aleksandra
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Aleksandra Konopek





I grew up in Germany near Duesseldorf. My main interests during my school time were mathematics, physics, poetry, philosophy, drawing cartoons, inventing things, analysing and solving technical problems, and Karate I´d practiced over ten years. First I wanted to be an astronaut, later psychologist, after school astrophysicist at the end industrial designer. Now, I´m working as a freelance industrial designer and as scientific assistant in our HRW Fab Lab at Ruhrwest University of Applied Science in Bottrop. In addition I have my own counseling office and I am a Tai Chi Teacher. Somehow, I think I´ve tried to combine my interests, slowly over years. After school I studied geophysics for two years and switched over to industrial design, where I´ve got two degrees (Dipom 1+2). My first thesis was abaout "Living in Space", a foldable sphere for space habitats. I could present two paper about it on space conferences in Orlando and Texas. Second thesis was about "Living in Slums", where I´ve tried to develop a kit-a-part building system for selfconstruction made out of textile reinforced concrete. After this I got a scholarship for a one year research in Tokyo "Human-Infrastructure-Interface of a Megacity". Few years ago I did some further education for counceling. As an industrial designer I am used to develop projects from the very beginning (the idea) to a salable product. I´ve learned to design in 2D and 3D Programms just as working with machines like milling machines. However, a big issue in my life was allways the question how things or processes really work.