Karina Clarke was the senior lecturer in Design at the University of New South Wales Art & Design where she co-ordinated the final year studio project that brought SEAT to life! Karina asked her students to design an “ordinary product with an extraordinary message.” This is exactly what graduate Dominique (Niki) Banados did in 2009.
Karina is currently the CEO of Design Tasmania. She holds a BA (Hons) in interior design at RMIT and is a Master of Fine Arts in furniture design from the University of Tasmanian Centre for the Arts. Her years of study, research and teaching, both in Australia and internationally, give her a deep understanding of the cultural and social influences which shape our response to objects.
As a practising designer working in the areas of contemporary furniture and object design, Karina’s research explores the dialogues between design, craft, and manufacturing. The wide range of contexts in which design is situated demands sophisticated analysis of collaboration for the design to be developed, produced and delivered to the market-place.