Concept 1: Simplistic, Humble and Compact

Our research supports the use of direct and even rather naïve hints of nature to be used in the looks of a product. The use of relatively rough textures with direct links to nature, such as tree bark or flower vine in this case, also allows the product to emit the message of nature, not only via the visual channel when looking at the product, but also when touching it. During the research, the haptic dimension of products was noticed to be an important element in the overall greenness of the mobile devices. Therefore, this multi-sensorial message of nature underlines this direct linkage with green values.
The first concept is derived from our research results where technically simple, simplistic, modest, humble and compact were all attributes often linked with an environmentally friendly mobile device. When implementing these features and attributes, we strived towards an entity that expresses purity and clarity, is free of vanity. In our research, the top five most environmentally friendly mobile devices were all monoblocks, without any hinges mechanisms. This fact gave the Simplistic, Humble & Compact – concept its basic form.
In addition, the key attributes are carried through with thrifty coloring and the use of subdued colors. Also, instead of printed graphics, the use of relatively rough 3D texture allows light and shadow to give the surface the desired effect, not only visually, but also hapticly. This enables reducing the use of different colors and materials, which intensifies the simplistic – more environmentally friendly – appearance.
  

Concept 2: Sympathetic

Our research revealed that dashy and elegant appearances as well as big size were characteristics rarely connected with an environmentally friendly product. The Sympathetic –concept is built on the opposites of those attributes and it strives to implement features and elements that would evoke sympathetic feelings in people. Human beings are biologically prepared to perceive emotional states from everything they experience. People project their emotions to everything they experience, interpret what they see and, in turn, their own emotions are affected (i.e. anthropomorphism). As emotions apply equally to living and non living, that is, to humans or for that matter mobile devices, a product can be interpreted to be e.g. sad, embarrassed or more interestingly to this concept sympathetic.
In our survey, the overall image of current mobile devices was generally not considered to be in line with green values. All tested mobile devices scored relatively low in our survey, indicating us that making the concept look like something else than a mobile device could lead to better results. Associations that are avoided with this concept are arrogant, proud or haughty, costly or luxurious. Instead, the concept is aimed at arousing affinity and mutual association. The product should have a friendly appearance. Sympathetic appearance can be expressed through playful proportions or chubbiness, like the ones found, for example, in a baby or puppy. By using this kind of visual language, we wanted to emphasize the anthropomorphic reaction that people experience when dealing with this concept.
The concept was presented in two colors, combining a delicate light blue and white together with a smooth surface texture. The smooth texture of the housing is aimed at strengthening the overall sympathetic appearance of the mobile device by activating the haptic dimension, which now expresses the main message of the concept. Both of the colors used in this concept ranked high in our survey in colors that express environmental values.  

Concept 3: Organic Form

Organic form is the second of the two more inspirational concepts we created during the project. This concept also has its basis in the research results, but the results are somewhat exaggerated and intentionally overdone. In this concept, the leading idea was to work on the terms of the material. The guiding idea was to allow the material to take its shape and give the form – not shape the product by or conforming to artificial rules. It should seem as the form has grown naturally and generated inviting forms.
Because of the fact that the form of the housing, together with the lamellar structure, was almost directly borrowed form nature, it was decided that the coloring and finishing had to be something totally unexpected. Leaving these two important features brown and matte would have left the housing looking like a real cone, and concept-wise somewhat unsurprising and uninteresting. Instead, it was decided to exaggerate with full force by coloring the housing with gold and giving it a very shiny and reflective finishing. This creates a perfect balance between organic, nature-born form and exclusive looks. The results are an interesting product concept with emotional bonds.

Design can be regarded as communication - as a language of its own; products function as means of communication and self-expression. Now, if design really is a language, what does it tell us? Product semantics is the study of symbolic qualities of man-made shapes, in the cognitive and social context of their use (Krippendorff and Butter 1984). A product tells something about itself and about the person who owns it. Through its design and function, the product expresses values that people then interpret. Through its semantic content and expression, the product can create positive or negative perceptions, emotions, values and associations within a person.

Emotional design, on the other hand, is a field of research that examines how people project their own emotions, motivation and beliefs into everything they are in contact with (Norman 2004) - everything people do is linked with emotions and at the same time, emotions affect thoughts. We interpret everything we experience and see. Through our own interpretation, we evaluate products and also judge or feel empathetic towards them. We can say that a product is sad, aggressive, feminine or, for example, environmentally friendly. A product’s message consists of more than what merely its most outer layers communicate to people.

Environmental friendliness is generally considered as a positive quality in products. Companies are expected to actively fulfill their responsibility towards the environment and act in the name of sustainable development. The general public’s values are greening, but however, their actions are not yet following the same path. Consumers are not willing to make personal sacrifices to the environment. Therefore, the attractiveness of the product can not be compromised; a green product can not lose out to other products in any area. Greenness is rarely seen as the most desirable product attribute and, therefore, it rarely compensates the underperformance in other areas. Yet, based on the notion of consumers’ positive attitude towards environmental friendliness, it is beneficial for the product to communicate a pro-environmental message. The physical aspects of the product should be used to attractively convey the message of an environmentally friendly product, with the means of product semantics and emotional design. (Peattie 1995; Ottmann 1998; Torvi & Kiljunen 2005; Haanpää 2005.)

The aim of our study was to find design clues for perceived environmental friendliness and apply them in a manner that assures an attractive product entity. Thereby, the product could do both: communicate green values and be attractive to consumers. The focus is on studying product design and technologies as communicative tools. Is communicating environmental friendliness through the design style and appearance of products possible in the first place and, if so, how is it done? In other words, we are determining whether a product can be used as a means of visualizing green.

 As a result from the research published in our Master’s thesis we build up a list of things that seems to help making green image for a product. Engineers believe that product with highest specs is best for them and ”normal people” are nearly as naiive when they try to evaluate product’s environmental performance without numerical facts. In other words, perceived environmental friendliness seems to be based on simple things.

 We found out that colours such as green, blue and white are telling that product is environmentally more friendly than for example black or pink. Natural materials like wood and rock are more environmentally friendly than plastics. Simple, purposeful and efficient but not too complicated design appearance beats technical or overly stylish. Sounds too simple? In general, good quality and durability were attributes that told about environmental friendliness while poor quality and dashing looks gave opposite impression about a product. Elements that remind something about nature help to create environmental frienly image. Some design elements are stronger than other. Also brand image has effect on perveived environmental friendliness.

Based on the two-phase study, combining qualitative and quantitative methods we gathered a specific set of product characteristics and used it as alphabet in design language of environmental friendliness. In the study these visual attributes were implemented in to artifacts; resulting visual representations of examples of different kind of product concepts that based on this research reflect environmental friendliness. All together, we did create five concepts of which the first three were created following the research results and the last two were created with more flexible interpretation of the results.

Our research focuses on perceived environmental friendliness, thus we do not asses the real environmental performance of products at any point. The study focuses on product appearance and technological features, and their perceived – not actual – environmental friendliness.

As visual language can be used as a tool of strategic communication for sending specific encoded messages to the consumers the results of this study can be used to better transfer the message of a product’s environmental friendliness to consumers and thus offer an environmental product that supports the company’s environmental message expressed by other means of communication.

In my following posts, together with visualizations I will take you through the different product concepts we created that based on our study reflect environmentall friendliness.

At the moment the promotion of environmental friendliness to consumers has mainly been achieved through means of adding technical information to the product: labeling and logos, certificates, advertisements and information on the Internet. Companies communicate their environmental message through different media, but they seem to be overlooking one central means of communication: the product itself. Current green products show no consistent green message – the consumer is not offered any visual clues to distinguish the green products from the so called brown ones. What interests us is to find ways to let the physical product communicate its environmental friendliness.

Our approach was novel in the sense that our thesis was the first one done together between students from three universities, but also in the sense that communicating environmental friendliness through the product itself has yet been studied rather little.

After familiarizing with existing literature on the subject, we conducted a two-phase study. In the qualitative part we interviewed people to form hypotheses on “what a green product looks like”. Thereafter we conducted a quantitative study to test the hypotheses and to form conclusions.

We did find elements of design style and appearance that are generally considered to carry a pro-environmental message and also elements that do not support an environmentally friendly message.

The three of us will now discuss the results of the study here.

In an early post on this blog, I wrote about a few slow designers whose work is forging new, more intimate connections with the objects that surround us. Certainly, Artek’s presentation of these chairs is a positive step in that direction. But why the title ‘second cycle’?? Surely these pieces aren’t merely on their second go round?

—
Let’s pretend that one day you see a Paimio chair in my living room and ask me about it. It’s possible that I value this chair primarily as design object– like those pieces that so many people have in their homes these days— and, if so, I might not have a lot to say about it beyond its physical attributes, what I know of its design history, or perhaps where I bought it.

But consider instead that the chair had been in my family for a while. Then I might have a lot more to tell you: “Oh, this was once my grandfather’s chair. When I was a small child, he sat in it every evening and smoked his pipe. Often he told stories while I played at his feet. Even now I sometimes curl up in it and imagine the scent of apple tobacco.” In that statement, you understand that the chair is much more than just a design object in my home; rather, it has a unique and lasting presence or expression in my lifeworld. What’s more, I’m certain that the chair carries a different presence/expression in the life of my mother, just as it may one day in the life of my own grandchild. In my family alone, that chair embodies or carries the potential for multiple cycles of expression.

Now let us return to these ‘2nd cycle’ chairs in the Artek pavilion. While this may be the second time that Artek has them in its care, I’m quite certain that their history of expression goes well beyond whatever is imbedded in those rfid tags. And so I hope that in the frenzy of the fair people will slow down long enough to look up from their mobile phones and imagine those other possibilities.

:)

This short piece was written in the early hours of Finnish Independence Day. 90 today. Finland or Finnish culture wouldn’t exist without our 19th century national philosopher J.V. Snellman. Snellman was a man with a mission to put Hegel’s grand narratives into the service of Finnish identity and culture.

My favourite Snellman quote – taking out of context, of course – is not very grand but it has the Hegelian structure of three stages. It’s something like “first you have to learn your craft, then you have to become someone and only after that you enter the stage in your life where you can possess something.” As this is not an academic study I will not even try to trace the original context of this quote and simply take the freedom to apply it for this short piece.

Look at any of Artek’s 2nd Cycle chairs and you should be able to see the pattern. Perfection of craft – achieved. Worldwide recognition – achieved. The possession of something – provenance, dignity, memory, lifeline… it just couldn’t be better articulated. I’m simply proud to be a member of Artek Community.

World is full of art. Ideas are fewer. A couple of months ago artist Jani Leinonen (www.janileinonen.fi) introduced an idea that combined art and recycling.

Leinonen launched a ”pimp my art” concept. He brought a container to the front yard of Kiasma, Helsinki museum of contemporary art. For one month, anyone could bring in a painting from home. Leinonen & friends then tuned the art piece: painted something small on it or recreated it altogether. Each client could choose from four options (25€-1000€): finalising, coloring, small tuning or full tuning. The aim was to improve the paintings both aesthetically and in € value. In his container gallery Leinonen exhibited paintings he had already tuned. In the attached studio he worked on incoming assigments.

Jani Leinonen’s project is big for a couple of reasons. It touches the holiness of art. Art by definition is something untouchable, almost sacred. Questioning the taboo is extremely refreshing. The project also separates status value from personal value. Perhaps no-one is bold enough to bring in a Picasso or other masterpiece. But still: finally it is allowed, even encouraged for a citizen to express that a piece of art is boring or lacks something. It is almost as if people are now free to enjoy art based on art itself, not on its investment value.

In other words: if you own a painting and don’t like it, feel free to change it so that you do. It may feel like disrespect towards that certain piece. But it shows huge respect to the relationship between people and art. Nobody should dictate what is good art and what isn’t. The relationship is highly intimate, and should be cherished.

A second hand bookstore once declared that their books have two stories: whereas an untouched book only has the story written by the author, used books also carry the story of their previous owner(s). Artek recently introduced Second Cycle: used Alvar Aalto furniture that proudly carry the marks of previous decades and share their unique stories with new users. Maybe its now time for the world of art to fully celebrate the opportunities of second lives.

http://www.taidetuunaamo.fi/english/

Alvar Aalto strived to create sustainable quality products and make them available to the ordinary citizen to improve life and society. His long-term perspective implied a fundamental democratic value that we, the 21^st century capitalists and industrialists, need to adopt.

From a European perspective, industry is now finding it increasingly difficult to compete. In many regions, this is leading to higher unemployment as industries are downsizing and entire cities are shrinking. The economic prospects for the European middle class are challenged. Anti-democratic tendencies are often the result.

Bearing this in mind it becomes obvious that we can’t afford not to care about what kind of society we are building. The longer the perspective, the more business logic converges with social and ecologic responsibility. Thus, as a capitalist with a long-term perspective I need to understand and care about what motivates people, how consumers live, think and behave in 10, 15, 20 years from now. Do they live in a prosperous, humane, democratic and ecologically sustainable society? If not, how interesting will products like lamps and furniture seem to them? Perhaps not so much. And that is not the best way to secure competitiveness.

The only road to long-term prosperity is to develop sustainable products, materials and processes. Other materials and processes might be cheaper for the moment, but will become much more expensive in the long run. To think in terms of ecologic sustainability is to secure competitiveness.

Daniel Sachs, CEO Proventus

THE AMERICAN DEBUT OF THE ARTEK PAVILION AT DESIGN MIAMI/
7-9 DECEMBER 2007

Press Preview at the Artek Pavilion: December 6 at 6-7 pm

In Spring 2007 in Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan, Artek and the forest industry company UPM presented Artek Pavilion in the Triannale garden, a legendary platform for international design. In September the Pavilion was erected in Helsinki, in the area between the Museum of Finnish Architecture and the Design Museum. And now, in December 2007, this nomadic pavilion will be reconstructed at Design Miami.

Artek / UPM / Shigeru Ban – Collaboration

Artek Pavilion, “the Space of Silence”, is designed by internationally recognized Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, who has been a remarkable trailblazer in applying ecological thinking and the principles of sustainable development to architectural design. Ban’s architecture emphasizes refinement and a highly developed innovativeness, especially in materials technologies. His original and bold approaches to the use of paper, cardboard and bamboo as construction materials, combined with a clean-lined and contemporary architectural aesthetics, have made him one of the most important architects of our times.

The Art of Recycling

Artek Pavilion is built out of UPM developed wood-plastic composite. The principle raw material for this recycled material is self-adhesive label materials made of paper and plastic. This nomadic construction, an unconventional piece of ecological innovation with elegant beauty, stands for Artek’s attitude to sustainable development, amplifying the dialogue between design, architecture and art.

Artek 2nd Cycle

An installation of hundred used Aalto chairs will be on display in the Artek Pavilion. The patina and the aged surfaces evoke stories and imagination. Furniture’s provenance is coded and embedded into RFID/NFC tags, which are readable via mobile phones. Artek’s reputation is founded on commitment to quality and continuity. 2nd Cycle item is a proof of authenticity, longevity and graceful aging process of an original Artek product.

Artek Pavilion
Design Miami/
Palm Lot, 140 NE 39 St., Miami Design District, FL 33137, USA
Public Show Schedule: 7-9 December 11 am - 7 pm

Further information:
Anna Vartiainen, Marketing and PR Manager
anna.vartiainen@artek.fi tel. +358 40 823 9039

Somewhere on the border of Helsinki soho, while my lovely neighbor is continuing his drag party for the third night on the row, I feel privileged to sit on my couch and enjoy the sunset. Finnish summer. Vanilla sky, Olympic Stadium tower…Helsinki on its best.

The view reminds me every evening why sleeping becomes obsolete and my life has an importance. It is a source of energy, inspiration and motivation. Something special, that most of us miss from our daily lives, including work.

Tom Kelly’s “Art of Innovation” made me to revisit this self evident thought. Despite of having an interesting, challenging, motivating, self-esteeming, well or enough-paying, ego-boosting and bullshitting jobs, we tend to end up working at locations or within spaces, which feel like “work” or “office” rather than a place one enjoys spending time in. Why? Cost efficiency combined with what-we-think working morals? Most likely.

But…putting it other way around, or into opex perspective (sorry, I am too much of an economist), still companies end up spending huge amounts of money into spaces which do not support communication, inspire innovation nor make people enjoy their time at work.

Tom claims that the investment pays off. The idea I really liked in Kelly’s book was around “Enabling individuality while creating neighborhoods”. Create an office space which supports different teams to formulate and design their own spaces = neighborhoods, or communities. Encourage people to bring their hobbies to work. Rather use less space than too much. Fantastic.

I would love to have a piano in my office. Or a day-nap room to survive the sunset jetlag!

I suddenly realised that all the laboratory experiments during science classes in school were in fact rehearsals. The basic experiments conducted in high-school physics, chemistry and biology are actually elaborately choreographed reenactments of moments of discovery. Right now, students all over the world are acting in the starring roles of the history of science, using similar props and methods as Newton, Hooke, Boyle, Lavoisier, Brown or Mendel did during their original “performances”. Since the phenomena the experiments reveal are identical to those 500 years ago, and the results are ultimately the same, the aim of the exercise is simulating enlightenment and rehearsing innovation in a fixed frame. In the design field, the logic of the exercise is often opposite. As results are expected to be original, an answer to a question become taboo once it has been proposed. Therefore, great effort is made to generate new questions, solutions, conditions, that create new aesthetic universes, in which the chain of enlightenment and innovation would give a new, different and never-before-seen results.

Opening Night: May 11th, 18.30 - 20.30
Exhibition dates: May 12 - June 17, 2006

Laura Bartlett Gallery
22 Leathermarket Street
London SE1 3HN
www.laurabartlettgallery.com

The industrial revolution changed that forever, as goods became mass produced, easy to make in factories, and easy to transport thanks to efficient shipping, canal and rail systems, the village shop changed from being a small manufacturing unit to just acting as point of sale.

In the middle of the last century as the customer became more mobile through private and public transport, a new method of consumption developed, where the customer visited the distribution centre or warehouse, to buy increasingly cheap, internationally produced goods in environments known as supermarkets and big boxes. This spelt the demise of the city centre, as the smaller shopkeeper and specialist store collapsed due to an inability to compete in opening times, service and low low prices, thanks to the bulk buying power of the ferociously aggressive global megabrands.

This unsustainable behaviour rapidly led to the collapse of the oil-economy, that had previously allowed uninhibited growth of consumption, and total mobility to the rich of the world, whilst ignoring the needs of the poor, which inevitably led to widespread envy and dissatisfaction, which in turn fuelled religious and territorial conflict.

The subsequent rape of the earth’s fossil and natural resources meant that humankind was looking into the abyss, but amazingly massive change occurred as humans were forced to turn their backs on greed, and a decision was made to work together for survival. They looked at all the technologies that had been developed by the superpowers for profit and warmongering and these were pressed into service to save the world from auto-destruction.

Luckily the beginning of the 21st century had seen a revolution happening in computing power, genetic engineering and nanotechnology. Communities got organised, looked again at their local resources and decide to use them more wisely, and through technological developments that allowed hi-tech, sustainable production a second micro-industrial revolution was created, which allowed the human race to survive, and rather than constantly seeking expansion growth and new horizons, humans learn to maintain, cherish and improve what they had been given.

The end result was what we see now, which is small, specialist shops providing local products from sustainable sources, customised to local tastes…

Much like the medieval high street.

I would like turn this logic around, and propose developing new situations for enjoying music, and then making music engineered to fit them. Music, like many other things, are now migrating towards the home. I think a next new musical style could be a kind of contemporary chamber music, where people get together to listen to live music in their living room. I will start by inviting some friends over for an evening of domestic music. Would you like to come over?

So if we were to look at type as an image and not as a character to be read, could it’s form serve another function? Why couldn’t type be seen as a piece of architecture? Type designers spend years and years perfecting their characters as master craftsmen and just like an architect, one wrong visual calculation and the whole letterform can come crashing down. Just like furniture or a building the letterform needs to be pleasing to the eye, functional and most importantly, well built.

How could I truly experience type in the third dimension and move past just the visual sense. What could type feel like? What could type smell like? Could type hold my coffee?. Could I move it? Could I leave a stain on it? Could it hold my prized collection of movable type? (that just blew my mind) Could I scratch type? Could I put my feet on it? Could I lounge on it. Could I write on type?. If someone sat on it, could it “collect” their pocket change? Could I pass out on it? Could I put my computer on it? Could it recline? Could I even stub my toe on it?

So after reviewing my list of “what ifs” , I quickly experimented with the idea of “type as furniture”. Endless possibilities… watch out for The Akzidenz-Grotesk Chaise Lounge Extended.

So, we’re the hottest thing on the market!
We can simply walk into any bar, venue or party and tell people what we do, and they will love us for it, will take us home with them, undress for us, even aiming at having a long and lasting relationship with us. Considering the reality of design practice around the world, working evenings, nights and weekends, on inexplicable abstract projects, in an all-creativity-swallowing-environment for a lousy pay check, didn’t quite match the idea of it being the most sexy profession. Considering the architects I know, and the love life / relationships that surrounds them wouldn’t sell them very well as most wanted to say the least.

So why is it that people melt in the face of architects and designers? Why is architect the most sexy profession out there? I thought I should find out, I’m an architect myself and frequently in need of some professional motivation, so this could be it.

During their education, architects are being trained to become heroes. They learn architecture by studying only the most exclusive buildings of all times. A student of architecture can probably tell who designed the Eiffel tower (easy), the Taj Mahal or the Colosseum, and is therefore silently trained to consider himself being a member this list of monument makers, those fine men who gave us décor for history’s most celebrated moments. This gives the architect confidence, and this confidence is one reason for people to be attracted to you, to fall in love with you. (This confidence is also frequently referred to as arrogance, and might serve as a reason for others to fire you, or build something significantly different from your drawing)

More than being a hero, an architect is a therapist. I find myself listening to clients most intimate details of how they live, sleep, brush their teeth, and what they do with their guests after midnight. I supposedly have to know because I’m designing their house. I have to know everything about my client to draw that perfect house. Now, designing that perfect house is relatively easy when compared to listening to these clients most raunchy stories for long long evenings until the wine tastes bad and the client is crying on your lap confessing his cross-dressing hobby. This gives the architect patience, and the ability to listen. Now there are some wonderful love traps!

The audience who was asked to answer the questionnaire of the survey were all highly educated people, and still very ‘young’ . Considering the length of their educational careers, and the few years of experience in their profession to be considered a
professional they must have a little over thirty years of age. (Being young in architecture, for those readers who are happily not anywhere near an architect, means you’re under forty-five.) Being a little over thirty means one has tasted life a bit, has been places, has seen the fast relationships, and is ready to stop snacking, and sit down for a six course meal. Women have their clocks ticking, and men get bold and overweight. In short, people on this market are looking for something steady, something that will last. And what lasts longer than the Eiffel tower (easy), the Taj Mahal or the Colosseum? Architects make buildings and buildings are these big things around you that remind you of yesterday, or yestercentury. Buildings are steady, stand all seasons, and are low maintenance (especially compared to a 30+ partner). People know this and unconsciously connect the qualities of the buildings to the designers of these buildings. They are the creator of this, ergo, they are this. So in their eyes we ourselves are steady, weatherproof, and low maintenance, which is why we ended up with both the gold and silver medal of the sex list. Needless to explain how only the contrary is possible, even to those readers who are happily not anywhere near an architect, but lets not tell anybody, ok?

Then, there is the great misunderstanding about money. When faced with a stranger in any social context, once I drop any line containing the words ‘I’m an architect’, the hearing end of the conversation will assume I’ll pay for the drinks, all the drinks she had before talking to me and all the drinks her girlfriends had since they got into the restaurant hours ago. Architect are loaded, hence the attraction.
Now as this column is supposed to have the designer community as its audience I can admit quite frankly that, at least in my village, we do not earn the millions that we are thought to earn. Here, clients earn all the money. They are the ones who come out of this creative process being the proud owner of well designed real estate, or the legal patent for a good idea, or beautiful marketing tools or whatever else designers produce that’s worth those millions. We just work our ass off, driven by the heroic task of creating good things for a better world, working overnight, floating on some intellectually constructed idealism which can only be communicated to our fellow designers, an abstract of progress. The idea that we are rich is fed by Hollywood B-movies where any side character who is passionate, wealthy and fucked over is an architect. The money issue is furthermore fuelled by the earlier notion of architects being heroes, which in Switzerland, and pre-Euro Finland found expression in putting architects on their banknotes. Yes, architects are shown on money itself! However, it is a sign on the wall that both Switzerland’s 10 franc note (le Corbusier) and Finland’s 20 mark note (Alvar Aalto) are their smallest amounts in paper money.

Finally, I think the most important factor in how the architect and designer became the most attractive professional is their imagination. We are creators, I love my job because I start with an empty sheet of paper. If I don’t draw the problem, no engineer can come up with a solution, no financer can calculate, no lawyer can make contracts. Where other professionals solve problems, I give them the problem to solve. Other professionals are working with reality, I work with potential. My job as a designer is to be constantly looking at that, which is not there (yet), as opposed to that, which is there.

Try to put this characteristic in the mating situation. You, designer, are approached by somebody that, based on the assumptions described above, wants you, badly, desperately. You, designer, you do not see what’s there, you see what could be there. Then, instantly, driven by your own creativity, heroism, and utopian world view, this somebody is beautiful, kind, smart, funny. In fact everything you always wanted in a person could be there.

Love architects and designers! Success guaranteed!

I got a chance to visit Villa Mairea last August. Whenever I have a bad day, this image takes me back to the magical mood of the house. I can only imagine how stimulating it must have been, artists and thinkers from around the world debating in the library room or chilling out by the garden pool. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a home quite like Maire and Harry Gullichsen’s. It still acts as a magnet, even though it doesn’t have permanent residents.

Is it because they see me as somebody always rational, always patient and always strong? The kind of person who would, of course, understand, that you can’t operate your new digital-TV without a manual? The kind of person who would not mind waiting on the phone for a machine to play me classical music, and to say that all our customer representatives are currently occupied. Well, at least it is comforting to know that it costs me nothing to queue.

I would love a company or organisation that would be focused, not on customers, these rational beings that are manipulated to buy, but on human beings with idiosyncrasies and weaknesses. What if I’m always jealous? Or have low self-esteem? What if I burst out crying if I need to wait? Who would understand me? What if I’m not that bright? Or what if I’m very clumsy? Where can I get technology? Or where can I participate in sports?

It is not difficult to feel human and appreciated when reading a good book, such as Jonathan Franzen’s Corrections? Couldn’t it be made into the service manual of all customer-centric organisations in the world?

Author Jonathan Franzen

Why? What? How did this happen? Screw caps were associated with poor quality wines. I never had any tragic experiences with corked vintages. I wasn’t persuaded by any wine buff’s arguments. Natural cork, the sound and feel of it was my only option. However, I just drifted away from that long and serious relationship. Gradually screw cap wines started to look fresh, contemporary and they communicated new-world provenance, excitement and progressive attitude.

Mind you that I’m your typical conservative design-intensive forty-something. I belong to that breed who subscribed to Blueprint and The Face in the 80’s, who will always find Apple Macs more attractive than the smallest and smartest PCs and who would wear Comme des Garcons suits if he could afford them. That type who travelled the world to build his collections of rare groove soul, funk and Blue Note jazz albums, experienced with mid-century modern and Vespas … – been there, done that.

It’s my belief and loyalty towards authenticity and tradition that is getting weaker day by day. And I’m not alone. These once so sacred values are inflated - overused and over-priced and waiting to be dumped to the new emerging markets! In the western world a ‘modern classic’ has turned into a liability and bore.

Whatever you want to call it but you can sense that new kind of effortless quality that is winning hearts here. From Innocent drinks to Wagamama restaurants and American Apparel t-shirts, these new confident and casual brands that look and feel truly modern – just like those screw cap wines.

Unfortunately, in most parts of our small planet, it hasn’t been that way for a long, long time. Holistic ways of seeing and knowing just aren’t possible through the fast lens of contemporary society.

Today, however, the work of several young designers is establishing new connections with the objects that surround us. Berlin art student Monika Hoinkis proposes slow objects that are as dependent on the user as s/he is on them: a lamp that begs to be cradled in a cupped hand, an umbrella that stays up only with help, a radio that functions solely in close proximity to a warm body. Meanwhile, London collective Raw Nerve have made a slow sofa that invites people to engage with stories and secrets of its former life through images, words and sounds imprinted on its surfaces and embedded in its folds. And in Rotterdam, Simon Heijdens has created products and environments that are “alive and talking,” physically evolving as they reflect the presence and impressions of people who have related to them in some way. These unique projects unlock new ways of ‘knowing’ the things we encounter in daily life, allowing for more intimate and expansive territories of interaction and experience, and simultaneously making the objects themselves more precious to us, less disposable.

On a slightly larger scale, slowLab has developed a tool to enable ‘slow ways of knowing’ the built environment, combining empirical observation with intuition, sensory seeing and imagination to unveil and allow deeper experiences of architecture and urban places, as well as the social phenomena they stimulate. As an individual travels through the urban landscape, s/he is challenged to view the artifacts encountered along the way not only as inanimate forms held at a distance, but rather as (in Abram’s words) “experiencing forms” that exist in some relative state of symbiosis with him/her. By understanding objects and places through more intuitive and imaginative ways of knowing, new possibilities begin to emerge; for example, it becomes possible to understand how the thing observed came into being, as well as to envision what it may become in the future, either left alone or by virtue of some imagined design intervention.

slowLab is presenting several opportunities for ‘slow ways of knowing’ in the coming months. In April-May, we’ll enable slower readings of industrial artifacts in Bristol (UK) as part of the Nova Arts Group ‘eleven minutes’ project . And late summer in New York (USA), will present ‘Private Times in Public Places,’ an urban walking tour designed by composer Christopher Tignor.

Famous real-life suicides in the Edo period (1603-1867) were often followed by extreme public interest and were followed by the writing and publishing of popular plays and prints. Kabuki plays and Kabuki related prints, both sewamono (plays dealing with the lives of contemporary commoners) and jidaimono (historical dramas), commonly depicted suicides. These plays and prints varied in the suicides they depicted, ranging from shinjûmono (plays about lovers’ double suicides) to honour suicides, such as the one of Gompachi. This particular 1848 nishiki-e is by the Osaka artist Konishi Hirosada (1810-1864). Hirosada’s print of Gompachi is a fine example of more explicitly gruesome prints which became more popular towards the mid-nineteenth century. The depiction of Gompachi’s suicide is a less common topic for nishiki-e compared, for example, to Enya Hangan’s suicide in the play Kanadehon Chushingura, which perhaps features the most famous suicide scene in Kabuki in Act Four. However few images of suicide scenes from Kabuki plays convey desperation and loneliness with the same intensity as does this depiction of Gompachi by Hirosada. A man of high rank would traditionally commit seppuku (suicide by a ritualistic form of disembowelment). Slitting one’s wrists or cutting one’s jugular vein with a dagger by slitting or piercing one’s throat was known as jigai and was mainly performed by high ranking women. Samurai would only ever slit their veins following the act of seppuku; the act of jidai alone would have been shameful and effeminate. For commoners, on the other hand, no prescribed form of suicide existed, hence the use of varied methods in shinjûmono, such as drowning, hanging and stabbing. Gompachi, on the other hand, was a fallen samurai whose execution by the authorities would have been the ultimate dishonor. Thus alone and in desperation, perhaps unable to commit seppuku, he pierces his throat with his long sword.
In the Edo period this print would have played roughly the same role as a collectable movie poster today. It was an image of someone’s favorite Kabuki actor, some of whom attained “pop star” status, particularly in Edo (modern-day Tokyo) and Osaka. It was also a piece of memorabilia from a play that someone had seen, a physical reminder of one’s favorite Kabuki play perhaps. No doubt that the Osakaites who bought and gazed at Hirosada’s print, escaped for a few moments from their everyday surroundings and were transported, either back to the Kabuki theatre or to the eerily romantic site of the tragic scene.

The suicide of Shirai Gompachi from Ume No Hatsuharu Gojusantsûgi. Nishiki-e by Konishi Hirosada, 1848.

We long for simpler times, the comfort and boundaries of childhood, retreat into nature and quality time with our pets. Yet, when reduced to our animal state, we get easily bored and need stimulation. Is this one of the reasons why movies and books with clear values in their fictional worlds have such universal appeal? How else do you explain the success of dreadful movies such as Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter?

We even want to buy into ideals we have already lost. We greet brands that stand for something with open wallets, whether it is for the purest possible drink (Innocent), providing jobs in downtown L.A. (American Apparel) or the love for snowboarding (Burton).

We also would love to stand for something. We buy books such Neil Crofts Authentic – How to Make a Living By Being Yourself and I’m Important but Do I Matter by Lonnie Pacelli, but get stuck when we can’t figure out what is it that we could stand for.

Could it be that we are aiming too high. That we feel that unless we are single-handedly taking care of global warming and all the crises in the Middle East, we have failed and should not even try? Could we find fulfilment on a smaller scale, in relationships with our friends and loved ones? Should we stop for a while, and allow ourselves to dream together? If I sound like a teenager, maybe that’s the state of mind we should all try to recapture.

Children at Giraffe Center, Nairobi, Kenya

A reader making a choice at Bartnes & Nobles, New York.

Did Franz Kafka feel taste envy? We don’t think so.