Drifting by Intention/Accident

Pursuing Publishing with Elise By Olsen

In this edition of Design Interrupted, Elise By Olsen will present her projects from an early age to date, first with youth culture magazine Recens Paper via fashion commentary journal Wallet to the specialized library International Library of Fashion Research. More than a tranche de vie, it is a retrospective look through her creative formulas, publishing practice, and what is becoming her career. By Olsen take point of departure in her professional thoughts, approaches and methods to navigate the realms of fashion, art and media freely.

Elise By Olsen (b. 1999) is an editor, curator and the founding director International Library of Fashion Research, a cultural institution in Oslo, Norway. By Olsen established and edited the youth culture magazine Recens Paper (2013-2017) and the fashion commentary publication Wallet (2018-2021). For the past decade she has created exhibitions across contemporary art & fashion, served as consultant for brands & corporations, and lectured at international schools & institutions. In 2018 Gucci made a documentary about her work and in 2019 she guest-edited AnOther Magazine, where she currently writes her monthly column “Paper View”. Elise By Olsen is also a cultural critic & columnist for the Norwegian newspaper Klassekampen.Elise By Olsen has received international acclaim for rethinking traditional publishing for a contemporary audience. Whether on the printed page, in physical space, online or beyond, she has devoted her practice to creating new and critical conversations, and pushing frameworks for journalism, formats of display and formulas in visual storytelling. Through her work as founding director of International Library of Fashion Research, By Olsen has created alternative infrastructures for contemporary fashion archives, with a range of educational, curatorial and editorial projects. Her work has been featured in international press such as Vogue, New York Times, Forbes, Wallpaper, The Guardian, Die Zeit, Financial Times & Dazed.

Namkyu Chun

Namkyu Chun (Doctor of Arts, MFA in Transdisciplinary Design) is a University Lecturer in Design Communication and Co-Director of Bachelor’s Programme in Design and Media. With research and educational endeavours, he has been critically engaging with discourses on design practices while paying attention to the relationship between individual's practice and their shared culture. This interest emerged from his cross-disciplinary backgrounds, including fashion design/merchandising, journalism, non-profit fundraising and design consulting, in diverse cultural contexts from East Asia to North/South Americas and Northern Europe.

Drifting by Intention/Accident with Marco Steinberg, Julia Valle Noronha, and Adam Tickle

Creatives, including designers, often face moments where their career is interrupted - whether intentionally or accidentally. Drifting out of their comfort zone (e.g. for a secured job, a native city, a scene to hangout, a community to co-evolve, etc.) requires a strong sense of courage to start over and overcome the fear of insecurity. However, some deliberately choose to drift and let go of what they have for different reasons. For this installation of the Design Interrupted series, we have gathered a group of individuals who have experienced drifting to tell their stories of getting lost - with possibly unspoken intentions.

Marco Steinberg is Founder and CEO of Snowcone & Haystack, a Helsinki-based strategic design practice that helps governments innovate. He is also Professor of Practice at Aalto University, where he focuses on advancing design in the context of complexity, decision-making, and institutions. Previously, Marco was Director of Strategic Design at Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, where he built the fund’s strategic design capability and launched initiatives such as Helsinki Design Lab and Low2No. He has worked with local and central governments across the world on issues of development, sustainability, and transformation. As an Associate Professor at the Harvard Design School (1999–2009), Marco led the Stroke Pathways Project, a system redesign of healthcare delivery in the U.S.—an experience that ultimately set him on the path to his current work.

Julia Valle Noronha is a designer-researcher-educator that understands fashion as a major force in driving change towards more responsible futures. Her work interest explores this potential especially from the perspectives of fashion design and wearing practices. Brazilian born and raised, Julia approach the field from an outlook that praises diversity and holds being with the earth at its core.

Adam Tickle is a British-born Creative Director and storyteller with a multidisciplinary background spanning advertising, brand direction, design, marketing, music, and fashion.

Currently based in Helsinki, Finland, he leads the Helsinki Playground project. Since its launch in October 2022, Helsinki Playground has developed collaborations with Marimekko in Finland, and Beams and IDÉE in Japan. The project has also introduced multiple merchandise collections, hosted events at the Helsinki Architecture and Design Museum, partnered with a diverse network of Helsinki-based creatives and businesses, and produced narratives highlighting the people of the city. In addition to this role, Adam serves as Lead Designer on the Brand and Communications team at Aalto University.

Today, the study and practice of design are in great flux. We are amidst the biggest socio-economic transformation since the 1750s, experiencing the fifth Industrial Revolution. There is a growing pressure to transition economies driven by extractive, wasteful and polluting logics towards systems designed to fit the planetary limits. Such transformation requires the design of new types of products and services, as well as new systems and approaches to large-scale changes.

At the same time, design as a practice area is also changing. It is shifting away from a more rigidly defined practice of professionally trained designers creating graphics, objects and spaces towards a practice that is loosely defined, fuzzy and seemingly omnipresent. Many have been calling for democratizing design and recognizing the efforts of non-professional designers. Design thinking, methods and practices have entered many contexts, including governance, jurisprudence, sciences and activism. The design community has been grappling with the ever-expanding definitions of what design is and who a designer is.

This talk series invites design professionals, students, academics and anyone interested in these challenges to a series of conversations. Each event features a scene-setting lecture by a leading practitioner and thinker followed by open discussion. Three themes give focus to the series: digital, societal and material transformations. What is design’s role in these transformations? How do we generate new know-how to support the needed transitions, and what examples already exist that we can learn from? What stands in the way of progress towards equitable, diverse, and sustainable lives, and what is the role of design in removing such blockages? What are design and designers in this new context?

Department of Design at Aalto University invites you to join our conversations to explore what design is, can and should be in the 21st Century.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Otakaari 5, 5 Otakaari, Espoo, Finland