Masters of Industrial Design

Image: Rising up to the top floor of the Seattle Public Library

Cover from Treehugger.com

As it turns out, not every designer thinks sustainability is the biggest issue facing the profession today. The collection of essays in Designers, Visionaries + Other Stories, edited and with introductions by Jonathan Chapman and Nick Gant (Earthscan, London: 2007), drives this issue home. Each writer of these essays tries to address that in order to bring sustainability to the forefront of the design process, designers need to change the perception of sustainability and “sustainable product design” as it is understood today. Why are we responsible for this change in public discourse and action? The editors put it succinctly in the conclusion that because a designer already has the creative ability to “view and understand problems and situations from a particular perspective” the designer is thus “well suited to the emergent context of sustainable design (137)”.

A product designer might be put off by the idea of changing the way the business works, especially in a sustainability context, because it may mean less money and an almost obsolete profession in Industrial Design. What comes as a pleasant surprise in a few of these essays is not just the call for less consumption (which is a key argument in any discussion on the sustainability of design), but a change in the practice and manufacturing of designed goods - without ridding the world of designed goods as a whole. In the essay on sustainability in fashion, Kate Fletcher doesn’t tell readers that fashion is evil and the fashion industry needs to be terminated, but rather that fashion and the need to express our individuality is essential to human nature and should continue. What she does stress is that the industry can lead by example by giving more sustainable options to consumers.

In “The Scenario of a Multi-Local Society”, Enzio Manzini discusses the need for a change in the way we manufacture goods in relation to multi-local societies within a global context. I appreciate this essay the most of the bundle because of the realization that the world is in a globalized market where almost any service and product can be bought and sold at any hour of the day from anywhere in the world, and that because of this globalization, there is a shift within ourselves and a need within our communities to live in localized societies. We are people still living in these local societies and there is a need to foster a sense of community where there is continually less of one. As we outsource ideas and services, we need to keep certain economies local. For example, buying food that is grown locally is more sustainable for our immediate environment and for the local economy in which we live.

Some other essays touch on previously designed “green goods” and the problems inherent in these types of products. Alastair Fuad-Luke’s essay on “Redefining the Purpose of (Sustainable) Design” provides a small history of products that have been previously offered as “alternatives” and how to change the perception of the greening of society as only a passing trend. Probably the least relevant of the articles was Stuart Walker’s “Design Redux” which mainly focuses on repurposed objects as art. He began his essay in a good direction when discussing the need to reduce and reuse before resorting to recycling, but the essay took a turn when he started describing his art objects and why he chose certain frames for certain repurposed pieces.

A quick read, Designers, is a good start and an informative introduction for any designer not familiar with anything other than “green” products for trend and profit. It includes a bit of history and a bit of dreaming for the future. Thankfully, the dreaming is never lofty nor the goals unattainable. The essays are generally refreshing: optimistic with feet planted firmly on the ground.

The annual Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies conference will be held in conjunction with the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies conference in Seattle, Washington on April 22-24th. I will be presenting a paper on design and politics in contemporary Sweden on the panel: Swedish Public Art and Design: Vapenhus to IKEA. I will be blogging about the panel and the reception of my paper from the conference late next week. Below is the abstract for the paper.