It’s (Y)OUR future

In October 2020 the second Covid lockdown forced us again to organize our school activities, (classroom courses, lectures, studio design assignments,…) fully online. The situation also gave us the opportunity to think beyond the borders of our classroom, our school and even our country. If we can communicate and collaborate through a digital platform with our own students and colleagues, we can easily do the same with students and colleagues from our international Erasmus partner schools. This was the birth to this collaboration project it’s (y)our future.

At the Falmouth University, School of architecture, design and interiors (UK) an assignment was given to students of departments of interior design, photography and textile design to think about future trends in design and to formulate a sustainable future forecast article for the renowned Color hive Mix magazine. The UK students collaborated in the virtual space with the interior design students of KASK & Conservatorium to come up with a shared concept for a sustainable future trend forecast. The results of this collaboration project, 11 articles are gathered in the document Phase One.

The results became a starting point for a Phase Two of the project. Our KASK students of interior design, fine arts - performance and an Erasmus student from Verona were matched to students of the departments of textile design and interior design from the Estonian Academy for Art (EKA) in Tallinn.

Again students had to communicate and collaborate through the virtual space to formulate a shared and positive vision for a sustainable future and as designer-artist to develop a statement and/or a set of action to endorse this future. The results of this part of the collaboration project, 5 ideas are gathered in the document Phase Two.

We all have learned a lot. Not only how we all think about the future, but as well how much we have in common. How much young people across Europe share similar ideas, hopes and believes and are determined to improve and to heal. We have made new friends and we have found strength in our own quest. It is not your future alone, it is our future. So let’s cherish it together.

I want to express my deepest gratitude and thank warmly all participant to this collaboration project as well all the students as well all the colleagues from the different schools and departments.

We hope this is the first of many new collaborations in our near shared future.