Thinking

Writing, research, & public speaking on design culture, creative courage, and design education.

Research

For the past decade, I have explored how children learn, think, and create through design. Based on long-term field research with children aged 6–12, my work investigates design as a language for thinking rather than a school subject. Today, the research focuses on connecting physical making with digital intelligence, exploring how AI can help observe creative processes, reveal individual learning pathways, and support curiosity without replacing human judgment or reducing learning to standardised assessment.

Papers & Presentations

“Integrating Design Education, Spatial Pedagogy, and Entrepreneurial Innovation into STEAM” ISAS 2025. Awarded The ICAS Best Presentation Award by ISAS & KNUE Convergence Education Research Institute (2025).

“Design Education as Policy — PROJECT GOM: From Paper to AI, From Play to Purpose” — World Design Organisation, Design for the Planet (sub-theme: Policy and Design – Shaping a Global Response), 2025.

“GOM for Design Thinking” — Bridges Mathematics & Art Conference 2018, Swedish National Museum of Science and Technology, Stockholm.(2018) https://archive.bridgesmathart.org/2018/bridges2018-597.html

Talks & Media

FluTV — “Neşe Doluyor İnsan” conversation on design, creativity, and GOM, 2026.

ISAS 2025 — live oral presentation of the STEAM paper, published on the official conference channel.2025

Sustainable Product Design” — Sürdürülebilirlik Sohbetleri #58, Yapı Kredi STEP, moderated by Yekta Kopan, 2024.

Jeff Talks — Studio-X Istanbul, 2019: a retrospective on the journey from interior architecture to founding GOM.

Design Education Talks, Ep. 58 — The New Art School podcast, 2021.

“Making Women’s Labour Visible” — KAD.İM Sohbetler 6, Prosumer Economy Association (Türetim Ekonomisi Derneği), online, 2021.

DESIGN TALKS: “New Generation Education Designs” — panel, Design Week Türkiye, Istanbul, 2019 — with Aslı Kıyak İngin, Zeynep Karagöz, Beyhan Gültaşlar, and Nursema Öztürk.,2019

Sustainable Design — Istanbul Design Summit, 2019.

“The Courage to Create” (Yaratma Cesareti) — 12min.me Istanbul Ignite Talks #6, 2019.

Writing

Since 2016, I have written, “Senin Derdin Ne” (What’s Your Thing) — an ongoing column for manifold.press, mixing personal essays with interviews of fellow designers, on creative courage, design culture, and resistance.

The most recent essays, “Form Follows Frustration” (2026) and “From Flint to Algorithm” (2025), trace the thinking behind this site’s opening line.