Alessandra Fasoli
Contact
- Email: a.fasoli@kingston.ac.uk
- Location: Kingston School of Art, Knights Park
- Faculty: Kingston School of Art
- School: School of Creative and Cultural Industries, School of Design
- Department: Department of Critical and Historical Studies
- Personal website
Research project: Craft in Makerspaces: The Potential for Social Change for Sustainability
Abstract
Building on prior work into the cultural role of makerspaces, this research focuses on the potential of craft practices in makerspaces as a driver for social change towards sustainability goals.
The project aims to understand emerging craft ecologies in the UK in relation to sustainable behaviours, in order to establish how a maker literacy can be developed and integrated into specific social and cultural contexts. Initially, the project focuses on the existing craft and makerspace ecosystem in the Devon area, with the aim also to provide clarity on how maker initiatives are coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they are reorganising themselves in order to pursue their mission.
It is expected that a preliminary understanding of the Devon makerspaces' social context will provide the first step towards developing a platform for work with and in makerspaces, implementing them and evaluating programme(s) for craft-led pro-sustainability change.
- Research degree: PhD
- Title of project: Craft in Makerspaces: The Potential for Social Change for Sustainability
- Research supervisor: Dr Paul Micklethwaite
- Other research supervisor: Professor Daniel Charny MBE
Biography
I am a design researcher with a strong focus on sustainability, craft and making practices, and technology. At Kingston, I am currently supervising BA design students in the Dissertation Module, while carrying on an ARCH Techne funded Doctoral Training Partnership in Sustainable Design, done in collaboration with the Craft Council. My doctoral research at KSA explores the potential of community craft and maker practices as a social enabler for sustainability in South Devon. My project is informed by design justice frameworks, social sustainability policies, intersectional feminism, and degrowth economic theories.
I earn a MArch (hons) in Architecture Design from Roma Tre University with a thesis on sustainable participatory architecture in Peruvian rural communities. I am a co-founder and current head of communication of AK0 - architettura a kilometro zero, a Rome-based architecture nonprofit that promotes and research co-design and self-building practices in Europe, South America, and Africa. Since 2013 I have been collaborating and exploring new models of artisanal production in architecture and design by collaborating in several local and international makerspace and fablab projects in Peru, Italy, and Spain.
I moved permanently to England in 2020, where alongside my academic career I also work as a freelance visual and service designer.
Areas of research interest
- Sustainable Design
- Design Anthropology
- Participatory Design
- Appropriate technologies
- Makerspaces
- Craft culture
- Material Culture
- Environmental Sociology
- Distributed Manufacturing
Qualifications
- MA (hons) in Architecture Design, Faculty of Architecture, Roma Tre University
- BA in Science of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Roma Tre University
- Architect, Professional Qualification, Sapienza University of Rome
Funding or awards received
- UKRI/AHRC Career Enhancement Funding, 2023
- AHRC Techne Doctoral Training Partnership, 2019
- Torno Subito International Training Scholarship, Regione Lazio, 2015
- International Mobility Program, Roma Tre University, 2010
Publications
Alessandra Fasoli & Silvio Tassinari (2017) Engaged by Design: The Role of Emerging Collaborative Infrastructures for Social Development. Roma Makers as A Case Study,The Design Journal, 20:sup1, S3121-S3133, DOI: 10.1080/14606925.2017.1352819
Stefan Pollak & Alessandra Fasoli, 2014, T.E.R.R.E.—Technological Experiments and Research in Earth buildings, C. Mileto, F. Vegas, L. García Soriano, V. Cristini, Earthen Architecture: Past, Present and Future, CRC Press, pp. 293-298
Conference papers
Fasoli, A. (2021) ‘Craft in Makerspaces: The Potential for Social Change for Sustainability', [Poster], in Di Lucchio, L. et al. (eds) Design Culture(s). Cumulus Conference Proceedings Roma 2021, Volume #2. Design Culture(s), Rome (Cumulus Conference Proceedings Series, N°7), p. 4773.