Marco
van Rooijen
And the King will answer them: "I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for ME"
Matthew 25:40
Vision
I believe that you can find Jesus in every person
In the Netherlands, we have been blessed in many ways, with our educational system, with our agricultural advancements, and with much more. However, this is not the case for everyone in the world, some people who live in developing countries are less fortunate and live in less ideal situations. As a Christian, I believe that I am called to love these people and to care for the ones in need, as a designer I can design systems that will play a significant role in improving their situations.
I believe the most important group to focus on is the next generation. At our church, I am involved in the kids church team where I learn more and more about the importance of educating children and equipping them with tools for success. By doing so, they grow up to be more competent and they will be the ones that bring change to their surroundings. One example of a company that stimulates children to start developing their skills is KiWico, this is a monthly subscription box that introduces children to concepts such as engineering and arts.
In my first two projects, "From idea to design" and "Project 1" I learned about using games and play to stimulate people to learn. I think this has a lot of potential and will play a vital role in teaching children because it stimulates them to change their behavior and learn through action instead of information. This allows them to better grasp and understand the subject.
I don't exactly know yet what is needed in these developing countries for improvement. I intend to do more research on this subject by looking into studies such as ‘International development studies’ to learn from them.
"The working hand has its own capacity for autonomous thought"
I am a curious and ambitious designer who is always looking for originality and innovation. As a child, I have always been interested in various hobbies, I liked to paint, draw, spray paint, woodwork, work with clay, and so on. This has led to a wide skill set. Now as a designer, I am also very curious and I enjoy learning new techniques such as programming and electronics. This wide variety of skills allows me to come up with solutions that make use of different techniques, these solutions would not have been possible with just one skill set.
My ambition can sometimes be a pitfall, I tend to think of very elaborate ideas but then I forget that they will also cost a lot of time to work out. I am now learning to carefully evaluate my ideas and strip them down to what is necessary, I try to be less ambitious and more realistic.
I have also noticed in my projects that I tend to take a lot of responsibility for myself, this is because I tend to think that it is easier to do something myself than to explain how someone else should do it. I am now learning how to trust my team, divide the project, and let go of control over every detail.
Within the design process, I enjoy working with my hands early in the brainstorming and prototyping phase. I find brainstorming easier by making things and seeing how they look and work. In doing so I also find better solutions. To quote the Finnish architect Juhanni Pallasmaa; "The working hand has its own capacity for autonomous thought". Once I start building things my hands do a lot of the thinking work for me and I end up with ideas that I wouldn't have thought of by merely analysing the problem.
