Realtional Ground
(last edited: 2025)
author(s): Liza Zazimko
This exposition is in review and its share status is: visible to all.
Thesis / Research Document of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2025.
Bachelor Interior Architecture & Furniture Design.
The thesis explores how jewelry, as a medium of object design, can serve as a speculative tool for addressing questions of identity, belonging, and social cohesion in Estonia’s linguistically diverse society. The project emerges from a personal dissonance: being a Russian-speaking Estonian and navigating a sense of belonging shaped by language, history, and cultural perception. While Estonia promotes democratic values and civic unity, subtle divisions remain. Language often acts as an artificial barrier - a marker of loyalty or a source of prejudice, rooted in collective memory and historical traumatic experience
To understand these dynamics, the research examines Estonia’s history to trace the roots of its current social fabric. It then looks at state-led integration programs, evaluating the efforts already made toward a more inclusive society. Finally, the study considers how art can operate as a mechanism for change, reaching spaces where policy may not.
The outcome is not only a physical collection but a conceptual framework: design as a relational act that builds common ground. Rather than offering definitive solutions, the work holds complexity and invites dialogue. It asks what it means to coexist across differences, and how objects can serve as quiet, daily gestures of trust and mutual recognition in a divided yet hopeful landscape.
The result is a collection of wearable pieces that reflect Estonia’s divides.
Rather than offering definitive solutions, the work holds complexity and invites dialogue. It asks what it means to coexist across differences, and how objects can serve as quiet, daily gestures of trust and mutual recognition in a divided yet hopeful landscape.
The forgotten importance of a dinner party
(last edited: 2025)
author(s): Zofia Glinkowska
This exposition is in review and its share status is: visible to all.
Thesis / Research Document of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2025.
Bachelor Interior Architecture & Furniture Design
This thesis explores the cultural, emotional, and spatial significance of the dinner party as a ritual of togetherness, rooted in tradition yet increasingly neglected in modern lifestyles. Drawing from personal narratives, sociological research, and cultural practices across the globe, it repositions the dinner party as more than just a social gathering—it is a deliberate act of care, joy, and connection. The study reflects on the Polish cultural context of communal dining, contrasting it with the increasing pace and individualism of urban life. It investigates how architecture, societal roles, and economic shifts influence our ability and willingness to host, highlighting how shrinking living spaces and modern work culture have diminished spontaneous, in-home gatherings. Through interdisciplinary lenses—from anthropology and design to gender studies and mindfulness—the thesis examines how rituals around food preparation, spatial design, and hosting roles shape our relationships and identity. It argues for reclaiming the dinner party not as a performance of perfection, but as an evolving, intimate practice that fosters belonging. The dinner table is positioned as a metaphorical and literal space of vulnerability, conversation, and joy. By reviving this tradition with intention and adaptability, we can restore a vital medium of human connection in an increasingly disconnected world.