| Website | generationpez.net |
| Blog | portfolio.generat... |
| @Mimikou | |
| Birthplace | Finland |
| Lahti University of Applied Sciences, BA | 2005 |
| Visual design and new media | |
| University of Art and Design Helsinki, MA | |
| New Media |
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Mikko Mutanen (Jan 2, 1980) is a Finnish designer, teacher and developer active in the fields of visualization and digital media.
Initial inspiration for everything related to arts, visual design and computer graphics came from a first contact with the Commodore 64 system at the tender age of 5. Gaming led to a fusion of an interest in art with the new software tools and an emerging world wide web. This led into experimentation with architectural rendering, drawing, photography, and 2D/3D image creation.
Instead of taking up a university degree in mathematics at the University of Helsinki, independent work in 3D led to a first full-time job as a visualist in a small architectural studio.
He graduated with a degree in visual design from the Lahti University of Applied Sciences (Institute of Design) in 2005, with internships and exchanges in Spain, Germany and South America. After years of work experience as a tech freelancer for a design studio, animation and post-production for TV and film, and giving digital media workshops for graphic designers, he started studies in New Media (Master of Arts) at the Aalto University School of Art and Design (2007). Studies included a minor subject in East-Asian studies at University of Helsinki.
The objective was to merge everything learned about the visual arts to a new skill set in web application development, interactive electronics and design theory… and launch a modest but happy career as a technical consultant for artists and studios working with digital media. New projects in game design and cinematography spawned a portfolio at http://generationpez.net.
A new pivot came up in 2011, when the Startup Life project selected and funded a small batch of entrepreneurial Aalto University students for an experience in Silicon Valley and the greater Bay area. He found a position as a software engineer for a fast-growing online customer service company in San Francisco, developing integrations with external services in an agile environment.
