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After visiting Helsinki in December I went to Budapest in January. The city was as amazing as ever. It was absolutely freezing there but Szimpla and spas kept us warm. We spent crazy 10 days celebrating memories and having fun with Andrea, Attila and few other people I met during last spring. I truly had missed that place. Charles, a second year student from UCCA is there at the moment going through all the fun I did. I’ve understood that he is enjoying it as much as I did.
In the end I managed to finish my minor projects. Corian should have done the sink by now (so much for the deadline in January). I will know more about that tomorrow. I changed the decorative pattern in the end. Now it should be more functional and I think it makes more sense as well. The design divides people in two parts. One half says, like my darling sister, that the grooves are a devil to clean and the other half seems to think that the pattern is beautiful and functional. Well, it was never meant to be a sink for housewives or cleaning enthusiasts. I participated in Royal Society of Arts Design Directions competition with the sink and got shortlisted in Ceramic Futures division. I did not won but earned honourable mention and my design will be in on their online exhibition. I’ll send the link as soon as I get it. Also my Stor chair got shortlisted in a competition by Dwell UK. They were looking for new ideas for their range. They have not announced the winners yet so keep your thumbs up!
My Darlings project (second minor) turned out to be more like a research project about stereotypes in furniture and other every day objects. I carried on the first idea of Darlings bench and started working from old and salvaged items. I ended up with 5 different wine glass designs that I’m not so happy about but I really like the chair I made. I got excellent feedback from both of my projects and I’m quite proud of myself that I managed to get everything ready on time.
I don’t think I ever mention about my urgent need and wish to do my masters straight after I graduate from UCCA. Well, I applied to three different places, to Taideteollinen Korkeakoulu in Helsinki (I don’t know why.. I’m not ready to move back to Finland yet), to Royal College of Arts and to Design Academy of Eindhoven. I got as far as the interview in RCA. By far the scariest experience in my life. I was sitting in same table with Ron Arad and Jurgen Bay among with other big names talking about my work. Or it was more like a quiz about my creations. It felt like being in Xfactor or Dragon’s Den. Seriously. I can’t remember that much about the 10 minutes I spent there.
In the end I did not get in there but the great news is that I got accepted to Design Academy in Eindhoven. I never ever thought I could get in there.
I went to visit the place few weeks ago with Adam. We jumped on a plane and spent one day there wondering around my future hometown. The university is great! The building is an old Philip’s factory with most amazing faculties. I got really good feeling about the uni, one of those heureka! moments when you just realize that this is what I should and want to do. During the interview there I got this feeling that the people were truly interested and fascinated about my work, a feeling that I did not have after the interview in RCA. They interviewed 4 people from 40 that day and I was one of the few who got in. I heard there were 240 applicants in total so I did well. So that is the big news. The program starts in September. Now I should figure out what to do during the summer.titiMadam is doing really well. Our website should be up and running anytime soon and we have expanded to Finland and to France with our animals and rings. We really want to get everything working with Adam before I go to Eindhoven. Check www.titimadam.com after few weeks and tell me what you think.
Otherwise life in Rochester is same. I know already that I will miss that place a lot. I will graduate in few months, which is totally unrealistic feeling. Time has gone so fast. I just keep thinking back what I have done during these years… Lot of things to be proud of, I think.
Well, that is it for now. I should be in bed already.
I promise to update more often. Now when I have ‘time’… yeah right.
