Luis Vega
Research Assistant Professor
- V910b
- +852 3400 3437
- luis.vega@polyu.edu.hk
- Expertise: Collaborative making, sociomateriality, practice-led research, non-representational methods, onto-epistemology
- Personal Website
ORCID ID
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Research GateBiography
Dr. Luis Vega is a designer, researcher, and educator specializing in hands-on collaboration. With a focus on sociomaterial engagement, his work explores collective acts of making as sites of negotiation and inquiry. He received his PhD from Aalto University, where he transformed this interest into a methodological approach for practice-led design research.
Previously, Luis directed the undergraduate Design Program at Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico City and taught studio and research courses at several design schools. He has also been involved as Head of Design, Project Leader, and Designer in Residence across diverse industry contexts. His practice has generated many kinds of things, which include everyday products ranging from furniture to typefaces, collaborative frameworks developed through experimental workshops and geographically distributed projects, and research methods tailored for data visualization and analysis. This body of work has been awarded prizes, published in peer-reviewed journals, presented at talks and conferences, and exhibited in galleries, museums, fairs, and biennials worldwide.
Education and Academic Qualifications
- PhD Design, Aalto University
- MA Transdisciplinary Design, Aalto University
- BA Product and Industrial Design, Tecnológico de Monterrey
Professional Qualifications
- Researcher, Aalto University (2020–24)
- Visiting Researcher, Soil Laboratory / Helsinki Design Museum (2020)
- Guest Curator, Galería Mexicana de Diseño (2019)
- Program Director, Tecnológico de Monterrey (2018–19)
- Designer in Residence, Workhouse Union / Design & Crafts Council Ireland (2018)
- Visiting Researcher, Hong Kong Design Institute (2017–18)
- Designer in Residence, Italia Innovation Program (2017)
- Visiting Researcher, Kyoto Institute of Technology (2014)
- Project Leader, Centro de Diseño de Oaxaca (2013–14)
- Designer in Residence, Centro de las Artes de San Agustín (2012)
- Head of Design, Galería Mexicana de Diseño (2011–12)
Teaching Area
Undergraduate teaching:
- BA Co-creation and Project Proposal Writing
Postgraduate teaching:
- Open to supervise PhD in Design and DDes candidates
Research Outputs
Vega, Luis (2024). Thinking with People and Pots: A practice-led design study of sociomaterially distributed thought processes. Aalto ARTS.
Vega, Luis; Valle-Noronha, Julia; Markle, Gary; Latva-Somppi, Riikka; Hulkkonen, Sara; Falin, Priska; Korolainen, Hanna-Kaisa; Suomi, Maiju; & Giabardo, Gianluca (2024). Making things that change: Re-considering the fluid nature of creative productions in research through art, design, and craft. Research in Arts and Education, 1(2024), 152–165.
Vega, Luis; Mäkelä, Maarit; & Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Pirita (2023). Listening to the sociomaterial: When thinking through making extends beyond the individual. Design Studies, 88(1), Article 101203.
Omwami, Anniliina; Vega, Luis; Mehto, Varpu; Falin, Priska; & Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Pirita (2023). From not-yet-knowing to achieving directionality: On the roles of materiality in multi-sited, interdisciplinary studio settings. FormAkademisk: Research journal of design and design education, 16(4), 1–13.
Vega, Luis (2022). Observing the not-yet-existent: From being to becoming in design research. Dysprosium (Vol. 1), 100–105.
Vega, Luis (2021). Distributed thinking through making: Towards a relational ontology in practice-led design research. Matters of Scale: Proceedings of the Nordic Design Research Conference NORDES 2021 (Vol. 9), 270–280. The Design Research Society.
Vega, Luis; Mäkelä, Maarit; Chen, Tzuyu; & Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Pirita (2021). Moments of entanglement: Following the sociomaterial trajectories of an intersubjective studio practice. FormAkademisk: Research journal of design and design education, 14(2), 1–14.
Vega, Luis; Aktas, Bilge Merve; Latva-Somppi, Riikka; Falin, Priska; & Valle Noronha, Julia (2021). Shared authorship in research through art, design & craft. Research in Arts and Education, 1(2021), 1–22.
Projects
Translocal Pottery (2021–2022) was a remote collaboration project conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. By exploring distributed ways of making pots with wild clays foraged from six remote locations, the project investigates how social, material, and analytical boundaries emerge when practice-led design research extends beyond the practice of an individual designer-researcher. This work was funded by the Mexican Secretariat of Science, Technology, and Humanities and the Research Council of Finland through the consortium initiative Materiality, Maker Practices, and Design Studio Pedagogy in the Digital Age.
Awards
- FINBA Award. National Institute of Fine Arts, Mexico (2019)
- Honorable Mention, 8th Ceramics Biennial, Mexico (2017)
- Young Talent Award. ARCA, Mexico (2016)
- First Prize, Hotel Diseño. Corredor Cultural Roma Condesa, Mexico (2015)
- Honorable Mention, 8th National Design Biennial, Mexico (2015)
- Special Award, Design for Social Development and Innovation. 4th Ibero-American Design Biennial, Spain (2015)
- Honorable Mention, 6th Ceramics Biennial, Mexico (2013)
Listening to the sociomaterial: When thinking through making extends beyond the individual. In Design Studies, Article 101203. Elsevier.
Distributed thinking through making: Towards a relational ontology in practice-led design research. In Matters of Scale, pp. 270–80. The Design Research Society.
Observing the not-yet-existent: From being to becoming in design research. In Dysprosium Vol. 1, pp. 92–105.
Thinking with People and Pots: A practice-led design study of sociomaterially distributed thought processes. Aalto ARTS.
