Grete Arro (PhD in Psychology, Research Fellow in Tallinn University Institute of Educational Sciences) is an educational psychologist whose research interests are related to various aspects of learning, mainly thinking development, misconceptions, motivation, and self-regulation, with a primary focus on understanding and supporting environmental awareness.
Harri is a research fellow and environmental expert at Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn. Harri has long-term experience in evaluating environmental policies related to sustainable consumption and production in various countries, and in the implementation of environmental product development and environmental management tools (eg life cycle assessment of products and services, ecodesign, procurement) in both private and public organizations. He is a valued and inspirational speaker at various circular economy events and conferences.
Harry is a future-minded and innovative concept developer, working every day for the sake of the planet. Strong entrepreneurial background, interest in human interaction and courage to grasp new concepts have led him through several positions from human resources to service and business development. Passion for a responsible way of life has led him to develop rental textile services for the future based on the circular economy. Harry introduces the Returnable Shopping Bag, the latest innovation from the 170 years old circular economy company Lindström Group. Harry’s intention is to foster sustainable development in the company to be able to help the customers to be more sustainable in their everyday life.
Helen is a partner and head of service design / user experience in Nortal. She has created user experience solutions for both public and private sector enterprises in USA, Germany, Finland, Estonia and UEA. Besides that, she has developed and designed products for many different startups. Her supernatural powers also include fascilitating hands-on workshops which have helped to shape business processes, products and services of leading global companies, thereby leveraging their competitive advantage.
Jane is Design Thinking Coach at Design Minds and Miltton Sisu. As the initiator and curator of the Design Thinking Conference, she believes in human-centered design. By using a design mindset and tools, our everyday work becomes more meaningful because we know what kind of value we are creating and to whom, and also more efficient, because it makes us focus on the important things. She gained this belief during her 6 years of being the CEO of the Estonian Design Centre where she facilitated service design and design thinking training, masterclasses and innovation programs for various businesses and the public sector.
Karen is an architectural scholar and a museum professional. She has a degree from Estonian Academy of Arts in art sciences and an MA from University College London, Bartlett School of Architecture in architectural history. In her 15 years of work experience in Estonian museums Karen has been a curator of several exhibitions and a head of multiple big projects. Currently she works as a head of strategy in Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom.In 2017-2019 she was the lead of a new permanent exhibition team in Estonian Maritime Museum in Fat Margaret. The team placed great empahasis on the accessibility of people with special needs. The new exposition is the first permanent exhibition that has applied the principles of universal design since the very start. The exhibition has different complimentary solutions to offer an equal experience for people with reduced mobility, the visually impaired, the hearing impaired and intellectually disabled visitors.
Katriin Jüriska is the Young Female Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 and a long-time manager of the Re-use Center. Over the past decade she has brought the Re-use Center out of bankruptcy, transforming it into a pan-Estonian store chain and a trustworthy brand. She graduated from Tallinn School of Service and Estonian Business School with a degree in Business Administration. She has previously worked as a Human Resources Manager at P. Dussmann Estonia OÜ and managed a café chain owned by US Invest. In 2004, Katriin founded and established the business idea of Hookah House, a hookah restaurant serving Indian food.
Kristi is the co-founder and partner of Miltton New Nordics. She has 25 years of experience in the consulting industry, including founding Miltton JLP in 2005. Kristi is most compelled by developing people, consulting organizations on change management and change communications as well as driving important initiatives within the society. Her most extensive experience comes from the banking sector. She has worked at Hoiupank, Hansapank, and at Swedbank’s Stockholm HQ. In addition, she’s managed communications at Eesti Energia and used to be the head of communications at the Government Office of Estonia. Kristi is also a qualified communications trainer and has led various organizations’ organizational design, service design, or customer experience development projects.
Maria is a UI/UX Designer at Nortal. She works with diferent International digital products and services that need seamless solutions and flawless user experience. Maria is the creator of Nortal’s own design system NUX Desing System which has gathered recognition in Estonia and the International design community. Maria knows the ins and outs of design systems.
Markus is a circular economy expert at the Estonian Design Center and founder of OÜ Rootloop (www.ringmajandus.ee). His experience extends to developing strategies, products and service systems across Europe, Asia and the US, including Fortune 500 companies. He is currently acquiring a PhD in Circular Economics (Estonian Academy of Arts, Columbia University), he has been a junior researcher, founder and coordinator of the Sustainable Design Lab. With a Master's degree from Lund University (MSc in Sustainability Science and Environmental Studies), he has extensive experience in developing and evaluating corporate environmental and business models.
Peeter Pihel is Fotografiska Tallinn’s co-founder taking care of Fotografiska’s food concept. He has global experience from restaurants in Estonia, Sweden and France such as Bloom in the Park in Malmö Sweden, Fäviken Magasinet in Jarpen Sweden and Fulgurances in Paris France.Together with his team, Peeter has created a caring and sustainable atmosphere towards the environment. The restaurant serves honest and delicious food by applying the “from leaf to root, from nose to tail” principle. Fresh local produce is used to the maximum, whether preparing a dish in the kitchen or mixing a cocktail behind the bar.
Reet is a fashion Designer who has set her heart to making the world of fashion more ethical and developing an upcycling fashion environmet. Upcycling is a process that allows to redirect fabric residues from the manufactures back to manufacturing with the help of design, thereby significantly reducing the environmental impact of the fashion industry. The UPMADE® certification was born to cover and analyse the entire life cycle of a textile product and create the potential to utilize the material to its full potential. Most of the mass manufacturing generates, on average, 18% of production waste, which is usually burnt or simply dumped. Each UPMADE® garment in the Reet Aus collection saves on average 75% water and 88% energy compared to the resources of a new product. The entire Reet Aus collection is produced according to the UPMADE® criterion.
After working in branding, marketing and communication for big brands, such as Swarovski, Lancaster or JOOP! for many years, Silke is driven by the idea to use her knowledge to cause change. She wants to encourage people to find confidence about who they truly are and bring changes into other’s lives through this as well. She is dedicated to create sustainable brand identities for companies and people, help them to find their voice and get heard by as many people as possible.To do so, she combines her experience in brand strategy and communication with design thinking and analytical coaching techniques in a very personal and intuitive way. Silke loves to surround herself with inspiring, open minded people to develop new ideas, that bring meaningful insights and sense into everyone’s life.
Torstein Aa is a passionate designer from Norway, designing sightseeing vessels & fast ferries at Brødrene Aa. Brødrene Aa is the leading fast ferry yard in the world, building in carbon fiber to create the most energy effecientfast ferries ever made, enabeling electric vessels. Torstein and Brødrene Aa aim to be a leader in the green shift in high speed passenger transport at sea, both in technology and in design. Torstein started working at the yard in mechanical and ship piping, and after a few years studied design and got involved in how the vessels were created, resulting in the creation of the award winning Seasight design among others.
