The Institute of Design at AHO is celebrating 40 years, and you're invited! To celebrate we are hosting a series of jubilee lectures about various aspects of design. The theme for this lecture is creativity and aesthetic.

The lecture is free and open to everyone, but registration is required. Please register for the event on Facebook.

Programme 

17:00

• b3@ut!fu1
  Decoding the power of beauty in our design journey
  Tom Gabriel Johansen, Infodesignlab
• Exploring Cognitive Creativity
  Balder Onarheim

18:15

• Break with food and drinks

19:00

• Designing from Within: The Heart and Mind of Studiomama
  Studiomama – Nina Tolstrup and Jack Mama

20:00

• AHO Pub

Speakers

Balder Onarheim

Are some people more creative than others? Can less creative people train their brain to be more creative? Can creativity be forced, and if so do any of the 'creativity methods' we use in design actually work? Balder has spent the last 10 years studying these and other questions related to creativity, and will share some key findings and open questions from the field of cognitive creativity studies.
 
Balder did his masters at AHO, and then moved to Copenhagen to do a PhD on 'creativity under constraints' with medical company Coloplast. Balder went on becoming an associate professor in engineering at Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, but left his academic career to pursue a neurotech startup idea. The result, PlatoScience, is providing user-friendly brain stimulation devices to support healthcare providers working with mental health treatments, mainly within depression and addiction.

Studiomama

Studiomama is an East London-based multidisciplinary design studio founded by the creative couple Nina Tolstrup and Jack Mama in 2000.

Nina draws on a deep grounding in design and an innate connection to nature that is inherent in her Scandinavian roots and was honed during her training at ENSCI-Les Ateliers in Paris. Combining this with her diverse experience in trends, design management, photojournalism and marketing in Paris, London and Copenhagen gives her a 360-degree perspective and a unique approach to design.

Born into a Greek-Cypriot family in the East End of London, Jack enjoyed the rich influences of a multicultural and cosmopolitan upbringing. After graduating from the Royal College of Art, he worked in the Netherlands and Sweden as a creative director for several global brands, developing a reputation for visionary work in design futures and design-led strategy, which led to innovative products and new business models. His work with Philips, Electrolux, Nike and BMW has been widely recognised with awards and global exhibitions.

Nina and Jack’s ability to combine their diverse backgrounds and skills has enabled Studiomama to work coherently across multiple disciplines and develop its own distinctive expression. A sustainable ethos combined with an exploratory and playful approach has resulted in a daring, influential and socially relevant portfolio that encompasses architecture, interior design, jewellery, exhibition design, curation, products and furniture – taking in collaborations with a diverse client base ranging from NGOs to global brands.

Tom Gabriel Johansen

Co-founder of Infodesignlab

Tom Gabriel Johansen is an award-winning Norwegian information designer, based in Oslo. He is the co-founder of InfoDesignLab and an advisory board member. He has just recently ended a two year engagement as Design Director at Dips. Tom has over 20 years of experience in design, ranging from strategic design to board games, interaction design and data visualization. He has worked with a wide range of scientific organisations and professionals including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the European Environment Agency, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, the Center for Climate Research in Norway and the World Meteorological Organization. He has worked as a special advisor for Statistics Norway and as a member of Eurostat’s Visualization Task Force. For seven years, Tom worked at the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), embedding design and information visualization into the news-floor operation. While at NRK, Tom’s work received international recognition, including the World Media Award. He is an advocate for the value of cross-collaboration among different professions and enjoys working closely with journalists, researchers, scientists and activists. He is an acclaimed international speaker and has regularly taught at The Oslo School of Architecture and Design, at the Norwegian Institute of Journalism, at the Oslo MET University, BI Norwegian Business School and at Central Saint Martins University in London.