Di Ruvo, Monica

Profile

Current Institution: 

Monica Di Ruvo has a background in Interior Design and is a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Applied Design at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Her research interests include interdisciplinary design studies and sustainable design and making in globalized digital economies.

Monica enjoys collaborating with staff, students, and other stakeholders towards achieving relevant academic excellence in a positive and responsive environment.

Monica Di Ruvo

Enhancing awareness in interior design education: A life-centred approach to designing for ageing-in-place

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Discipline: 

Interior & Furniture Design

By 2025, the number of older persons globally will surpass the number of young individuals (World Health Organization 2022). Research consistently highlights the preference for ageing in a familiar home environment, enabling the elderly to remain in their homes and avoid institutionalisation. In order to facilitate this, homes need to be adapted to cater to the changing physical and emotional needs of the elderly. Design professionals responsible for these adaptations are typically trained to address the functional requirements of the built environment. However, they may overlook the importance of a life-centred approach, which prioritises the long-term well-being of the users.

Studio jewellery processes for the post-cyber designer

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Fashion, Jewellery & Textile Design

The cyber revolution has emphasised the dialogue regarding perceptions of value between the mechanically produced and the handmade jewellery piece. The application of modern digital design technology with traditional methods of working by hand in the studio jewellers’ practice raises questions of authorship, authenticity, and artisanship.

Nomads and Narratives: Navigating personal and professional literacies in design education

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Design Education Research

South African students in higher education face many challenges other than the requirements of the academic programme. This places additional demands on academic staff tasked with delivering specialised content in support of student success rates. In response, we have introduced a subject intended to support first-year design students in navigating studio and theory subjects in a trans-disciplinary way. This subject covers academic, personal and professional literacies. Personal and professional literacies are the subject of this investigation, in which we question how we can support students in preparation for fast-changing future environments?

DEFSA conferences

DEFSA promotes relevant research with the focus on design + education through its biennial conferences, to promote professionalism, accountability and ethics in the education of young designers. Our next conference is a hybrid event. See above for details.

Critical skills endorsement

Professional Members in good standing can receive a certificate of membership, but DEFSA cannot provide confirmation or endorsement of skills whatsoever. DEFSA only confirm membership of DEFSA which is a NPO for Design Education in South Africa (https://www.defsa.org.za/imagine).