Maria Kirk Mikkelsen

Curriculum vitae

Education:
2021-2025 PhD project: ‘Exploring an experimental and material-based colour design process’, Design School Kolding
2019-2020 University Pedagogy, University of Southern Denmark
2017 Certified NCS Colour Adviser, NCS Stockholm
2015-2016 Certified Process Consultant, Go-process and VIA Århus
2009 Project management, IBC Kolding
2002-2003 Design Academy Eindhoven, Man & Well-being, The Netherlands
1999-2004 Design School Kolding, Textile Design
1996-1999 Teacher’s college of Art and Crafts, Art department, Kerteminde
1989-1992 Upper Secondary School, Morsø Gymnasium

Employed at Design School Kolding since 2009

Research areas

Coming from a background in classical design with a passion for form, colour, materials, aesthetics and craftsmanship and with no extended training in academic work, it is a key theme in my research to explore how I can attune a familiar process of designing products and solutions to a process of developing knowledge and in particular how traditional design methods can be adapted to research methods. I apply a constructive design research methodology in the ‘experiential tradition’ which is described as an epistemic practice where knowledge is generated from “experiential insights and objects resulting from design processes” (Gall Krogh & Koskinen 2020 p. 27). The methodology allows the design researcher to deviate from objective scientific measurements and instead apply a first-person perspective and keep an openness in the process in order to capture situated and embodied experiences. This corresponds to the development within artistic research and autoethnography which also acknowledge insights coming from the researcher’s own subjectivity, voice, and experiences.

See a selection of projects on www.gemakker.com
And the ongoing PhD project on: www.kolor.dk