Just Add Sweat (2020)
Just Add Sweat is a result of wool experiments. On the course Experimental Design I was experimenting wool by felting it with several ways and also exploring its visual appearance. As a result I did felting experiments where I used my body as a mould and catalyst for felting the wool. The sweat and heat my body generated felted the wool when I wrapped it against my body with plastic film.
Dimensions: 175 x 60 cm
Materials: carded wool, metal wire, carton, PU-foam, white paint
Photo by Anne Kinnunen
Photo by Anne Kinnunen
Castles In The Air (2019)
It is devastating that we are living in a world where it is easier to imagine the end of the world rather than the end of capitalism as we know it. With our work we want to spark up the conversation about the importance of dreaming and utopias. The change is not possible if we lose the ability of imagining different and better futures. We consider this topic, and especially the dialogue around it, important since the utopia of one is always the dystopia of another.
We are viewing the past and imagining the future through the present. With the help of a mirror we are able to take a new perspective on our environment and on ourselves. Through a distorted image, we seek to communicate our own roles in potentially new realities and futures. How we are able to use our imagination to define what the future holds for us, shapes the direction where we are going. We already live up to something that once was only an utopia.
by Miia Lötjönen & Vertti Virasjoki
Techniques: Mirrored free blown glass
Glass blowing by Kaappo Lähdesmäki
Dimensions: H 30 x L 90 x W 50 cm
A Red House and A Potato Field (2019)
The game based on Monopoly and focuses on societal issues of wellbeing. Main purpose is to point out the realities of life and how your state of income affects your quality of life. Basic rules and the board work the same way, but the player categories are divided into three income groups, that determine the set up and how each player proceeds throughout the game.
The game itself is not an answer to any problem, but a wakeup call to show us that even a “wellbeing society” like Finland is not equal to all its citizens. By doing research and examining Finnish statistics, we wanted to offer as realistic gaming experience as possible. Through the scenarios in the “Community Treasure” and “Chance” cards, every player can either rise further in terms of life quality or end up losing everything regardless of income group. There are no clear winners or losers.
by Joel Levander, Maria Punkkinen, Vertti Virasjoki, Liisa Karbin-Kosonen & Eerika Yli-Rahko
Photos by different participants of the team
Exhibited at K Corridor Gallery, Aalto university, Espoo, 17th - 31st October 2019
Nomad (2018)
This office lighting design was done as part of the Towards Digital Paradise -project that I was working on during 2018. I got a task to do concept lightning ideas for an office environment where there was smart floor / wall / divider included. There was also the technologies of wireless Qi -standard battery – charger system included to the prototype. I was working together with an engineer who had the knowledge of the technology and coding so that we were able to do a working prototype together.
The research done for the concept was based on the lighting needs in office environment but also keeping in mind that the prototype was also possible to be made in the university facilities. It turned out that a portable sidelight would be the best to meet these needs as well as it’s features to work as a bright light lamp during the winter times in Finland. The light is attached to the wall panel by neodymium magnets and while attached the Qi battery will be charging. When removed from the wall the light can be bent in a shape of arc to sit on the table. The light temperature can be changed to desired value as well as the brightness of the light. For further development the changes of light could be adjusted automatically to match the needs of a person using the light in different environments and seasons.
Displayed in a workshop at university of Lapland 10.-11.09.2018
Design & production: Vertti Virasjoki & Jesse Forest
Materials: acryl silicone, Arduino, RGB led-strip, plywood birch (the stand), neodymium magnets, potentiometer
