DESIGNING MINDFULLY WORKSHOP

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORKSHOPS

"Mindfulness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing." Jon Kabat-Zinn


Can mindfulness positively condition the design process? What does it mean to practice mindfulness, clear up your mind and then, right after, start imagining new objects?


To goal of the workshop is to make the students understand the importance of being aware of what they are doing when they are designing a new project. Throughout a few practical mindfulness exercises she will try to compare how differently things can be seen when the mind is fully aware. And then use the same "eyes" to look at what they will have to design.
After experiencing those exercises, with the aim to prepare the students before the ideation phase of the workshop, making them more aware and helping them asking themselves the right questions, students will work on designing a specific given object, revealed on the first day.


During the workshop, students will also practice a "mindful lunch".

LEARNING OUTCOMES
- understanding how to use awareness as a tool for innovation
- how to define meaningful and relevant concepts
- how to turn a meaningful idea into a real product
- what are the main design ingredients to consider in a project and how to use them correctly


Tutor:
Sara Ferrari is a, Italian product designer likes traveling and cross-cultural investigation and she cares about what objects mean.In 2009 she founded Sara Ferrari Design in London, where she spent the first four years of her career getting her work recognized worldwide, winning design competitions, and designing successful products.Sara gained experience in teaching and giving workshops starting in 2013 in the Netherlands, heading a workshop in collaboration between Alessi and TU Delft University.Since then, she's been teaching and lecturing in several Universities and Design Schools, including HKU in Utrecht, University of Bologna, NABA (New Academy of fine Art) in Milan, SID (Scuola Italiana Design) in Padova, Politecnico di Milano, DOMUS Academy in Milan, where she's been Director for the Master in Product Design in 2017/2018, and the University of the Andes in Bogotà, where she was Visiting Professor the the Winter Semester of 2019.She's also been giving workshops in collaboration with companies such as Alessi, Chicco (Artsana Group), IB Rubinetti, Agape Bathrooms, Palomar, Mutti (in collaboration with Professor Roberto Verganti), Mepra, Carlo Cracco's Restaurant, Cristalplant and many more and most of the universities above.She won several design prizes including the RED DOT Design award, 2 GOOD Design Awards, and several mentions from YOUNG&Design Award. After taking a MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) course Sara learned she's always been very mindful in her activity as a designer paradoxically without being aware of it. Since then she's continuing designing objects with full awareness and she's integrating her teaching activities with mindfulness practice. She strongly believe awareness is a crucial ingredient for innovation.