An Evening of Craft, Digitality and Critical Reflection

Cynthia Villagómez has been a professor since 1993 and has served as a professor and researcher at the University of Guanajuato, Mexico, since August 2002. She teaches undergraduate courses in Graphic Design and supervises postgraduate students in the Ibero-American Doctorate in Aesthetic Theories. Her teaching portfolio includes subjects such as Electronic Art, Design Theory, New Design Trends, Editorial Design and Art and Design Methodology.

She is the author of nine books, as well as numerous book chapters and articles published in national and international journals, covering topics such as art and technology and design. From 2003 to 2021, she was editor of Interiorgrafico, the magazine of the University of Guanajuato’s Division of Architecture, Art and Design. 

Villagómez has presented lectures at major international events, including the International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA) in Manizales, Colombia; Durban, South Africa; Gwangju, South Korea; Barcelona, Spain; CIDE Research Center in Ecuador; FEMeeting in New Mexico, USA and Caldas University in Colombia, among other in-person and virtual conferences.

Her academic credentials include a degree in Graphic Design, a Master’s in Creativity for Design from the National Institute of Fine Arts and a Ph.D. in Visual Arts and Intermedia from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UVP), Spain. Her doctoral thesis on Processes of Production in Mexican Digital Art earned UVP’s Extraordinary Award for Doctoral Theses in 2016.

Currently, Villagómez is pursuing a second doctorate in Aesthetic Theories at the University of Guanajuato while continuing her artistic practice.

Geoffery Mann graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2005 and has since exhibited his work both nationally and internationally. In 2012, Newsweek magazine named him a “Designer of the Future.” Mann’s practice explores the symbiotic relationship between digital media and physical form. His fascination with capturing the ephemeral qualities of time and motion has led to a studio approach that challenges traditional boundaries between art, craft, and design. 

In 2008, he received the World Craft Council Prize for Glass, and in 2009, he won the Jerwood Contemporary Makers Prize. His work is held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Museum of Art and Design (New York) and the Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery in Norfolk, UK.

Niklavs Rubenis is a designer and maker whose work explores the intersection of craft, design, ethics, waste and people, with a particular focus on repair —whether of objects, systems or communities. He has contributed to a wide range of projects across community, non-profit, commercial and cultural institutions, and his work has been exhibited, presented and published both nationally and internationally.

His solo exhibitions Crafting Waste (2016) and The Ethics of Making (2018) were described by critics as “sophisticated” and “…potentially making an important contribution to Australian craft/design practice.” Rubenis has also participated in nationally funded, waste-focused projects such as Object Therapy and Transformative Regional Repair. His creative works are held in collections including the Museum of Australian Democracy, Australian National University and the State Library of New South Wales. He currently serves on the board of the World Crafts Council Australia and as a coordinating committee member of Global Climate Change Week.

Rubenisholds a trade qualification in cabinet making, a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours) and a Ph.D. from the Australian National University. He is based at the School of Creative Arts and Media, University of Tasmania, where he serves as Coordinator of Design, Coordinator of Object and Furniture and co-convenor of the Conceptualizing and Communicating Change research hub, which brings together the school’s art, design, theatre, music and media disciplines.

Lesley-Ann Noel, the author of Design Social Change and a designer, researcher and educator who practices design through critical and anti-hegemonic lenses with a focus on equity, social justice and the experience of those who are often excluded from design research. Noel’s research interests are centered around those who would traditionally be excluded from community-led research, design-based learning and design thinking. She practices primarily in the areas of social innovation, education and public health. 

In her research, she highlights the work of designers outside of Europe and North America and promotes critical awareness by introducing critical theory concepts and vocabulary into the industry. Noel has a BA in Industrial Design from the Universidade Federal do Paraná, in Curitiba, Brazil. She also has a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago and earned her PhD in Design from North Carolina State University in 2018. She has been awarded honorary doctorates for service to the field of design by the University of the Arts London (2023) and the Pacific Northwest College of Art (2021). She is an active member of the Design Research Society and a co-editor of The Black Experience in Design. She is the Dean of Design at OCAD University (Aug 2024). Before OCAD-U, she taught at North Carolina State University, Tulane University, Stanford University and the University of the West Indies.