OK Do is a socially-minded design think tank. We tackle emerging questions exploring the roles and methods of the new designer. Our aim is to cultivate design discussion and practice what we preach – think and do.
We come from hybrid backgrounds bridging design, art and science with an interest towards future. Our approach to thinking and doing is simultaneously theoretical, practical and avant-garde. According to wabi-sabi principles, it seeks to pare things down to the essence without removing the poetry.
We operate through an online publication, events as well as think-and-do projects with public and private organisations.*
Our activities are based on interaction with an international network of creative practitioners and researchers. Contact us to collaborate or say hello@ok-do.eu!
*More detailed info available upon request.
What we do, image by Åh.
The people behind it
Jenna and Anni, photograph by Kaarle Hurtig.
Anni Puolakka
Anni Puolakka is a designer and writer. Her activities range from curating and carrying out creative work to writing about it and investigating it.
Having studied Graphic Design and Visual Journalism at the University of Art and Design Helsinki (BA, 2005), she is currently an MA design student of Design Management at the same university. Anni’s background also includes Development Studies (University of London, SOAS).
Interested in multidisciplinary collaborations and design tasks, Anni’s recent activities have included producing events and communication for Helsinki Design Week. In the past, she has worked as a designer with clients such as City of Helsinki and Sitra.
Anni is currently excited about the borderland between design and art as well as Japanese wabi-sabi world view – finding beauty in imperfection and simplicity. Within OK Do she will explore design as a tool for bringing up new questions and perspectives. Contact anni(at)ok-do.eu.
Jenna Sutela
Jenna Sutela is a designer and researcher working in the field of new media, design and art. Her projects include concept design and curatorial activities for both established organizations and independent art projects. She also works as a journalist.
Jenna studied Media and design research in the Media Lab at the University of Art and Design Helsinki (MA in New Media, 2008), where she has later explored digital technology and the practices of everyday life within the Arki research group. Moreover, her background in cultural analysis reaches back to reviewing records some five years ago, the time she also co-founded an art space, B Gallery, in Turku.
Interested in the blurring of boundaries between the digital and the physical dimensions, in 2008 Jenna collaborated with Johanna Lundberg and Timo Koro to design a digital sandbox thisissand.com. Different amounts of hybridity is also present in her work with Kokoro & Moi, Thinglink and Helsinki Design Week.
Lately, Jenna has particularly been trying to understand what and how she should design, reading Stewart Brand’s Whole Earth Catalog (1969) for inspiration. Contact jenna(at)ok-do.eu.