Next Wednesday marks 12 months from the day that I won the LEGO award for Playful Creativity at New Designers. The year since has been an incredible journey filled with fun, learning, and many late nights. Hearing from so many children, teachers and parents has been inspiring and makes it all pay off. I’ve been proud to watch MAKA grow.
Later this year I’ll be starting an exciting new journey: moving to Northern Sweden to study Interaction Design at Umeå Institute of Design. The programme is 2 years long, plus I’ll be taking a year out for internships. That’s a slightly daunting total of 3 years.
The remote city of Umeå is home to one of the best design schools in the world. Perhaps due to its long nights and icy climate, students at UID seem to spend most of their waking hours in the studio. The programme’s focus is on people, on understanding human behaviour and actively involving users in the design process. Super cool.
For half of the year out I’ll be interning in LEGO’s Creative Play Lab in Billund, a prospect I am beyond excited about. They can’t say what I’ll be working on (top secret, of course), but it will involve developing new ways to play with LEGO. I plan on returning with my weight in bricks.
Whilst I am looking forward to this new chapter, it does mean that MAKA and Fidget for Good will be going on the back-burner. The choice is a difficult one; fidgeting is in the spotlight at the moment and MAKA is ready to make a huge impact.
I’d like to thank everyone who has helped and supported me on this journey. The generosity of so many has been humbling. MAKA has grown far bigger than I could have imagined, a feat that I couldn’t have achieved alone. It’s been great.
Until next time,
Fidget for Good