My interest in art and design was established from encountering a diversity of people and cultures on numerous family trips all over the world; I have a Colombian father, a Greek mother, and I was born in the Netherlands. On those trips, I found myself curious about how individuals within different environments engage with the same products, services, and systems. Such experiences influenced my interest in design and the curiosity to understand human behavior in its many forms.
Vision
At its core, design is about people, their behaviors, their beliefs and their stories. I am particularly interested in understanding how people think and why, and how things like culture, ethnicity and socioeconomic background affect their experiences. I envision creating user-centered-designs that not only satisfy, but that connect and resonate with people.
Sustainability, for me, is about creating meaningful relationships between people and the world around them. I’m positive that designers can influence the changing perceptions of sustainability when achieved with empathy and thoughtfulness. Connecting sustainability to personal experiences allows us to inspire change that feels genuine and not overwhelming, not pretentious.
I am passionate about delving into strategic product design and exploring how to present designs and products to communicate its essence clearly and inclusively. Strategic design is about diving into the interplay between user needs, cultural context and market demands: what we create should be simultaneously functional, beautiful, meaningful, and accessible.
Through designs informed by psychology, culture, and sustainability, I intend to shape a future where design is a bridge that promotes mutual understanding, shared values, and honest connections among cultures and communities. My ultimate goal is to create designs that inspire change, connect deeply with people, and remain true to the humanity at the heart of the design process.
Professional Identity
I view design as a human-centered process using people's insights and experiences to build meaningful and impactful solutions. Persistence, experimentation, and openness to failure as a natural process of discovery are the ways that define my approach to a design process. I thrive on combining originality and when designing, I enjoy using elements that are unconventional and merging them to make something new.
In collaborative projects, I take the initiative to make the people in the group feel comfortable and free to generate new and creative ideas. An explorative character, which is formed by my curiosity and extrovert nature allows me to find insights that lead to thoughtful design when I am a part of a design case.
Empathy, resilience, and a desire to make a positive impact are core values I follow during the design process. These values, together with my strengths in teamwork, creativity, and problem-solving, go beyond being just skillsets – they are part of who I am as a designer. Each project is an opportunity to find proper user interaction, and new solutions and create something entirely new. With each step, I work to tackle these challenges to design for a better world.