Ionel Lehari will take on the role of Dean of the Faculty of Design of the Estonian Academy of Arts from the 2026/2027 academic year.
Lehari is a recognized and award-winning creative director and lecturer. He was born in 1967 in St. Petersburg. In 1985, Ionel Lehari graduated from Pelgulinna Art Gymnasium and in 1994 from the Estonian Academy of Arts. In 1992-94, Ionel Lehari participated in the art group NEOEXPREPOST and took part in various exhibitions. In 1995-2000, he was the artistic director of the advertising agency Kontuur and in 2002-2024, he was the creative director and one of the founders of the design agency Identity. Since 2005, Ionel Lehari has taught students at the Estonian Academy of Arts, and is currently a full associate professor and head of the design and innovation curriculum at the Estonian Academy of Arts and the head of the visual communication department.
Ionel Lehar will take over the position of Dean from Kristjan Mändmaa, who is serving as Head of the Faculty of Design at the Estonian Academy of Arts in the 2025/2026 academic year and previously in 2016-2021.
Where do you see the Faculty of Design developing?
According to Herbert A. Simoní’s classic definition, design is an activity that transforms the prevailing situation into a desired one. If we look at the world from this perspective, the field of work for designers is limitless and the number of challenges is almost immeasurable. Sometimes, through media amplification, it seems that the world consists only of situations that need to be changed. One of the roles of the Faculty of Design is to prepare game changers for the future. This has always been part of the mission of the faculty, but the current moment and zeitgeist emphasizes this vector.
What would you definitely like to do during your first year as Dean?
My predecessors have done good work, albeit in different ways, but certainly with heart. So, there is no need to turn anything upside down during the first year, and I do not plan to do so, no matter how boring that answer may sound. I am a believer in bottom-up management—to empower disciplines and curricula, you need to know them well, and I hope to do this thoroughly in the first year. There are many good initiatives and unfinished activities in the air, but I do not dare to allow them into the annual timeframe yet, and they first need appropriate analysis before they can be shouted out as statements. In a broader perspective, I believe that the Faculty of Design inherently has the role of a sectoral spokesperson and thought leader, the work for this begins and continues in the first year, but certainly does not end there.
How would you design EKA?
Collectively and inclusively. In the case of EKA, when placing its designability in the context, one clear challenge emerges for me. How to be relevant in the details, avoiding the risk of micromanagement. While freely thinking in the big picture, one could dream of a synthesis of the efficiency inherent in the private sector and the depth that characterizes the academic way of thinking. I have lived my professional life on the border of these two phenomena in many ways, and it is probably understandable for me to express this view. I hope that this will not remain just idealism before taking office.
Are you ready for the role of dean?
The somewhat dual role of the dean certainly makes it a fairly complex challenge. I certainly did not prepare for it for a long time and specifically, it came to me rather unexpectedly. On the other hand, I have been in the field my whole life and it is close to my heart. And I feel uncomfortable in my comfort zone, so the answer is yes.