restoration, and conducting classes in crafts to students in my own home. My studies have been focused on architecture, but I wanted to apply the knowledge in this field to the world of art and design in different scales as well as work in the specific with designing the pieces that I have been doing during these last two years.
I am a very creative person, and since I started my degree in architecture, I have always liked to carry out the process of realizing an idea based on a creative concept and the need to resolve a problem to fulfill a service that requires a user. There are several factors that must be combined to reach a perfect solution which satisfies a need. In the case of architecture, the final product of all this process is a building, a set of buildings or an urban development. I think that for a young architect as I, this process (whose result is a building) can be mirrored also in the field of product design.
Why did you choose to study at Aalto? What do you think is Product and Spatial Design?
Through the realization of Product and Spatial Design Master Programme, here in Aalto University, I wanted to building on the different strengths specific to these interconnected fields and acquire new tools to enhance my skills and understanding. One of the main reasons why I liked to take Product and Spatial Design Master Programme is because one usually works with smaller scale objects than a building, and the designer can be much more present in each of the steps leading up to the production and construction.
have chosen this Master Programme in AALTO University also because it develops in a very practical and specialized way, allowing students to collaborate, work and train together about real projects, thus facilitating the students’ access to the tangible world. I believe this is a unique opportunity specially since facilities and workshops as we have here in the school, don ́t exist in any other places.
What are you working on nowadays?
I am working on my Master thesis which is a practice-based research about the different possibilities of the Finnish Spectrolite stone ́s left over material and its link with the Blue Moment atmospheric phenomena. This study is done under an emotional design concept, linking the poetical expression of nature and human ́s perception of it, and furthermore, how it is experienced.
What is your favourite thing about studying at Aalto University?
I think the fact that I am enjoying most is to have the freedom and the access to every kind of guidance from the workshop masters and the availability of the workshops themselves. This has benefit me to understand how materials react, while working with them and realizing that a physical connection has helped myself better to conceptualize my work as well as the knowledge on environmental demands, eco- design tools and sustainability. I would like to continue and still learning everything about art and design and also how social, economic and cultural factors interact with them in innovation processes.