Student Ambassador
Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest
Nora is undertaking an MA programme in Product Design. She holds already a BA diploma from the same institution. Her portfolio includes several exhibitions, including Hungarian Design Award Budapest 2023 and Stockholm Furniture Fair 2024, as well as scholarships and awards such as Red Dot Design Award and Stefan Lengyel Excellence Scholarship.
Student Ambassador
Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest
Gábor is currently participating in the master’s programme in architecture. He holds a BA diploma in Architecture from MOME. As an Erasmus student, he studies also in Universidade do Porto, Portugal. He would like to uphold a wide-ranging intellectual openness and interests. Apart from architecture, he deals also with the peripheral areas of architecture, namely philosophy, the social sciences, performing arts and aesthetics. What interests him the most is, how we can, instead of designing isolated objects, focus on shaping and tuning the processes that define our environment.
Student Ambassador
Central Academy of Fine Arts, CAFA d-School
Yuejia educational background is in Visual Communication. Currently, she is pursuing Design Criticism & Curatorial Studies in CAFA. She was awarded numerous honors for her outstanding study works and results. Her professional experience is in visual design and planning of exhibitions of art works.
Student Ambassador
Central Academy of Fine Arts, CAFA d-School
Samantha is pursuing the MA degree, Master of Fine Arts in Bio Art and Design in CAFA. The core courses she picked are Bio Art Design Research, Design Criticism & Curatorial Studies. She has experience in event organization in the role of the assistant to the Dean and contributed to the Cumulus conference in CAFA in 2023. She was an intern in Good Food project as well as in China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (NGO).
Student Ambassador
University of Antwerp, Belgium
Student Ambassador
The College for Creative Studies, USA
Veyda is majoring in film with an emphasis on screenwriting and directing. Taking an interdisciplinary approach to her studies, she is interested in using filmmaking to develop new methods of research in various psychology fields and methods of storytelling that recreate the way the brain processes information and constructs meaning. Passionate about social justice, particularly neurodiversity, all of her work revolves around a desire to challenge societal norms and affect change.
A leader within her community, she is a member of student government, a participant in CCS Leads (a student leadership development program), and a major advocate for accessibility on campus. She was selected as one of two student ambassadors and a student panelist to represent the College for Creative Studies at the Cumulus Conference in Detroit in 2022 and the following conference in Antwerp in 2023. She is excited to participate in conversations about sustainability and bringing about change on a broader scale.
Student Ambassador
The College for Creative Studies, USA
Maya is an illustration student with a focus on editorial illustration and publishing. She is particularly passionate about equity and inclusion and works as a student intern with the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion on campus. Along with this position, she is a Teaching Assistant for First Year Experience, a specialized class for first-year students at her college. Maya also has worked on projects with Rising Voices of Asian American Families in Michigan and Parkhouse Detroit. Maya will represent College for Creative Studies at the Cumulus Detroit 2022 and the Antwerp conference in 2023. She is particularly grateful for the opportunity to immerse herself in a community passionate about the arts, sustainability, and change.
Student Ambassador
Universidad de las Artes, Ecuador
Selected as a student ambassador for the Cumulus Guayaquil 2021 Conference, Joao is a music production student with experience in audio editing and mixing for new media. He is passionate about the arts sector, born from innovation and technological vanguards.
With a view to generating innovative musical and sound projects, he has entered the world of programming. In addition, he has participated in cultural projects to vindicate independent art in cities like Loja, Saraguro, Otavalo, and Guayaquil. He represents the University of Arts as Ambassador for the Cumulus Guayaquil 2021 Conference and at the network conference in Russia in June 2022.
Student Ambassador
Universidad de las Artes, Ecuador
Selected as a student ambassador for the Cumulus Guayaquil 2021 Conference, Jamely is majoring in Literature. She has been published at Ruta Colectiva magazine and, in 2018, won the LibreLibro Literary Contest for a narrative piece she wrote.
She has collaborated with local NGOs for the development of political, cultural, and artistic projects for women and the LGBTQ community. Jamely also gives virtual workshops on decolonial studies and class, gender, and race critical theory (2020-nowadays). She translates texts and gives translation workshops for the AWTC (Academic Writing and Translation Center) in collaboration with the International Relationships Department at the University of Arts. She represents the University of Arts as Ambassador for the Cumulus Guayaquil 2021 Conference and at the network conference in Russia in June 2022.
Student Ambassador
Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
The Sapienza University organizers of Design Culture (s) – Cumulus Roma 2021 chose Camilla as one of the two student ambassadors. At the time of her award, Camilla was a second-year student majoring in Interaction Design and minoring in Human-Computer Interaction at the Master of Science in Product and Service Design, and a participant of the Advanced Course of the program.
Read more about Camilla’s rich background and her volunteering as a designer in Poliferie, a national no-profit organization aiming at cultivating and supporting neglected potential of young people living in suburban areas, in her Linkedin profile and stay tuned for more about Camilla’s contribution to the Cumulus Guayaquil November 2021 conference.
“Being a Student Ambassador in the challenging times of Covid is a unique experience I am grateful for. Taking part in the Cumulus Roma 2021 – Design Culture(s), the first virtual/hybrid Cumulus conference, has been a great opportunity to witness the terrific dedication of this incredible worldwide community, driven by passion for innovation in Arts and Design, always willing to share the most inspiring contributions and offering glimpses of the future in an inexhaustible exchange of knowledge across generations. A precious testimony of resilience, commitment and growth through times of uncertainty.”
Student Ambassador
Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Dimitri Russo was also selected as a second student ambassador for Design Culture (s) – Cumulus Roma 2021. At the time of his award, Dimitri was a second and final year student of the Master’s Degree in Product and Service Design majoring in People-centred design.
Dimitri also works as a tutor for exams and theses of the Faculty of Architecture and participates in various competitions. Read more about his background in his Linkedin profile. “Taking part in the organization of the Design Culture (s) – Cumulus Roma 2021 conference as content manager was a truly rewarding as well as formative experience. The passion for design and the inexhaustible interest in travel and the discovery of new cultures find concreteness in this recognition which is based precisely on the admixture of different voices and knowledge. In a world in constant evolution, being able to listen to the ideas and points of view of designers from all over the world will always be a reason for growth and being able to actively contribute to the formation of this reality will be a source of pride.”
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Please note the program was paused in 2020 due to the global COVID-19 Pandemic and the postponement of Cumulus Conferences.
Student Ambassador
Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
The third student ambassador selected for The Design After and the Design Culture (s) conferences by Universidad de los Andes, Valeria was an architecture student with a minor in anthropology at the time of the award.
Interested in student empowerment and a co-founder of the feminist architecture collective Las Arquitercas, Valeria activates intersectional and interdisciplinary conversations in student communities, aiming at a more contextualized decolonial-thinking education in Latin-American. Read more about Valeria in her Linkedin profile.
Student Ambassador
Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
Universidad de los Andes, organizer of the Cumulus Bogotá conference: (October 30 – November 1, 2019) chose Felipe as one of three student ambassadors to represent their home institution and participate in the Sapienza’s Design Culture (s).
Universidad de los Andes, organizer of the Cumulus Bogotá conference: (October 30 – November 1, 2019) chose Felipe as one of three student ambassadors to represent their home institution and participate in the Sapienza’s Design Culture (s).
Student Ambassador
Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
Juliana was also selected as a student ambassador by her home institution Universidad de los Andes for The Design After and the Design Culture (s) conferences. At the time of the award, she was a student of the design program with minors in Management, Visual Computing and French Language and Culture.
Juliana was also selected as a student ambassador by her home institution Universidad de los Andes for The Design After and the Design Culture (s) conferences. At the time of the award, she was a student of the design program with minors in Management, Visual Computing and French Language and Culture.
Student Ambassador
University of Lapland, Finland
University of Lapland, organizer of the Cumulus Rovaniemi conference: Around the Campfire (May 30 – June 1, 2019), selected Matilda as one of their two student ambassadors to represent their home institution conference and The Design After.
Student Ambassador
University of Lapland, Finland
Lauri Hakala is a student in University of Lapland majoring in Industrial design & minoring in creative technologies. He works as a research assistant in University of Lapland DecoChrom project. In the project, he works in the field of interaction design, technology & prototyping.
Lauri has a background in sales & is a board member & responsible of finance in University of Lapland art student union TAO ry. In addition, he has been a tutor & a volunteer in many events. Lauri is familiar with multiple 3D-modeling programs such as Rhinoceros & SolidWorks as well as with various Adobe programs. His main interests & skills are however in programming, ice- & furniture design. Lauri has co-authored two conference papers. With one, the team received the Best Demo award at the Eighth ACM International Symposium on Pervasive Displays (PerDis).
Also selected to be an ambassador for the Around the Campfire and Design After conferences, Lauri was pursuing his BA in Industrial Design with a minor in Creative technologies at the time of the award. Lauri was also a research assistant in the University of Lapland DecoChrom project in the field of interaction design, technology and prototyping with interests in programming, and furniture design. Learn more about Lauri here and watch his testimonial in the Cumulus 30th Anniversary member film.
Student Ambassador
CESAAP / ENSAAMA
Mael was the fourth student ambassador from CESAAP to also attend Diffused Transition & Design Opportunities in Wuxi. At the time of the award, Mael studied Product Design at ENSAAMA; he also had an educational background in applied arts and BA in Science. He chose to be a designer instead of a doctor to help people. Learn more about Mael in his Linkedin profile here.
An excerpt from his experience in Paris:
“Designing together is a challenging topic as it involves collaborative experiences, co-working, sharing knowledge and changing the world. In the context of the Cumulus conference, an international cross-disciplinary workshop intended for students from the member institutions of the Cumulus organization and French students from the four schools was organized at Beaubourg museum. The workshop was later presented during the conference. This was the perfect example of how fruitful designing together can be. The round tables and conferences dealt with cross-disciplinarity, the transmission of knowledge and traditional know-how, citizenship and sustainable development. At Ensaama, the international design competition Dream 2074: a utopia for French luxury was launched. During the conference, we also had the opportunity to meet the student ambassadors from India and thus get prepared to be ambassadors ourselves.”
Student Ambassador
CESAAP / École Estienne
Louisa was selected amid the four student ambassadors to participate in the Cumulus Paris and Wuxi conferences. At the time of the award, Louisa was a final year student of 3D Animation at École Estienne. Louisa had a rich background celebrated with awards in music video development and illustration including children’s books.
Excerpt from her experience as a student ambassador:
“Even if Cumulus in Paris was already a great experience, I didn’t truly understand how ambitious this association was before living it in Wuxi. Cumulus is an association that manages to bring the voices of amazing people from around the world, it allows them to connect through art-related workshops, conferences, exhibitions and talking sessions… It was a pure joy to see the Jiangnan students so involved in the Cumulus event. We had the opportunity to discuss, debate and question the importance of design and the transformation of our environments. At first, I must confess that the communication between us (four French Ambassadors) and the Chinese students was a bit difficult, mainly because of the language barrier. But in the end we managed to create deep bonds and to understand each other, and I hope it was as rewarding for them as it was for me to be part of this adventure.”
Student Ambassador
CESAAP / École Duperré
Gaëtan was one of the four student ambassadors to represent their home institution in the Paris Cumulus conference and later in Wuxi for Diffused Transition & Design Opportunities. At the time of the award, Gaëtan was a third-year student of Fashion Design at École Duperré.
He worked on the student exhibition presented during the conference. He brought to his role his expertise in special effect garment design and event management.
Excerpt from his reflection attending the Wuxi conference:
“I was particularly surprised by the quality and the precision of the models put forward. It is in China that I understood the second goal of the Cumulus conferences, it was to show the strengths of the organizing country in order to make it shine. While China surprised me by its pre-industrialization capabilities and the ease students had in working with companies. It gave me a chance to think about what France could bring. It seems to me that we have creativity and craftsmanship, one that is constantly developing thanks to the new materials that we create and develop. For this I find the Cumulus conferences enriching not only by their conferences but also by the way that the event allows one to discover the culture and how the new generation re appropriated it.”
Student Ambassador
CESAAP / École Boulle
CESAAP, organizer of the Cumulus Paris 2018 conference titled To get there: designing together (April 11–14, 2018), selected Maylis as one of four student ambassadors to represent their home institution and attend the following Cumulus conference in Wuxi.
At the time of the award, Maylis was a fresh graduate of École Boulle holding a master’s degree in Event Design. She called herself a social link designer with interests in environmental and educational issues as well as in cultural exchanges. Learn more about Maylis and her work now via her Linkedin profile here.
Excerpt from her testimonial on the Cumulus Paris conference:
“It with great joy we welcomed teachers and professionals from around the world to our schools (Boulle, Duperré, Ensamaa, Estienne) to talk about design and creation in the context of the Cumulus Conference. Our schools were transformed during a few days into a laboratory of reflection: to question the transformation of our environments and the interdisciplinarity of our four schools, shared with those of our guests. How can we think, build, innovate together? The round tables were very relevant on the issues of the designer’s role in the face of the citizenship in tension, the conditions necessary to ensure interdisciplinarity or the transmission of knowledge, French luxury.”
Excerpts from her experience in Wuxi:
“This trip enlightened me and transformed me. I am a service designer specializing in ethical and social projects. I am also sensitive to cultural exchanges. Meeting people around the world to discuss new design opportunities has been an incredible opportunity. The forum was a time of definition : what are the new roles of designers? Where are we going? How do we create new design processes in a 3.0 world?The conference exposed innovative processes in industry, service design, and the ways in which design benefits an evolving system. The examples evoked local and global issues, because today, the power of technology has given rise to interdependent citizens of the world. It was very interesting to see projects specific to Eastern China concerning Healthcare, the massive use of digital, or urban agriculture. The opportunity to discover another culture of design once back in France, question our own design practices, our own creative process, our local issues was consequential. This is an invitation to travel and meet to take a step back on our practices, then improve our local needs through design.”
Student Ambassador
Jiangnan University, China
Jiangnan University, organizer of the Cumulus Wuxi conference: Diffused Transition & Design Opportunities (October 31 – November 4, 2018), chose Danni as one of their two student ambassadors to represent their home institution and participate in the Rovaniemi Cumulus conference. At the time of the award, Danni was in his final year of an MA in Industrial Design with special interest in designing for the elderly and user experience.
“For me, it is a matter of pride for my school to be able to hold an international conference, and I am even more proud to be involved as a volunteer. We welcomed scholars and researchers from all over the world. They speak for design in a new cultural environment, allow people to understand the global dynamics of design, see different design practices, and hear different voices… Thanks to Cumulus for calling the world’s most outstanding designers together, bringing new thinking to them and promoting the development of Chinese design.”
Student Ambassador
Jiangnan University, China
Jiangnan University, organizer of the Cumulus Wuxi conference: Diffused Transition & Design Opportunities on October 31 – November 4, 2018, also selected Zhou (Jessy) as a student ambassador. At the time of the award, Jessy was a BA level student majoring in Industrial Design with an interest in design for healthcare.
Excerpt from Jessy’s experience in the Cumulus Wuxi conference:
“This Cumulus conference is the stage for international art design and media college thinkers, providing a new vision and inspiration for the development of global art design disciplines and talent cultivation. 2018 also marks the 60th anniversary of Jiangnan University. This conference was an opportunity to further promote the international development of the design discipline of Jiangnan University.”
Student Ambassador
Design School Kolding, Denmark
Philip was also selected by Design School Kolding as a student ambassador to represent his home institution and attend Letters to the Future. At the time of the award, Philip was pursuing an MA in Communication design after undergraduate studies in Art & Architecture.
Student Ambassador
Design School Kolding, Denmark
Design School Kolding, organizer of the Cumulus Kolding 2017 conference –REDO (May 30 – June 2), chose Camilla as one of two student ambassadors to represent their home institution and participate in the Letters to the Future conference in India. At the time of the award, Camilla was a BA level student majoring in Accessory Design.
Student Ambassador
Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, India
Srishti Institute, organizer of the Cumulus Bengaluru 2017 conference, Letters to the Future ( November 20–23, 2017), chose Saili as one of two student ambassadors to represent their home institution and participate in the Cumulus Paris 2018 conference.. At the time of the award, Saili was an undergraduate student majoring in Information Arts and Information design.
Saili brought her communication design expertise and personal interests in fashion blogging, fashion and styling and storytelling to her role. Learn more about her today in this Linkedin profile here.
Excerpt from her experience attending the Paris conference:
“Enthralling, engaging and absolutely exhilarating might just be an understatement for three days of a power pact design conference. Ecole Boulle, Estienne, Duperee and Ensaama hosted The International Cumulus Conference, Paris 2018 bringing together designers, artists, thinkers, teachers and learners from across the globe. Together, To get there, the theme of the conference truly spoke about how design is a collaborative process and only when we work together and for one another will we be able to move a step forward in the world of design.”
Student Ambassador
Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, India
Nitish was also selected by Srishti as the second student ambassador to represent his home institution and travel to Paris for the Cumulus conference in 2018. At the time of the award, Nitish was majoring in Human Centered Design with studies in UI/UX and Visual Communication/Strategic Branding.
With interests in copywriting as well as in brand, strategy and packaging design, Nitish had taken part in an attempt to break a Guinness World Record for the Largest Dice Mosaic – an artwork for the Kempegowda International Airport. Learn more about Nitish’s profile today here.
Excerpts from Nitish’s experience as part of the Srishti conference:
“The Bangalore conference started on a high note with a brilliant opening ceremony from our college students and outside performers. The inaugural keynote address by Shabnam Virmani spoke on the theme of ‘Timelessness’. She, along with an eminent panel of art philosophers kick started the conference with a discourse on time perceptions and its impact on our activities. The discussion was quite an enlightening and soothing experience to an otherwise speculatory and consuming exercise as an exercise on talking about “future” could be…. In the end I wasn’t entirely prepared to consume and make sense of all that valuable knowledge that was directed at me.But I do feel a bit alleviated, if not enlightened, that there does exist a future, a green one – a safe one – that we can strive for, in collaboration, because there are people who pursue similar aims and in unity we can find some might.”
Student Ambassador
Nottingham Trent University, UK
Pei-Yin was selected as a student ambassador by her home institution for the 2016 Cumulus Nottingham Conference “In This Place,” (April 27- May 1) and to participate in the Hong Kong Design Institute conference later that year. She was a Master student in International fashion management at the time of the award and had a bachelor in international business from the National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences in her home country, Taiwan.
Student Ambassador
Hong Kong Design Institute, Hong Kong
Hong Kong Design Institute, organizer of the Cumulus Hong Kong 2016 conference: Open Design for E-very-thing – exploring new design purposes (November 21–24) chose Jennifer as one of two student ambassadors to represent their home institution and the REDO conference in Kolding in 2017.
At the time of the award, Jennifer was majoring in Jewellery and Image Product Design. Jennifer is passionate about drawing, handicraft and photography.
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Student Ambassador
Hong Kong Design Institute, Hong Kong
Juliette was also selected to represent the Hong Kong Design Institute and attend the REDO conference in Kolding. At the time of the award, Jennifer was majoring in Fashion Design and was already working as a fashion designer for Off the Wall company. Learn more about her work as a fashion designer today in her Linkedin profile here.
Student Ambassador
Politecnico di Milano, Milan
Luca was also selected by Politecnico in the 3-student ambassador inaugural cohort who participated in the Virtuous Cycle Circle and Cumulus Mumbai conference, A Planet of Our Own. At the time of the award he was studying an MS in Communication Design and had been two time winner of journalism awards.
Learn about Luca’s work today via his Linkedin profile here.
An excerpt from Luca’s reflection:
“Throughout the conference, listening to the voices of the speakers invited to take the stage, reminded us of the growing power of design as a powerful tool to fuel innovation, which engages more and more people aimed at establishing new revolutionary practices.”
Student Ambassador
Politecnico di Milano, Milan
Matteo was also part of the inaugural cohort of 3 student ambassadors from Politecnico who participated in the Virtuous Cycle Circle and Cumulus Mumbai conference, A Planet of Our Own. At the time of the award he was pursuing a masters in Product Service System Design and had undergraduate studies in interior design.
Learn more about Matteo today via his Linkedin profile here.
An excerpt from Matteo’s reflection:
“I can’t recall precisely who was the man who wrote the words “the world is a book, and those who don’t travel only read one page”. Well, if this was true, then that means the three of us added an amazing chapter to our life-books.”
Student Ambassador
Politecnico di Milano, Milan
Politecnico di Milano launched the inaugural cohort the Student Ambassador Program and selected Vanessa as one of three students to represent their institution for the 2015 Cumulus Milan conference Virtuous Cycle Circle: Design Culture and Experimentation (June 3 -7) and to participate in the IIT Cumulus Mumbai conference, A Planet of Our Own.
At the time of the award, Vanessa was pursuing a masters in Product Design for Innovation. For the Cumulus conference, Vanessa served as the general manager assistant. Learn more about Vanessa’s academic trajectory today through her Linkedin profile here; and watch her contribution in the Cumulus 30th Anniversary member film!
Excerpt from Vanessa’s reflection of the experience:
“It’s a little strange to be a part of the management team of a conference since you would only see the backstage. So, I was really excited to experience a Cumulus Conference from the participant’s point of view, yet knowing how the big machine worked. As Cumulus Ambassadors, Matteo, Luca and I were invited to take part in one of the students’ workshops that took place the day before the official beginning of Cumulus Mumbai 2015. The workshop we’ve selected was called “Urban Sustainability-Common Ground” and was tutored by prof. Massimo Santanicchia from Iceland and Chadni Rajendran (non era Sandeep Bomble) from India. The aim of the workshop was to understand the UN Habitat statement about what it means to achieve urban sustainability.”
Student Ambassador
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT) organizer of the 2015 conference “A Planet of Our Own- Cumulus Mumbai 2015,” chose Kanika as one of two student ambassadors to represent their home institution and participate in the Nottingham Cumulus Conference “In This Place.”
At the time of the award, Kanika was completing her masters’ degree in Visual Communication. Learn more about Kanika today in her Linkedin profile here.
From Kanika’s reflection on attending Cumulus Nottingham:
“I cannot express in words the thrill of travelling to another country and being exposed to a whole new culture & people. Not only was the conference something to look forward to, even the experience of being in Nottingham was amazing. We attended the X Files Working group on day one, which gave us the opportunity to meet policy makers from all over the world. It really is immensely overwhelming to be able to sit in a room full of people who are making such a large scale difference in the world.”
Student Ambassador
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT) organizer of the 2015 conference “A Planet of Our Own- Cumulus Mumbai 2015,” also selected Sitara as one of two student ambassadors to represent their home institution and participate in the Nottingham Cumulus Conference “In This Place.”
At the time of the award, Sitara was pursuing a masters’ degree in Interaction Design. Learn more about Sitara today in her profile here.
Excerpt from Sitara’s reflection of her student ambassador experience:
“My journey with Cumulus began first in 2015 as a volunteer for the event held in Mumbai that taught me how to function in pressure, overlook all the other activities as an overall coordinator as well as gave me a sense of responsibility. My next experience with Cumulus was in the year 2016 again! But this time as an ambassador from India! My experience with Cumulus 2016 – ‘In this Place’, Nottingham was delightful! As an ambassador, my role was to spread awareness about the event, get people to participate in it and also provide fresh ideas to get people to relate with the theme. ‘In this place’ is all about memories, time, experiences, places, But all of this doesn’t exist without people. People + Space makes it a place. So I decided to ask people all around Nottingham about their favourite place and their connection with it. I took my camera and for the next couple of days documented how they would feel if they suddenly lost their favourite place. What we received from them was very beautiful! People showed all kinds of emotions – joy, irritation, sadness, indifference.”
