Marije de Haas Is a Holland-born communications designer – BA, MA in Communication Design, and one of the six who formed design studio Bullet in London. Now she is Sweden based, since she and her family moved to Floda, which is located outside Botsmark. Which is located outside Umeå. Let´s just say it´s a very, very small village in northern Sweden. We met her at UID and had a chat.
What makes UID special?
- The location. Umeå does not have the reputation of being the most exciting place to be in the world, therefore most students and staff have come here with a purpose; to enhance their design skills and connections. This makes everyone really motivated to be here and achieve something good. There really are not all that many distractions, giving students plenty of time to use the amazing facilities UID has to offer (in fact I am surprised they don't use them more).
- Plus, what will make UID special in the future is the HumLab and the connection with the art and architecture school.
What are you doing here at UID?
- Both me and my partner Rich Holland teach here sometimes. Today I´m looking at the possibility to start a project with UID, about the schools´ communication, both internally and externally. I think it could be interesting to try and involve the students in this project. I also want to look at ways the students from different courses can work together, within UID and the art campus as a whole.
Tell me about Floda 31 …
- It´s our home and working base. We have set up a 'design research center'; a workshop and a nice little testing ground where people from different disciplines can work and meet. We used to come up with great ideas in the pub, but we have moved on and wanted a place where we could actually make some of these ideas a reality.
Are you some kind of modern hippies?
- No, we´re not hippies. People ask us “Are you starting a sect?” but … no. We´re not.
www.floda31.com
