Bio
Miné is a design adventurist, entrepreneur and innovator, performing in the fields of design practice, research and education. For 25+ years, she has been creating environmentally and socially conscious objects, commercial products, interior spaces, participatory co-design projects and publications rooted in user-centered design.
MINOVA
Miné Ovacık is the Founding Director of MINOVA DESIGN AND CONSULTANCY LTD, a research-based design firm located in London, established in October 2019, delivering human-centered design and research solutions.
Design
She started her industrial designer career as an intern at the Research and Design Department of Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, NY, where she was later hired as a junior designer and researcher to work on their “Cross-cultural Design” project (1994-1996).
While pursuing her Ph.D., Miné established a design office within the Cadro Company, designing furniture, trade fair stands, lighting and spaces (interior design projects) as part of a design team in Istanbul (1997–2002).
While living and working in Mersin, her design research focused on “agriculture and industrial design.” This included various university-industry product design projects such as a heavy construction vehicle, Iznik tiles, lighting, wooden toys, jewelry designs and gift designs.
Research
Since 2007, her design and research interests have focused not only on heritage studies but also wider Post-industrial Design issues, including Design for/with the 90%, social design, sustainable / ecological design, design and local culture, motherhood and childhood culture, participatory design and craft/ maker culture. In these areas she coordinated various design research projects and worked as a researcher and designer.
Education
She graduated from Şişli Terakki High school in Istanbul (1988). She earned an undergraduate degree in Interior Architecture at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University (MSFAU) in İstanbul, Turkey (1992). She completed her MFA degree at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Department of Industrial Design in Rochester, New York, USA (1996), before returning to MSFAU to complete her Ph.D. in Industrial Design (2002).
Academic
Miné served as Head of the Department of Industrial Design at the Faculty of Art and Design at Yaşar University in İzmir, Turkey, where she remains affiliated on the faculty (2012- present). She gained her Associate Professorship in 2017 and was employed as Assistant Professor by various Turkish universities: Mersin University, where she served as Vice Dean in the Faculty of Architecture and Head of the Department of Industrial Design (2004-2007) and Izmir University of Economics (2007-2011).
Teaching
She has offered graduate level courses entitled "Ethics and Social Responsibility in Design" in the Design Studies Graduate Program in Izmir University of Economics and “Responsible Design” within the Art and Design Graduate Program at Yaşar University (2009 - 2017).
In undergraduate level, she taught all level practical-based courses; in all years of Industrial Design Studio Courses, mostly she coordinated Graduation Project Studios, Model Making, Applied Workshops, Basic Design in Architecture and Jewelry Design Studios in universities that she worked in.
Workshops & Press
A firm believer that design education should extend beyond the academy, she has also been conducting design workshops with/for marginalized populations, including women and immigrant communities in Turkey and other countries. She has frequently appeared on Turkish national press and broadcast, local Radio and TV programs to talk about design education, on-going design activities and her design works, publications, participated-activities and projects.
Exhibitions & Awards
She took a place in group and solo exhibitions in Istanbul, Izmir, Mersin, Sinop in Turkey and Sweden, France, and Czech Republic. Also, among her design achievements, she was awarded a post-doctorate scholarship by the Turkish Cultural Foundation (2010) to research and design a project entitled “From Past to Present: Traditional Ottoman Bathing Clogs”. Resulting from this project, “Wooden Clog Designs” were prototyped and all are ready to be commercialized. Also, she was awarded in various design completions in Turkey and the USA.
Publications
Her publications include various articles published in academic journals. a book chapter about Sustainable Fashion, and articles published in popular design magazines and newspapers about her academic expertise and research interests. Miné also participated in national and international academic design conferences in Turkey (Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Mersin), Russia (St. Petersburg), Greece (Volos), South Africa (Johannesburg), and Scotland (Aberdeen) and presented her research.