BIO/NASTASIA FOMINA
Nastasia is a design researcher with a background in product, industrial, and spatial design and currently pursuing her Doctoral at Aalto University of Art, Design, and Architecture. She holds a Master’s degree in Art and Design and has been deeply immersed in craft practices, intertwining her design work with the stories and meanings embedded within objects. In her second Master’s thesis, Storytelling by Design, completed at the Bauhaus Dessau, she shifted her focus from creating objects to exploring processes and narratives. This work challenged traditional storytelling methodologies, employing a "not only but also" framework to push the boundaries of narrative exploration.Throughout her career, she has led multicultural and interdisciplinary design research projects, collaborated with businesses, institutions, and design agencies, gained experience in global production, launched and managed design brands and studio.Since 2022, her research has focused on Ukrainian forced mass migration, particularly how evolving identities and notions of belonging are shaped through materiality. During this period, she has gathered over 50 stories from displaced Ukrainians, documenting their experiences of arriving in and integrating into new environments with the support of the IWM Institute in Vienna. Her passion lies in delving into Cultures, hiStories, Objects, and Making practices, driven by a profound interest in understanding how these elements influence socio-cultural entanglements and reflect the human experience.
Talks
Visiting Lector | 11.11.2024 | Design for Social Change course at Aalto University. Delivered a lecture on Design for Life with Temporality.Speaker | 04.11.2024 | Redesign the Social International Seminar at the University of Helsinki. Presented on Tangible Exploration of Collective Reflections.Presentation | 16.06.2024 | Object-Meaning in the Context of Forced Migration for Language Learning in a Wild Project in Genk, Belgium.Visiting Lector | 06.11.2023 | Design for Social Change course at Aalto University. Delivered a lecture on Social Aspect of Materiality in Design: Stories, Objects, Processes, and Refugees.Speaker | 17.06.2022 | Bauhaus Study Rooms Annual Conference: Engaging with Dirt: Thinking Design Beyond Cleanliness in Dessau, Germany. Presented on Making the Complexity of the World Tangible.Speaker | 18.06.2021 | Bauhaus Study Rooms Annual Conference: Challenging Infrastructure Modernism in Dessau, Germany. Presented a video essay Living Commodity: How Long is Yours Now?Participant | 05.12.2020 | Bauhaus Study Rooms Annual Conference: Habitat in Dessau, Germany. Co-authored the storyline and storyboard and coordinated a short film titled In-Between.Visiting Lector | 2016 | European Design School (EDS) in Kyiv, Ukraine.Lector | 11-12.04.2016 | Хармс (Harms) in Kyiv, Ukraine. Delivered a series of lectures on What is Design Today?Speaker | 26.02.2015 | PechaKucha Night: Design in Your City in Kyiv, Ukraine. Presented on Design as communication.Speaker | 13.10.2014 | Ukrainian Design: The Very Best Of Design Festival in Kyiv, Ukraine. Presented on Emotional Design.
Awards
2016: Five awards at the Design and Design International Awards.2015: Featured in The Best 50 Designers by NM House Magazine; Ukraine.2015: Two awards at the Industart International Awards; Kyiv, Ukraine.2012: Six awards at The Very Best of Awards; Kyiv, Ukraine.2012: Nominated as Object of the New World; Kyiv, Ukraine.2009: Winner of the 18th Review Contest of Bachelor's Diploma; Ukraine.Exhibitions
2025: Lost in Migration at Munich Jewellery Week; Munich, Germany.2024: L ’étrangère: Research on Migration Phenomena at Lisbon International Biennial of Contemporary Jewellery; Lisbon, Portugal.2015: Ukrainian design at Bologna Design Week; Bologna, Italy. 2015: Interior Mebel exhibition; Kyiv, Ukraine.2014: Theatre of Modern Design exhibition - Design Living Tendency; Kyiv, Ukraine.2012: Object of the New World; Kyiv, Ukraine.2012: Theatre of Modern Design exhibition - Design Living Tendency; Kyiv, Ukraine.2012: Minsk Design Week; Minsk, Belarus.2011: Salone Satellite exhibition - ISaloni; Moscow, Russia.2009: Wanted Design Week; Kyiv, Ukraine.