From Disposable to Sustainable
01.12.2011
Kirsi Niinimäki’s study shows that environmentally friendly design affects consumption behaviour.
Designers have the opportunity to create future-oriented sustainable design that looks beyond today. Kirsi Niinimäki examines the complex interplay between design and consumption of textiles and clothing. The study provides ways to look at sustainable design from the consumer’s viewpoint. Consumers have differing concerns and hopes about the future, and this study approaches their desires, attitudes and values from the perspective of the design field and design potential.
The consumption culture of household textiles and clothing
Based on three extensive consumer questionnaires, it sheds light on the consumption culture of household textiles and clothing. The study demonstrated that there is a link between the unsustainable consumption behaviour of today and industrial design and production practices. There is a complex interplay between the meaning of products, the person-product relationship and product design. There is an acute need for additional information about the operating models of this interplay in order to improve eco-efficiency.
Designers play a key role
The study focuses on product attachment and product satisfaction and uses these aspects to move towards a longer product lifespan and more sustainable consumption. Consumer-oriented information is reflected on the design field via design strategies and product service systems. Designers play a key role in creating a new kind of understanding of sustainable and environmentally friendly design.
Kirsi Niinimäki graduated from the Department of Textile Art at the University of Art and Design Helsinki in 1987. After working for Finlayson Oy as an industrial print fabric designer, she founded her own company called Suunnittelutoimisto Triarte and served as principal lecturer in the Design Degree Programme at Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. More recently, Niinimäki has taught in the Creative Sustainability Degree Programme at Aalto University School of Art and Design and worked in the Design Connection research group.
Doctoral Dissertation
MA Kirsi Niinimäki will defend her dissertation From Disposable to Sustainable – The Complex Interplay between Design and Consumption of Textiles an Clothing at the Aalto University School of Art and Design (lecture room 822, 8th floor, Hämeentie 135 C, Helsinki) at noon on Friday 9 December 2011.
Professor Han Brezet from Delft University of Technology will act as the opponent.
The dissertation From Disposable to Sustainable – The Complex Interplay between Design and Consumption of Textiles and Clothing was published in the Aalto University publication series Doctoral Dissertations in November 2011. Orders can be placed with the Aalto University School of Art and Design’s online bookshop: www.taik.fi/kirjakauppa, inquiries: books-taik [at] aalto [dot] fi, tel. 0358 50 313 7086
Further information:
Kirsi Niinimäki, kirsi.niinimaki [at] aalto [dot] fi