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TILT - Make It Real

Basic information

Project Title

TILT - Make It Real

Full project title

TILT - Make It Real: Unleashing Children's Creativity for a Transformative Learning Experience

Category

Regaining a sense of belonging

Project Description

Discover TILT - Make It Real: where children's imaginations come to life! Join us on an adventurous journey where play meets learning and where every idea is transformed into reality. TILT is a creative workshop that invites children to explore, create and dream, turning their visions into tangible creations. Bring your imagination to life and let's shape the future of learning together!

Geographical Scope

Regional

Project Region

Puglia, Italy

Urban or rural issues

Mainly urban

Physical or other transformations

It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)

EU Programme or fund

No

Description of the project

Summary

"TILT - Imagine Out Loud" aims to redesign children's spaces, actively involving them in creating an environment that nurtures their growth, imagination and learning. The focus of the project is on inclusive art and design, manifested in transformative furniture objects, thus creating environments that are more than mere backdrops: they become fertile ground for children's personal expression and development.The practical realization of the project will be enabled through collaboration with the creative laboratory NOA which has laser cutting and engraving machinery through which to concretely create the products. The TILT project proposes a journey into the world of participatory public art by transforming children's drawings into mosaics made of wood, felt and handmade paper. These mosaics are then integrated into products such as photo meters to accompany growth, storytelling wall mosaics, illustrated coat hangers, clocks that create rituals, luminary decorations, didactic walls and other objects that combine aesthetics and educational functionality.The project's target group includes educators, parents, and childcare providers, individuals who recognize the potential of integrating aesthetics and children's well-being. The project invests in collaborating with artists and designers to bring these objects to life while promoting sustainability and ecological responsibility.Among its specific goals, TILT aims to stimulate children's creativity through workshops that transform children's drawings into concrete furniture elements, instilling a sense of belonging and autonomy. It strives to promote culture and social impact through design, fostering educational innovation and supporting the development of a respectful and conscious environment.The expected results are tangible: the creation of environments that elevate the quality of children's daily lives and the formation of a generation that sees creativity as a valuable resource for facing the future.

Key objectives for sustainability

Minimization of Ecological Footprint:
The project prioritizes an ecological approach by selecting renewable, recycled and easily recyclable materials to minimize environmental impact. This choice extends to a production cycle that relies exclusively on green energy, drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reinforcing the goal of a sustainable, environmentally friendly future.

Circularity and Durability:
Durability is a cornerstone in the design, ensuring that each item can boast a long useful life and can be passed on among children. This not only extends the life cycle of products but also emphasizes the importance of sharing, reuse and collective responsibility, creating a deep connection between individuals and objects and a sense of community that values continuity and collective meaning.


Education for Sustainability through Interactive Workshops:
We want to promote interactive workshops in which children are invited to transform production waste into new artistic creations, thus learning the value of recycling and creative repurposing. These workshops serve as hands-on lessons on how creativity can be applied to problem solving and how it can support a sustainable vision. These activities are designed to show children the direct impact of their actions on the environment, encouraging them to become advocates for a sustainable future through conscious daily choices.

The project serves as a virtuous example in the sustainability landscape, combining innovative design and eco-friendly practices to shape transformative children's spaces. The durability of its products promotes a culture of sharing and reuse, while interactive workshops educate children about the impact of sustainable actions, turning creativity into a powerful tool for environmental learning. This fusion of conscious production and educational engagement positions TILT as a practical model to refer to.

Key objectives for aesthetics and quality

Through a collaboration that spans diverse artists and sensibilities, TILT engages in aesthetic research that goes beyond visual pleasure, seeking to touch the universal chords of human experience. This journey through beauty is rooted in a cultural diversity that is woven into the very fabric of design, offering children a window to the world. Each environment becomes a living classroom where art educates, inspires and instills a refined aesthetic sensibility.

The experience of TILT environments is a complete sensory immersion; the spaces are interactive ateliers, learning laboratories where every surface, every color and sound is intentionally designed to ignite the spark of knowledge and well-being. The goal of these places is for the environment itself to become an educator, inviting children to safely explore and interact, thus stimulating their innate curiosity.

At the heart of TILT is co-creation as an inclusive and authorial practice. Children take the lead in shaping their spaces through workshops that transform ideas into tangible realities. These moments of collective creation not only provide children with tools for self-expression and social change, but also make them feel like co-creators of their world, not mere spectators.

In this vision, every object, every corner speaks to the child, strengthening their sense of identity and belonging. Design becomes a language with which they express their narrative, their being in the world. In this way, TILT not only elevates the aesthetic quality of children's environment, but also empowers them to become conscious, creative and responsible individuals.

In summary, TILT is not just a design project, but a philosophy of life that embraces creativity, learning, inclusion, and interaction. It is a manifesto for spaces that serve as catalysts for education, socialization, and personal expression, demonstrating that a well-thought-out environment can be a fundamental platform for young minds to grow.

Key objectives for inclusion

Accessibility:
TILT commits its design vision to ensuring that every product is accessible, removing barriers and creating solutions that can be enjoyed by children with different abilities. By adopting universal design principles, TILT aims to create intuitive products that do not require complex instructions and can be used in a variety of ways, adapting to individual needs. This approach allows children to interact with objects independently, promoting autonomy and inclusion.

Social Inclusion:
TILT's philosophy views diversity as an asset to be explored and celebrated. TILT spaces and products are designed to be inclusive both aesthetically and functionally, encouraging children of different backgrounds, cultures and abilities to interact and learn from each other. Through co-design workshops and group activities, the project promotes shared learning and respect for diversity by providing experiences that reflect a mosaic of perspectives.
The opportunity to give voice to one's inner imaginative world and manifest it outwardly in accordance with others is a practice of exploring and valuing the diversity and uniqueness present in each group.

Affordability.
Recognizing that access to designer products should not be a luxury, TILT wants to develop scalable pricing strategies. This could include options such as subsidized payment plans, subscription models that offer flexibility, and diversified creation of products and services over different price ranges. These solutions enable families and educators of all economic brackets to access high-quality products and services without prohibitive costs.

Social Innovation
The implementation of workshops and activities aims to ensure that children can benefit from "TILT environments" regardless of the affordability of their context. Part of the sustainability of this approach relies on funding related to socio-cultural projects.

How Citizens benefit

The project is embedded in the social fabric by actively involving citizens, particularly families and children, as well as civil society actors such as schools, parent associations, and cultural organizations. The involvement of these groups is multi-level and has a direct impact on the success and effectiveness of the project.

Citizens, particularly educators, parents, and children, are involved in TILT primarily through workshops and laboratories. These events serve as platforms for co-creation and direct feedback on the design and use of objects. Children, assisted by parents, educators, teachers or caregivers, participate in creative sessions where their drawings and ideas take shape, becoming an integral part of the final design. This not only gives the products a sense of belonging and authenticity but also encourages creativity and entrepreneurship from an early age.

Local schools and organizations play a crucial role in spreading TILT's mission. They collaborate in product distribution, event organization and sustainability education. In some cases, they can also serve as consultants in adapting products to the diverse needs of children, ensuring that the design is inclusive and accessible. The participation of these entities provides social validation for the project and allows its values to be more widely disseminated.

The active involvement of these parties will have a significant impact on TILT. It will increase the visibility of the project and its acceptance within the community, fostering a sense of collective ownership. It will also improve product effectiveness, as direct feedback will serve to drive iterations and continuous improvements. Finally, it will serve to create a support network that promotes the project through word-of-mouth and community initiatives, contributing to a broader cultural movement that sees participatory design as a means to improve everyday life.

Physical or other transformations

It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)

Innovative character

The TILT project is distinguished by a number of innovative features that place it at the forefront of conventional practices in the fields of design, art, and education:

Transdisciplinarity:
Going beyond classical approaches, TILT promotes a genuine interaction between disciplines and project beneficiaries. Active collaboration between artists, pedagogues, psychologists, architects and designers, serving the views reported by educators, parents and children, gives rise to solutions that are richer and more multifaceted than those generated by more isolated approaches.

Public Art and Community Participation:
While most projects are limited to the installation of art pieces in public spaces, TILT integrates participatory art as a process of inclusive and authorial co-creation, where the community not only contributes, but actively defines the form and function of the space.
Applied Environmental Psychology:
TILT does not just use the principles of environmental psychology as a reference; it implements them strategically to create spaces that influence children's cognitive and emotional well-being. This goes beyond simple aesthetic design, offering environments that are true educational tools.

Contextualized Pedagogy:
Unlike standard educational models that apply uniform methods, the project adopts the Reggio Emilia and Montessori approaches in contextualized ways, striving to adapt pedagogical principles to the specific cultural and social needs of each community.

Design and Space Hacking:
Instead of adapting to existing spaces, TILT actively transforms them through space hacking, an innovative method that reconfigures educational environments to maximize play and learning potential.

These innovative aspects allow TILT to offer not just a product, but a transformative experience that attempts to challenge the status quo of educational spaces.

Disciplines/knowledge reflected

TILT is the manifesto of a hybridization between the different fields that delineate contemporary culture and advanced pedagogy. Cultural design underpins the project, influencing the overall vision and strategy, from the design of objects to the creation of spaces that celebrate the richness of local expressions. Public and participatory art is manifested through interventions that transform communal spaces into interactive canvases, inviting the community to leave a tangible mark on their environment.
Environmental psychology is closely intertwined with design, as each TILT element is designed to influence and enhance the cognitive and emotional well-being of its young users.
The Reggio Emilia and Montessori approaches are fundamental pillars in the design's educational philosophy, which values children's autonomy, discovery, and creativity. Contextual design ensures that each product fits not only the physical environment but also the cultural and social context in which it is placed.

Space hacking is revealed in the ability to reinterpret and reconfigure spaces for educational and playful purposes, giving children the opportunity to shape and personalize their environments. Systems thinking guides design, considering every aspect of the project as part of an interconnected system, where every decision has repercussions for the community and the environment.
Project management, economics and business play a key role in ensuring sustainable and inclusive business models, ensuring that TILT's solutions not only meet a social need but are also economically viable and scalable.
The interplay between these fields occurred in a long and patient journey of interdisciplinary research and comparisons and during the feedback loop and iteration of some design prototypes and the design idea itself.
This path has led to the maturation of a holistic understanding of the project.

Methodology used

TILT's methodological approach is rooted in transdisciplinarity, embracing the essence of research and experimentation. At its heart is a strong philosophical and psychological foundation for positively influencing children's growth and shaping the future vision of society.
TILT's methodology is not linear; rather, it is a living fabric of experience and knowledge, enriched by an open and inclusive dialogue with individuals from all fields.

This process is manifested through iterative feedback loops that welcome external contributions in a spirit of openness and receptivity.
Intuition is a key element in the search for the "beyond," the intimate, inner world that lives in every child, guiding the creation of spaces and objects that are not only aesthetically pleasing, but resonate with the authentic experience of childhood.

TILT's workshops and activities are the stage where this methodology comes to life, transforming children into co-creators of their worlds. TILT aims to be not just a design project, but a platform for expression and growth, a place where childhood creativity can flourish and where the potential for innovation is unlimited.

Another essential aspect of the methodology is co-creation as an inclusive and authorial art practice. This means that the artists involved become facilitators in the service of the children, simultaneously ensuring the authorship of the processes and the artistic quality of the outputs.

The structural steps:
Foundational Research: Immersion in communities to understand the cultural, social and psychological context in which children grow and learn.
Participatory Co-Design: Workshops with end users, particularly children, to devise solutions that reflect their needs and aspirations.
Iteration and Refinement: Rapid prototyping and feedback loops to continuously refine the design based on user responses and interactions.
Evaluation and Adaptation: Monitoring and evaluating product use over time.

How stakeholders are engaged

The project takes a layered approach to engage stakeholders at different levels, ensuring that each stage, from design to implementation, is influenced by a broad spectrum of perspectives and needs.
At the local level, TILT works closely with families, schools, design companies, artisans and artists. Families participate in surveys and focus groups that inform product design. Local schools serve as platforms for testing prototypes and gathering feedback from the end users, the children. In this context, local art residencies enrich the project, allowing artists to tap into the energy and culture of the community and transform everyday experiences into tangible design elements that reflect local identity.
At the regional level, TILT engages with local and regional governments, second-level networks, universities, and nonprofit organizations. Second-tier networks can foster project hybridization with other projects active in the area, universities can collaborate on research and development, and nonprofit organizations can help identify the needs of underrepresented communities and develop new declinations of workshops.
At the national level, TILT seeks support from relevant government agencies and industries to scale production and ensure high quality standards. Here, collaborations with well-known names in the national design or art scene, supported by residency projects, raise TILT's profile and expand its reach, potentially influencing educational and cultural policies and investments. Collaboration with established centers for childhood education could in turn ensure greater visibility and resonance and the further development of the project.
At the European level, TILT aims to align with European Union initiatives that promote innovation and education. European artists and designers, involved in the residencies, contribute to a broad vision, introducing the project in a context of European cultural richness.

Global challenges

The project tries to respond to global challenges with local solutions that aim to:

Renew Education: TILT offers a flexible and adaptable educational model that prepares children to face an uncertain future, emphasizing the importance of creativity, a crucial aspect in shaping individuals capable of adapting and thriving in a rapidly changing world.

Promoting Environmental Sustainability: In the face of the climate crisis, the use of sustainable materials and eco-friendly practices educates children about respect for the environment and the importance of responsible behavior, teaching them to be caring stewards of our planet.

Fostering Inclusion and Diversity: TILT is committed to fighting inequality in access to education and valuing cultural diversity. The project provides tools and spaces that reflect and respect the multiplicity of cultures, promoting accessibility and resonance with diverse communities.

Strengthening Community Resilience: the project fosters the resilience of communities through solutions that are rooted in their social and cultural realities, promoting local innovation and supporting sustainable development and collective well-being, which are fundamental to meeting the challenges of the present and future.

Learning transferred to other parties

Participatory Co-Design Methodology: This approach, which actively involves children, educators and artists in the design process, can be replicated in different communities. It facilitates customization to local cultural and social needs.




Creative Workshops and Educational Activity: The workshop formats developed by TILT, focused on creativity and learning through play, are easily adaptable and can be implemented in schools, libraries, community centers, and other educational institutions.




E-commerce Model for Distribution: The online sale of kits and educational products allows easy scalability and accessibility of the project, making it possible to reach a wider audience nationally and internationally.




Training and Support Materials: Training materials and educational resources created for TILT can be shared and used by educators in various settings, helping to spread the project's practices and principles.




Continuous Research and Development: Learnings and innovations from TILT's continuous research and development process can be shared with other educational organizations, positively influencing the field of education in general.

Keywords

Children's Creativite Empowerment
Participatory Design
Transformative Art
Social Innovation
Inclusive Spaces

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