2008-09 THORLAK FINK KONDRUP
I would like to begin by thanking Ove Arup and the Anglo-Danish Society for their support. I greatly appreciate their contribution and the confidence their award gave me.
I had chosen to do an MA Design studies course at Central Saint Martin's College of Art and Design not only because of their good reputation in the design industry, but also because they provided a course with a focus that is unparallelled in Denmark. The course is concerned with the interplay between responsible economic and responsible social contributions, the collaboration of business and creative practice and importantly how to apply your imagination and to rethink convention.
Another reason that I wanted to do this course was the strong international focus. I wanted to test myself against some of the best newcomers in the design world and see where I ranked, and to learn from the best.
The fact that the people on the course are from all over the world provides numerous as well as enormous challenges - in a good way. Each has a different opinion and a different way to do things; for example as between the perspective and focus of people from the West and those from China and India. This led to interesting group projects (a key factor in the strength of the course) where our various cultural beliefs and schooling really shone through.
We explored aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), sustainable design and development, environmental and economic interrelations etc. We didn't always agree, but shared the fundamental belief that CSR is about much more than politics.
The course is very multidisciplinary and people come from very different backgrounds ranging from architects and entrepreneurs to industrial designers and social innovators. The common denominator is that they are all connected to the design industry and all want to positively change the world in which we work and live.
Another very important element in the course is the collaboration with part-time students. 30 London professionals take the course as a two-year part time course. While doing our projects as full-time students we also collaborated with the part-timers on other projects. Itself a stimulus but also the opportunity to establish contact with successful practitioners.
I see a remarkable resemblance between the course and London as a city: multicultural, interdisciplinary, and international and in itself an education.
The course is coming to an end and I am now completing my individual final project. I am investigating how to enable designers to design better for "presence" and not only for use. By "presence" is meant how an object becomes part of our experience of living and not just something functional. The aim is to create less junk and surplus by using design to provide long term added value for the consumer.
I plan to take this focus with me when I return to finish my other MA at Aarhus University in Denmark. I am looking forward to returning home, but this year in London has given me an even bigger thirst for exploring and testing my boundaries.
Again - thank you so much for giving me this opportunity and support.
Thorlak Fink
November 2008
