MakerStudioPeda, 2020–24

Materiality, Maker Practices and Design Studio Pedagogy at the Digital Age (MakerStudioPeda) is a project funded by the Academy of Finland and conducted jointly with the University of Helsinki in four Nordic countries.

The rapidly transforming innovation-driven knowledge society emphasizes the importance of non-routine problem solving, design thinking capabilities, and creativity. The revolution of digital technologies provides new instruments and materials for creative design and production. In this light, MakerStudioPeda focuses on analyzing pedagogical practices for fostering creativity at university-level design education and craft teacher education in the digital age.

MakerStudioPeda will examine the design studio pedagogy for design and craft teacher students’ at two different levels. First, micro-level investigations will focus on students’ creative working and the hybridization of traditional and digital technologies in contemporary design studios at Aalto University and University of Helsinki. Second, macro-level investigations will focus on the structures and practices of studio pedagogy in four Nordic countries. Systematic research on deliberate education of creativity will provide a sound basis for fostering creativity across all levels of education.

In the universities, studios are environments where traditional craftsmanship is combined with digital technologies. To be able to educate creative professionals, we need to deepen our understanding of how to teach creativity in a studio environment. The project endeavors to better understand how designers and artisans position themselves in the workspace in relation to their bodies, tools, materials, space, and other social actors. The main goal is to understand what kind of social and material factors the studio environment as a learning network is built on, and how learning takes place in this space. With a better understanding of this network, we will also be able to develop studio pedagogy to better support creative learning.

Project Consortium

Research Team

Previous Team Members

Summer School and Open Seminar 2023

From May 23 to 29, different locations in Helsinki, Espoo, and Björkboda served as the backdrop for the MakerStudioPeda Summer School 2023, a week full of productive activities. More information here.

Project Publications

• Aktaş, Bilge Merve (2022). Biennial International Conference for the Craft Sciences (BICCS), Hybrid conference, Department of Conservation and the Craft Laboratory, Gothenburg University, Mariestad, 4–6 May 2021. Craft Research, 13(2), 439–46.

• Aktaş, Bilge Merve (2022). Entangling with Materials: Crafting as a Way of Repairing Our Relationship with the Environment. In: Fredriksen, B.C., Groth, C. (eds) Expanding Environmental Awareness in Education Through the Arts. Landscapes: the Arts, Aesthetics, and Education, vol 33. Springer, Singapore.

• Aktaş, Bilge Merve; Omwami, Anniliina; Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Pirita; & Mäkelä, Maarit (2023). Obstacles, Solutions and Creative Agencies: How Forces and Agencies Shape the Learning Process of Weaving, The Design Journal.

• Aktaş, Bilge Merve & Groth, Camilla (2021). Using Creative Practice in Interdisciplinary Education. Proceedings of the DRS LEARN X DESIGN 2021 - 6th International Conference for Design Education Researchers: Engaging with Challenges in Design Education, 2, 553–66.

• Falin, Priska; Falin, Petra; & Mäkelä, Maarit (2023). From an Embodied Understanding to Ethical Considerations during Creative Practice. FormAkademisk - research journal of design and design education, 16(4).

• Kokko, Sirpa; Almevik, Gunnar; Høgseth, Harald C. Benyz; & Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Pirita (2020). Mapping the methodologies of the Craft Sciences in Finland, Sweden and Norway. Craft Research, 11(2), 177–209.

• Lahti, Henna; Kangas, Kaiju; Härkki, Tellervo; & Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Pirita (2022). Challenging creativity constraints: Three design studios in craft teacher education. Techne Series, A, 29, 1.

• Laamanen, Tarja-Kaarina; Mäkelä, Maarit; & Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Pirita (2023). Material-led creative processes in the context of design education. Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education, 22(1), 33–54.

• Mäkelä, Maarit (2022). Crafting in Dialogue with the Material Environment. In: Fredriksen, B.C., Groth, C. (eds) Expanding Environmental Awareness in Education Through the Arts. Landscapes: the Arts, Aesthetics, and Education, vol 33. Springer, Singapore.

• Mäkelä, Maarit & Aktaş, Bilge Merve (2023). Learning with the Natural Environment: How Walking with Nature Can Actively Shape Creativity and Contribute to Holistic Learning. International Journal of Art and Design Education, 41(4).

• Mäkelä, Maarit & Aktaş, Bilge Merve (2022). In dialogue with the environment: The environment, creativity, materials and making. Craft Research, 13(1), 9–34.

• Omwami, Anniliina; Lahti, Henna; & Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Pirita (2020). The variation of the idea development process in apparel design: a multiple case study. International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, 13(3), 341–51.

• Omwami, Anniliina; Lahti, Henna; & Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Pirita (2021). Reflections on Shared Mood Boards: Examining Craft-Education Students’ Conceptual Design. Proceedings of the DRS Learn X Design 2021: 6th International Conference for Design Education Researchers. Bohemia, E., Nielsen, L. M., Pan, L., Börekçi, N. A. G. Z. & Zhang, Y. (Eds.). Design Research Society, Vuosikerta 2, 395–404.

• Omwami, Anniliina, Lahti, Henna, & Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Pirita (2023). Individual Outfit Designs: Expanding Idea Development using Shared Mood Boards. Art, Design and Communication in Higher Education, 21(2), 173–89.

• Omwami, Anniliina; Vega, Luis; Mehto, Varpu; Falin, Priska; & Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Pirita (2023). From not-yet-knowing to achieving directionality: On the roles of materiality in multi-sited, interdisciplinary studio settings. FormAkademisk - research journal of design and design education, 16(4).

• Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Pirita (2022) Creative expansion of knowledge-creating learning. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 31(1), 138–49.

• Vega, Luis (2021). Distributed Thinking through Making: Towards a relational ontology in practice-led design research. In Matters of Scale: Proceedings of Nordes International Conference. Nordic Design Research Conference, 9(1) 270–80. ISSN: 1604-9705.

• Vega, Luis, Mäkelä, Maarit, Chen, Tzuyu, & Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Pirita (2021). Moments of Entanglement: Following the sociomaterial trajectories of an intersubjective studio practice. Form Akademisk - Research journal of design and design education, 14(2), Article 18.

• Vega, Luis; Mäkelä, Maarit; & Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Pirita (2023). Listening to the sociomaterial: When thinking through making extends beyond the individual. Design Studies, 88, Article 101203.

• Warner, Linda Claire; Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Pirita; & Hakkarainen, Kai (2020). Kōmako Quilters’ informal learning and the collective zone of proximal development: The ‘5x5 quilt’ project. The Journal of Arts and Communities, 10(1-2), 67–82.

• Warner, Linda Claire; Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Pirita; & Hakkarainen, Kai (2021). Quiltmakers’ meaning-making in Aotearoa New Zealand: Social interactions, embodied experiences and material mediation. Craft Research, 12(1), 51–78.

• Yang, Weishu; Lahti, Henna; & Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, P (2022). Creating new 3D forms in collaborative product design. Design and Technology Education, 27(1), 9–28.

Additional Information

This project is funded by the Academy of Finland (Project numbers 331778 and 331763).

Principal Investigators:

Prof. Pirita Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, University of Helsinki
pirita.seitamaa-hakkarainen@helsinki.fi | tel. +358 (0)50 3513673

Prof. Maarit Mäkelä, Aalto University
maarit.makela@aalto.fi | tel. +358 (0)50 3722168